Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

For my full review of this set please go to: [...] Set (5 out of 5 stars) Despite being the longest running comedy act in motion picture history, The Three Stooges never received the same respect that other acts and comedians did. Part of that may be due to their type of humor since they didn't have Chaplin's sentimentality, Keaton's inventiveness, or Lloyd's precision. The Three Stooges focused mainly on slapstick and their own brand of physical humor that involved hitting each other which seemed to divide audiences into those that thought they were hilarious and those that just didn't get it. That lack of respect also included the studios that the Stooges worked for since they reaped the rewards from the various shorts and movies but never let the Stooges know just how valuable they really were and didn't share the wealth like they should've. Time has been more kind to the Stooges as they've gained fans across the world and now with this complete collection, they've finally gotten the respectful treatment their legacy deserves. The Three Stooges included Moe Howard (born Harry Horwitz, June 19, 1897 - May 4, 1975), Larry Fine (born Andrew Feinberg, October 22, 1902 - January 24, 1975), Curly Howard (born Jerome Horwitz, October 22, 1903 - January 18, 1952), Shemp Howard (born Samuel Horwitz, March 4, 1895 - November 22, 1955), Joe Besser (August 12, 1907 - March 1, 1988) and Joe "Curly-Joe" DeRita (born Joseph Wardell, July 12, 1909 - July 3, 1993). Moe and his brother Shemp got their start as Ted Healy's Stooges, a vaudeville act that Larry joined three years later. The act was successful enough that it led to a movie starring all of them called Soup to Nuts and not long after that the Stooges went off on their own. Healy begged them to return and Moe and Larry did without Shemp who decided to continue a solo career. Shemp was replace by the younger Howard brother Jerry who would later be known as Curly and the core group of the Stooges was born. It wouldn't be long before The Three Stooges left Healy and MGM to start making their own shorts at Columbia, starting with Woman Haters, Punch Drunks, and the Oscar nominated Men in Black in 1934. Their great run came to an impasse in 1946 when Curly had to bow out of the group after having a stroke. Shemp returned to replace Curly and made 77 Stooge shorts and a feature film, Gold Raiders before his death in 1955. Joe Besser was hired by Columbia studio chief Harry Cohn to become the third Stooge since he was already under contract. Besser was a successful comedian in his own right, but he wasn't the best fit for the Stooges since his whiny persona was grating and his contract didn't allow for much punishment to be dished out to him which goes against all of the things the Stooges stand for. In 1957, Columbia shut down the shorts department and the Stooges were out of work and Besser decided to leave the team to take care of his wife after her heart attack. In 1958, their fortunes took a surprising turn when their shorts were put into heavy rotation on TV where they found a new level of popularity. "Curly" Joe DeRita became the sixth Stooge and they went on to more success and five more feature films - Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959); The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962); The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962); The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963); and The Outlaws is Coming (1965). They also continued to try their hand at television shows off and on, but that all came to an end when Larry suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1970 and later died in 1975. Ever the trooper, Moe tried to reform the Stooges once again but he died six months after Larry and that dream died with him. Curly Joe DeRita kept a new lineup of Stooges going until he decided to retire in 1979. Joe Besser died in 1988 and DeRita followed him in 1993, which marked the final passing of the last of the original Stooges. Since then, there's been movies made about them and even an new theatrical movie with a new lineup from the Farrelly brothers, so interest in the Stooges has never waned which is a good thing since these box sets wouldn't have been released otherwise. Here are all of the episodes from each of the eight volumes in this set: The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 1: 1934-1936 Woman Haters Punch Drunks Men In Black Three Little Pigskins Horses' Collars Restless Knights Pop Goes The Easel Uncivil Warriors Pardon My Scotch Hoi Polloi Three Little Beers Ants In The Pantry Movie Maniacs Half-Shot Shooters Disorder In The Court A Pain In The Pullman False Alarms Whoops, I'm an Indian Slippery Silks The Three Stooges Collection, Vol 2: 1937-1939 Back to the Woods Cash and Carry Dizzy Doctors Goofs and Saddles Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb Playing the Ponies The Sitter-Downers Tassels in the Air Three Dumb Clucks Violent is the Word For Curly Wee Wee Monsieur Grips, Grunts and Groans Termites of 1938 A Ducking They Did Go Calling All Curs Flat Foot Stooges Mutts to You Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise Saved by the Belle Three Little Sew and Sews Three Missing Links Three Sappy People We Want Our Mummy Yes, We Have No Bonanza The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 3: 1940-1942 You Nazty Spy! Rockin' Thru the Rockies A Plumbing We Will Go Nutty But Nice How High is Up? From Nurse to Worse No Census, No Feeling Cookoo Cavaliers Boobs in Arms So Long Mr. Chumps Dutiful But Dumb All the World's a Stooge I'll Never Heil Again An Ache in Every Stake In the Sweet Pie and Pie Some More of Samoa Loco Boy Makes Good Cactus Makes Perfect What's the Matador? Matri-Phony Three Smart Saps Even as IOU Sock-a-Bye Baby The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 4: 1943-1945 They Stooge to Conga Dizzy Detectives Spook Louder Back From The Front Three Little Twerps Higher Than A Kite I Can Hardly Wait Dizzy Pilots (wartime) Phony Express A Gem Of A Jam Crash Goes