Thanks to the theatrical success of the Farrelly Brothers, the Three Stooges are back for another generation of kids to emulate. Emergency room doctors across the country are delighted in a predicted upswing of eye pokes, head bonks and feet stomps. This is the perfect time for A Three Stooges Celebration. The boxset contains shorts, specials and animated cartoons all dedicated to the Masters of Mayhem. Here is their cinematic beginnings and close to the end of their public careers as professional pain distributors.
The shorts include the public domain usual suspects: “Disorder in the Court,” “Hollywood on Parade,” “Knife of the Party,” “Henry the Ache,” “Sing A Song of Six Pants” and “Brideless Groom.” The shorts were transferred from what appears to be well abused 16mm sources. They don’t even come close to the shorts that were remastered for DVD for the complete collection. If you’re a Stooge-aholic, you already have these shorts in pristine form. They’re not the reason why you’re interested in Celebration unless you want to remember what they looked like when your cheap UHF station ran ragged transfers of the Stooges. It’s the other titles in the boxset that will attract the devoted.
Ed Wynn Camel Comedy Caravan (28:08) is a TV comedy special sponsored by a cigarette company. Wynn is joined on his show by Moe, Larry and Shemp. They trio slap around the fun as they drive Ed crazy. They don’t merely chew up the scenery, they shred it. Ed gets a kick out of his set getting stripped.
A Three Stooges Celebration (50:41) is a TV documentary that seems to be from the late ’70s. The clips and photos are pulled from all the stages of their career. There’s even a segment from their first short as they supported Ted Healy. The documentary provides a lot of background for fans of the trio that haven’t spent the last few years devouring the various biographies on them. The documentary narrator sounds like he’s replaced the original guy in the booth from the ’70s.
There are 15 of The New 3 Stooges cartoons from 1965. They aren’t fully animated adventures. Color footage of Larry, Moe and Curly Joe DeRita introduce each short. The cartoons are barely three minutes long. The limited animation techniques puts this up there with Roger Ramjet and Deputy Dawg. The real goodness of this revival is the chance to see Larry and Moe slap away in color. Who can resist the charm of Larry and Moe abusing a ball washer on the golf course? A bonus cartoon is the Merrie Melodies’ “Hollywood Steps Out.” Amongst the animated celebrities goofing with at Ciro’s are the Stooges. They poke each other to the beat.
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The transfers are rather rough since these are public domain source and not the actual masters. The low price of the set makes up for the lower quality. The audio is mono. The rough nature of the sources adds to the painful quality of the punishment dished out by the Stooges.
Hard to say what’s a bonus feature on this collection.
A Three Stooges Celebration collects together so many elements of the Stooges that had previously been released on other Public Domain releases. The quality isn’t top rank, but good enough for people extra curious about seeing them with Ed Wynn. This boxset is for the hardcore Stooge-aholic.
eOne presents A Three Stooges Celebration Starring: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard and Curly Joe DeRita. Contents: 2 DVDs. Released: July 31, 2012. Available at Amazon.com.
