Mccarey, Ray

The Three Stooges: Curly Classics

Fun with The Three Stooges in six zany episodes:

A Plumbing We Will Go(1940): Three would-be plumbers mistake pipes filled with wires for water pipes. Dudley Dickerson's battle in the kitchen is a highlight.

Men In Black(1934): Medical malpractice is an understatement when describing what the Stooges do to the Los Arms Hospital, where they dispense unorthodox advice, flirt with the nurses and battle a babbling intercom system. With: Dell Henderson, Jeannie Roberts and Billy Gilbert.

Micro-phonies (1945): When Curly is mistaken for an opera diva, the Stooges find their calling on the stage as Senorita Cucaracha (Curly) and Senors Mucho and Gusto (Larry and Moe). With: Christine McIntyre, Symona Boniface and Gino Corrado.

Punch Drunks(1934): Larry's rendition of Pop Goes The Weasel transforms Curly from a harmless cream puff into a vicious contender, but when Larry's violin breaks, it threatens Curly's boxing career with a TKO. With: Dorothy Granger and Al Hill.

Three Little Pigskins (1934): When the Stooges are mistaken for star football players, they not only find themselves running for goals but running for their lives when they get mixed up with the gorgeous girlfriends of a group of mobsters. With: Lucille Ball, Gertie Green and Phyllis Crane.

Woman Haters(1934): When Larry breaks his oath to the Woman Haters Club by marrying, he is treated like a traitor by his fellow members. But getting out of the marriage may be even more harmful than anything his friends could ever do to him. The Stooges' first short was done entirely in rhyme. With: Marjorie White.

The Little Rascals Collector's Edition III

Episodes Included: Free Wheeling, Mike Fright, Washee Ironee, Fishy Tales, Shiver My Timbers, Divot Diggers, Bored of Education, Choo-Choo!, When the Wind Blows, Framing Youth

Little Rascals Vols. 3-4

The Little Rascals - Little Papa, Dogs Is Dogs, Sprucin' Up

Created by producer Hal Roach, The Little Rascals (aka Our Gang) starred in more than a hundred shorts from 1922 to 1944 (one of which, Bored of Education, won an OSCAR®) and one feature, General Spanky. With the Gang aching to hit the gridiron, team captain Spanky's got to play Little Papa and mind the baby, while Pete is framed by Wheezer's hateful stepbrother, Sherwood, and sent to the pound in Dogs Is Dogs. Sherwood's dog kills a chicken, so he blames Pete, but Wheezer and his sister Dorothy have the last laugh; then Spanky and the Gang try to impress the daughter of Mr. Jones, the new truant officer, by Sprucin' Up. Black & White. 56 Minutes

The Little Rascals - Bear Shooters / Waldo's Last Stand / Dogs of War!

The Three Stooges - Goofs on the Loose (Colorized / Black & White)

A four-pack of mid-'30s Three Stooges shorts, with enough concentrated nyuk-nyuks to satisfy fans. Two of the shorts are from their first year with Columbia, 1934. "Men in Black" has the boys as residents in a very unlucky hospital. It's nonstop mayhem, featuring an unorthodox approach to healing (the words "Give 'em the anesthetic" usually means a mallet will be applied to skull) and a good running gag about an ill-advised glass door. This one was nominated for the best short subject Oscar. "Punch Drunks" is an all-time Stooges gem, with Curly as Moe's new boxing discovery--but he can only achieve his fighting fury when Larry plays "Pop Goes the Weasel" on the violin.

From 1937, "The Sitter Downers" has three brides for three stooges, but their honeymoon is delayed by the building of a house, in typical Stooges style. Curly is wound up especially tight in this one, and it has some primo sight gags about home construction. "Playing the Ponies" navigates a zig-zag Stooges storyline, taking them from restaurant (Curly fixes an appetizing filet of sole) to horse track. It has a classic Stooges hand jive, although it shows how slapdash their shtick could get.

