Stooges: The Men Behind
The Mayhem (Three Stooges)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B+ Biography: B
Even though eight decades have passed since The Three
Stooges first made their debut, they are still as subversive as ever, throwing
propriety and anyone in their way out the window and who knows where else. They have a big following, one that is
larger than you might think, but are still not always given the respect they
deserve. The 1994 biography Stooges:
The Men Behind The Mayhem (with new footage directed by narrator Paul E.
Gierucki) did once appear on the A&E Biography series, but this
version is an expanded version in a very rich double DVD set.
Mackinac Media and Laughsmith Entertainment have gone out
of their way to do a remarkable job of capturing the rise, fall, rise and
continued fervent following of iconic comedy trio from an amazing collection of
stills, rare footage, well researched history and new items that were
especially uncovered for the program.
If you have dismissed the triad and comic terror as trivial, think
again. They were doing for physical
comedy what Warner Bros. was doing for animation; freeing up the form to go
into new directions. Part of the
problem might be that they were coming out of Columbia, which at the time was
considered a secondary studio. It is
fair and ironic to say that this team helped turn the company’s fortunes around
and helped them become a major starting in the 1960s, a time when they had been
cut from the company. TV broadcasts
were a huge hit like so many great Hollywood product of the past that was not
in the A-features category, like Charlie Chan and Our Gang/The Little
Rascals.
They continued in other media until the time Columbia had
them back for a few feature films hoping to duplicate what Abbott &
Costello had done for fellow “little sister’ studio Universal Pictures a few
decades ago. It was not as successful,
but no matter what they did, it was always different and interesting, conventions
notwithstanding. They also had a
combination we hardly see today in our stars, talent and personality, which is
deadly to the politically correct and comfortably conservative alike. That easily makes them more relevant than
ever and they stand as one of the great icons of world cinema, especially
comedy.
The 1.33 X 1 image is not bad throughout, though the
kinescope of The Ed Wynn Show is the muddiest and some of the four
shorts show their age at times.
Otherwise, the quality is really impressive throughout. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is usually
monophonic, but has its moments of simple stereo. However, it is cleaner and clearer than many instances of the
guys in action on DVD and lesser venues.
Extras include three extended interviews, a DVD-ROM Stooges tribute,
three rare stills, three great radio interview pieces, their Ed Wynn
Show/Camel Comedy Caravan episode in its entirety, trailers and original
shorts from their Columbia Pictures peak.
The trailers are Three Stooges In Orbit, Have
Rocket Will Travel, Three Stooges Meet Hercules, Dancing Lady,
Snow White & The Three Stooges and a Laff-A-Thon promotion
for their shorts. The shorts in their
entirety are Disorder In The Court, Sing A Song Of Six Pants, Brideless
Groom and Malice In The Palace.
That is outstanding content and covers some obscure material fans will
love to have. The only extra not here
is a TV commercial for Simoniz Car Wax, but it can be found in the underrated Hit
Celebrity TV Commercials DVD reviewed elsewhere on this site.
- Nicholas Sheffo
