Product Description
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Get ready for more outrageous antics as The Three Stooges return
in this second collection of chronological masterpieces. These 24
shorts, filmed from 1937-1939, are digitally remastered for the
highest quality - every , gag and knuckle-cracking sound can
be seen and heard with the utmost clarity for maximum effect.
This period is considered to be when Larry, Moe, and Curly hit
their stride and perfected their craft, when all the elements
came together perfectly: the writing, directing, pacing, and
performances. It's no wonder The Stooges made some of their best
films during this period, proving laughter really is the best
medicine in such classics as Dizzy Doctors, Saved By The Belle,
and Calling All Curs. And audiences agreed - at least most of
them did. By now The Stooges were wildly popular and their
personal appearances were mobbed, but there were some who thought
they were too violent and who over analyzed their eye-poking,
pie-throwing behavior.
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By 1937, where Volume Two of this long overdue chronological
collection picks up, Moe, Larry, and Curly had been performing
together for over a decade, and appeared in several feature films
and 19 short subjects for Columbia. They were just getting warmed
up; there is nary a clunker among the 24 shorts on this two-disc
set. Several rank in the Stooges pantheon, including "Grips,
Grunts and Groans" (with Bustoff the wrestler), "Violent is the
Word for Curly" (with "Swinging the Alphabet"), and "y,
Wealthy and Dumb" (the Stooges live the hotel high life after
Curly wins a radio contest). These comedies must have been a
great escape for Depression-era moviegoers, particularly the ones
in which the rich are reduced to food-throwing goofs ("Three
Sappy People"). For the Stooges, its not prosperity thats
around the corner, but more often, con men on the lookout for
"suckers" to swindle ("A Ducking They Will Go," "Playing the
Ponies"). Reflecting Americas can-do spirit, the Stooges are
nothing if not resilient. These shorts may find them down, but
they are never out. The boys are ungainfully employed as Calvary
spies ("Goofs and Saddles"), janitors ("Three Missing Links"),
dog washers ("Mutts to You"), firemen ("Flat Foot Stooges"),
traveling salesmen ("Saved by the Belle"), and vets ("Calling all
Curs"). Some of the best shorts turn on mistaken identity: They
are confused for college professors in "Violent is the Word for
Curly," high society escorts in "Termites of 1938," and famous
decorators in "Tassels in the Air." For all the hair-tearing,
eye-poking, and shovel-clobbering, the Stooges surprise with the
odd musical grace note, such as their rendition of the silly "The
Lollipop Song" in "Wee Wee Monsieur," and their music
box-accompanied pas-de-trio with pilgrim lasses Faith, Hope, and
Charity in "Back to the Woods." One also does not ordinarily look
to the Stooges for pathos, or, for that matter, heartwarming
happy endings, but "Cash and Carry" delivers both as the boys set
out to raise $500 for a crippled boy's operation. "Flat Foot
Stooges" is something of a milestone. It marks the debut of
"Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges new theme song, which would
replace the twittering "Listen to the Mockingbird." The shorts
are presented complete and uncut, which means the PC are
standing by to issue citations for such egregious stereotypes as
the grunting, shrieking "savages" in the colonial comedy, "Back
to the Woods," and the Stooges turn as Yiddish-speaking Chinese
launderers in "Mutts to You." --Donald Liebenson