The Three Stooges Collection volume two (1937-1939)
And the hits keep on coming! That’s how I like to describe the second volume of the Three Stooges DVD collection, this time covering the years from 1937 through 1939, for a total of 24 short films. Like the first volume, it’s a complete collection of those years, beautifully restored, with little extras on the DVD. But when the comedy’s this good, I frankly don’t care about the “extras.”
The shorts included are:
Disc 1:
- Back to the Woods
- Pity the poor Native Americans when they have to deal with Moe, Larry and Curly as settlers!
- Cash and Carry
- A sweet, touching Three Stooges short film as Moe, Larry and Curly try to raise $500.00 so “little Jimmy can have his operation”
- Dizzy Doctors
- Moe, Larry and Curly sell “Brighto!”
- Goofs and Saddles
- Moe, Larry and Curly go West, young man!
- Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb
- After Curly wins $50,000 the Stooges move in to the Hotel Costa Plenty – and do plenty of damage! How much will be left after taxes?
- Playing the Ponies
- The Three Stooges trade their restaurant for a broken-down race horse – until they feed him red-hot peppers!
- The Sitter-Downers
- The Three Stooges do a ‘sit-down strike’ until their sweethearts’ father will give them permission to wed — and then they have to build the house!
- Tassels in the Air
- In a case of mistaken identity, the Three Stooges are hired by a rich woman to redecorate her house ….
- Three Dumb Clucks
- Curly plays a double role as the Three Stooges’ father, who is abandoning their mother in order to marry a young floozy … who plans to kill him off as soon as he says, “I do!”
- Violent is the Word For Curly
- The classic episode where the Three Stooges start as gas station attendants, and soon impersonate college professors, where they sing Swinging the Alphabet (akia. “B-A-Bay”)
- Wee Wee Monsieur
- The Three Stooges (while singing the Lollipop song) are artistic failures in France, and think that the French Foreign Legion will help them get home — whoops!
- Grips, Grunts and Groans
- The Three Stooges are hobos who find themselves employed as nursemaids to the professional wrestler Bustoff — when they fail to keep him sober, Moe has Curly try to take his place!
- Termites of 1938
- The Three Stooges are pest exterminators, who are mistaken for male escorts, and hired by a rich society matron to impress her guests!
Disc 2:
- A Ducking They Did Go
- Moe, Larry and Curly take a job, selling memberships in a duck hunting club to the police and the mayor! Unfortunately for them, it’s a scam, and where are the ducks?
- Calling All Curs
- One of the Three Stooges best short films, where Moe, Larry and Curly play veterinarians who have to rescue an expensive, kidnapped poodle
- Flat Foot Stooges
- Moe, Larry and Curly are inept firefighters who have to rescue the fire chief’s daughter from a fire in their own fire station!
- Mutts to You
- Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise
- A personal favorite Three Stooges short film, where Curly’s wishes come true, and they help a widow (and her beautiful daughters) keep their oil-rich land from con men.
- Saved by the Belle
- The Three Stooges are trying to sell fur coats in a hot South American company, and accidentally get caught up in a revolution — and all factions keep trying to put them in front of a firing squad!
- Three Little Sew and Sews
- Three Missing Links
- Cast in a Tarzan-like movie at the studio where the Stooges are janitors, all seems well in Africa — except for the gorilla, and the cannibal!
- Three Sappy People
- A classic Three Stooges short film, mocking the idle rich, where the Stooges are mistaken for psychiatrists who have to “cure” an irresponsible young wife!
- We Want Our Mummy
- A classic Three Stooges short film, where the Stooges are hired to find a missing archeologist, and so they take a cab to Egypt (!) and look for the lost tomb of Pharaoh Rutentooten!
- Yes, We Have No Bonanza
- The Three Stooges are working as waiters in an Old West saloon, who have to raise money to pay off their girlfriends’ debts — and they go off prospecting, and “dig up” some of their crooked boss’ stolen loot!
Order The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 2: 1937-1939 from Amazon.com
Editorial review of The Three Stooges Collection volume two: 1937-1939, courtesy of Amazon.com
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 “Healthy, 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, itâs not prosperity thatâs around the corner, but more often, con men on the lookout for “suckers” to swindle (“A Ducking They Will Go,” “Playing the Ponies“). Reflecting Americaâs 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 police 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 Stoogesâ turn as Yiddish-speaking Chinese launderers in “Mutts to You.” –Donald Liebenson
Product Description of The Three Stooges Collection volume two: 1937-1939
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 sight, 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.