The Hash Busy Buddies The Yoke's on Me Idle Roomers Gents Without Cents No Dough Boys Three Pests In A Mess Booby Dupes Idiots Deluxe If a Body Meets a Body Micro-Phonies The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 5: 1946-1948 Beer Barrel Polecats A Bird in the Head Uncivil Warbirds The Three Troubledoers Monkey Buisnessmen Three Loan Wolves G.I. Wanna Home Rhythm and Weep Three Little Pirates Half-Wits Holiday Fright Night Out West Hold That Lion Brideless Groom Sing a Song of Six Pants All Gummed Up Shivering Sherlocks Pardon My Clutch Squareheads of the Round Table Fiddlers Three Hot Scots Heavenly Daze I'm a Monkey's Uncle Mummy's Dummies Crime on Their Hands The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 6: 1949-1951 The Ghost Talks Who Done It? Hokus Pokus Fuelin' Around Malice in the Palace Vagabond Loafers Dunked in the Deep Punchy Cowpunchers Hugs and Mugs Do pey Ducks Love at First Bite Self-Made Maids Three Hams on Rye Studio Stoops Slaphappy Sleuths A Snitch in Time Three Arabian Nuts Baby Sitters Jitters Don't Throw That Knife Scrambled Brains Merry Mavericks The Tooth Will Out Hula La La Pest Man Wins The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 7: 1952-1954 A Missed Fortune Listen, Judge Corny Casanovas He Cooked His Goose Gents in a Jam Three Dark Horses Cuckoo on a Choo Choo Up in Daisy's Penthouse Boo ty and the Beast Loose Loot Tricky Dic ks Spo oks Pardon My Backfire Rip, Sew and Stitch Bubble Trouble Goof on the Roof Income Tax Sappy Musty Musketeers Pals and Gals Knutzy Knights Shot in the Frontier Scotched in Scotland The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 8: 1955-1959 Fling in the Ring Of Cash and Hash Gypped in the Penthouse Bedlam in Paradise Stone Age Romeos Wham Bam Slam Hot Ice Blunder Boys Husbands Beware Creeps Flagpole Jitters For Crimin ' Out Loud Rumpus in the Harem Hot Stuff Scheming Schemers Commotion on the Ocean Hoofs and Goofs Muscle Up a Little Closer A Merry Mix Up Space Ship Sappy Guns a Poppin Horsing Around Rusty Romeos Outer Space Jitters Quiz Whizz Fifi Blows Her Top Pies and Guys Sweet and Hot Flying Saucer Daffy Oil's Well That Ends Well Triple Crossed Sappy Bullfighters Video (4 1/2 out of 5 stars) These shorts look amazing as they've been remastered from the original negatives. Most of the opening titles are windowboxed but look very sharp, while the shorts themselves are shown full frame. These shorts look pristine with a much sharper image than in previous releases and the contrast has also been vastly improved. There's some grain present on some of the shorts, but overall these shorts look spotless. It's absolutely amazing how good these shorts look considering that they were filmed in the 30s. Fans of the Stooges are going to be ecstatic when they see these shorts especially after all of the crappy previous releases. Audio (4 out of 5 stars) The mono audio tracks for these shorts are surprisingly excellent and free of the usual audio defects that plague older properties like this such as audio hiss, dropouts, etc. The dialogue is crystal clear as are the many sound effects of the boys slapping, hitting, and poking each other. This is most likely the best we are every going to get these shorts and I'm ok with that. There's only a English track with optional closed-captioning and no other options so international fans should be aware of that. Not that you really need to understand the dialogue to enjoy the Stooges comedy. Their brand of physical comedy is funny no matter where you live as it knows no boundaries. Extras (4 out of 5 stars) This complete collection includes the eight volumes that have been previously released which includes all of the 190 Columbia shorts, two feature films, 3 cartoons that have Three Stooges cameos, and 28 shorts starring Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, Joe DeRita in some of their solo outings. There's 11 hours of extra content included in this amazing set along with every remastered short that looks better than they ever have. I wish that there were some commentaries on the sets or some historical featurettes like they had on the Buster Keaton sets, but these extras are pretty good anyway. Here's what's on the three bonus discs: The Three Stooges - Rare Treasures from the Columbia Vault Disc 1: Feature Films and Cartoons Feature Film: Rockin' In The Rockies (1945) (feature film with Curly) Feature Film: Have Rocket--Will Travel (1958) (feature film with Curly Joe) Columbia Color Rhapsody cartoons: The Bon Bon Parade (1935), The Merry Mutineers (1936), A Hollywood Detour (1942). Disc 2: Shemp Howard Solo Shorts: Not Guilty Enough Home On The Range The Glove Slingers Money Squawks Boobs In The Woods Pleased To Mitt You Pick A Peck Of Plumbers Open Season For Saps On Again Off Again Hit With A Miss Mr Noisy Jiggers My Wife Society Mugs Bride And Gloom Disc 3: Joe Besser and Joe DeRita Solo Shorts: Joe Besser Solo Shorts: Waiting In The Lurch Dizzy Yardbird Fraidy Cat Aim Fire Scoot Caught On The Bounce Spies And Guys The Fire Chaser Gi Dood It Hook A Crook Army Daze Joe DeRita Solo Shorts: Slappily Married Good Egg Bad Egg Wedlock Deadlock Jitter Bughouse Summary (4 1/2 out of 5 stars) The Three Stooges have been loved and celebrated for decades for a good reason - they're really funny and even with all of their cast changes, they still endured and made history. These shorts are still hilarious and fun for the whole family (providing that they have a sense of humor). My four year old son has just discovered the Stooges from this set and he can't get enough of them. Sony/Columbia has done an incredible job restoring these shorts and it's great to be able to watch them in chronological order to see their rise to greatness. Considering that each individual set costs around $14 each, this set is a steal at $45 for all eight volumes plus the three bonus discs. While I wish this was released on Blu-ray, this DVD set marks the best and more respectful release of The Three Stooges to date and I highly recommend it! Order your set today! The Three Stooges: The Ultimate Collection