need Three Stooges help, where to start

[mkiker2089]

Somehow I missed seeing any stooges as a child and I need to know what to get now. For the record I prefer the Shemp episodes over Curly. So far I purchased three

Stooges in Color - colorized (and restored BW) of their 4 public domain shorts. Excellent shorts in great quality
Swing Parade - very good, but not as good
Stooges Box set from Legend films- mostly crap. A few bright spots mixed in with a lot of poor quality throw away material.

I don't want to buy sets that revisit what other sets have. From what I've read the Columbia discs are the best, but they cost a bit. I'd rather pay more for better quality though because a friend has a set that I refuse to watch because of the lack of detail. I've seen that Columbia has a few restored (and colorized) versions also. Is that a good place to start?

[Future Man]

Per amazon, there is a collection of 1934-1936 shorts coming out 9/18 that is available for preorder.

[IChiWawa]

Somehow I missed seeing any stooges as a child and I need to know what to get now. For the record I prefer the Shemp episodes over Curly. So far I purchased three.

I can't fathom anyone favoring Shemp over Curly, but if so you need to find the shorts made between 1946-1955. Those made after 1951 suffered from Columbia cutting back its short subject division to minimal production costs. Shemp died in 55.

I myself favor the shorts made between 1934-41, when Curly (and the Columbia studio) was at his peak.

[mkiker2089]

From what little I've seen Curly annoys me with his facial expressions and silly noises. Shemp and Larry seem like equals to Moe only with less hostility whereas Curly is like Moe's clown.

[molly1216]

A Plumbing We Will Go (1940)
Micro-phonies (1945)
Punch Drunks(1934)

[Kenneth Morgan]

I'd also recommend "You Nazty Spy" and "I'll Never Heil Again", two utterly merciless satires of Hitler that are arguably the Stooges' two best shorts, with the former pre-dating Chaplin's better-known (and less funny) "The Great Dictator" by several months.

[IChiWawa]

From what little I've seen Curly annoys me with his facial expressions and silly noises. Shemp and Larry seem like equals to Moe only with less hostility whereas Curly is like Moe's clown.

I guess it's debatable that without Curly's noises and expressions, the Stooges would be about as well-remembered as The Ritz Bros.

I agree with you that Shemp was more equal to Moe and that for me removes the great chemistry. Curly is definitely a clown but in his exchanges with the superior and hostile Moe, he comes out ahead about 95% of the time, which is one of the reasons kids loved him, Moe was the adult to Curly's child.

I have an extra soft spot for them because I grew up watching them on chan 52 in Los Angeles. If it was a Shemp (or worse, Joe Besser) night, we just went back outside. And if you didn't have Curly's 'knuckle-pop' routine down, you just weren't cool.



Nyuck nyuck nyuck.

[molly1216]

you can't beat Curly's logic.

"There's a walla, and there's a walla." from Cash and Carry

[IChiWawa]

you can't beat Curly's logic.

"There's a walla, and there's a walla." from Cash and Carry

Sometimes Moe had a gem:

[Hiding in a boxcar on the way to California]

Curly: "What are we gonna do in Hollywood? We don't know anything about making pictures."
Moe: "Hollywood's filled with people who don't know anything about pictures, three more won't make a difference"