The DVD has Columbia's "ChromaChoice" colorized gimmick, which simply means easy toggling between the original (well preserved) black-and-white shorts and the colorized versions. The colorized images are sensibly rendered, but they still have that washed-out paleness they've always had--eggshell greens and light browns abound. So real Stooges fans can ignore the color, and ponder the eternal questions: Why was Moe so angry? Why is a bald man named Curly? What was the deal on Larry? And "Why don't catfish have kittens?" --Robert Horton

Digitally remastered and colorized using the latest technology. Includes both the colorized version as well as the restored black and white original, which ChromaChoice™ allows you to toggle between versions while you watch. Includes these hilarious shorts:

Men in Black (1934) Calling Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard. Three nitwits take medical malpractice to a whole new level in this Oscar® nominated Short Subject.

The Sitter Downers(1937) A sit-down strike not only wins three imbeciles the girls of their dreams, but a prefabricated cottage complete with wifely ultimatum: no house, no honeymoon!

Punch Drunks (1934) Whenever Curly hears "Pop Goes the Weasel," he turns into a fighting madman, so Moe promotes him as the next heavyweight champion of the world.

Playing the Ponies (1937) You can lead a horse to water and make him drink if you feed him chili pepperinos, as the Stooges do to a broken-down nag, turning him into the thirstiest - and fastest - racehorse on the planet.

The Three Stooges - Goofs on the Loose / Stooged & Confoosed (Colorized / Black & White)

Goofs on the Loose is a four-pack of mid-'30s Three Stooges shorts, with enough concentrated nyuk-nyuks to satisfy fans. Two of the shorts are from their first year with Columbia, 1934. "Men in Black" has the boys as residents in a very unlucky hospital. It's nonstop mayhem, featuring an unorthodox approach to healing (the words "Give 'em the anesthetic" usually means a mallet will be applied to skull) and a good running gag about an ill-advised glass door. This one was nominated for the best short subject Oscar. "Punch Drunks" is an all-time Stooges gem, with Curly as Moe's new boxing discovery--but he can only achieve his fighting fury when Larry plays "Pop Goes the Weasel" on the violin. From 1937, "The Sitter Downers" has three brides for three stooges, but their honeymoon is delayed by the building of a house, in typical Stooges style. Curly is wound up especially tight in this one, and it has some primo sight gags about home construction. "Playing the Ponies" navigates a zig-zag Stooges storyline, taking them from restaurant (Curly fixes an appetizing filet of sole) to horse track. It has a classic Stooges hand jive, although it shows how slapdash their shtick could get.

A quartet of shorts (three new to DVD) make up the solid Stooged & Confoosed, all with mid-period Curly in woo-woo-woo form. "Violent is the Word for Curly" somehow morphs the boys from gas-station attendants to European college professors. Not only does it feature Curly roasting on a spit, but the Stooges instruct the students of Mildew College for Women in the intricacies of "Swinging the Alphabet," a memorable nonsense song. "You Nazty Spy" is the Stooges' answer to Duck Soup and The Great Dictator, as a cabal of businessmen install Moe as the dictator of Moronika. With an accidental mustache and jibbering German, Moe does a convincing Hitler. (But didn't he always?) "No Census, No Feeling" is a rangy, so-so bit that begins with a lame premise about the Stooges as census takers (it was 1940, after all) and ends up at a football game. But the best gag has Curly mixing up a noxious fruit punch. You know "An Ache in Every Stake" will be a goodie from the moment Moe and Larry attempt to remove a block of ice from around Curly's head by using a chisel and mallet. Its centerpiece is a variation on the flight of stairs from Laurel and Hardy's "The Music Box," but Curly does nicely stuffing a turkey, too.

Both Goofs on the Loose and Stooged & Confoosed are presented with Columbia's "ChromaChoice" device, which allows for easy toggling between the original black-and-white shorts (which appear in great shape) and a colorized version. The colorized images are sensibly rendered, but they still have that washed-out paleness they've always had--eggshell greens and light browns abound. Stooges purists will stick to black-and-white, the better to appreciate the subtleties of a cheese grater being scraped across Curly's face. --Robert Horton

The Three Stooges - Fancy Mixed Nyucks (Curly Classics / All the World's a Stooge)

Sunset Range

Devil's Party