Search - The Three Stooges 75th Anniversary Collection on DVD

Reissue of a disappointing DVD set

William B. Seguine | Flanders, NJ USA | 12/09/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"A 3-disc reissue of 2002's 75th Anniversary 2-disc edition from Madacy and C3 Entertainment. My earlier review of that collection follows, with these additional notes/warnings to this updated edtion...



- Disc 1 is unchanged, with the Stooges' 4 public domain Columbia shorts transferred from mediocre 16mm, Screen Gems, dupe prints.



- Disc 2 contains the same material as the earlier edition.



- Disc 3 is a new addition, featuring 1970's TV pilot KOOK'S TOUR. Previously licensed to Anchor Bay Entertainment, rights owner C3 Entertainment has transferred home video distribution rights of this film to Madacy... the Super8mm source material is unfortunately/inherently bad for both, but this Madacy version is further degraded with digital pixelation problems.



- All bonus features on Disc 3 DUPLICATE the content of Disc 2!



On the plus side, this new version comes in a tin case with a sound-chip mechanism containing a grand total of 4 Stooge sound-bytes, from the 4 public domain Columbia shorts on Disc 1. Uh, yeah.



Review of the earlier edition, from 2003...



"With the title 'Three Stooges 75th Anniversary Collectors Edition,' and a very nice packaging presentation, you may have expectations of a wide selection of the comedy team's best work, or even some rarities. But...



It's a collection of public domain material, much available since the dawn of home video on many tape and disc offerings from numerous distributors. You'll find the four pd Columbia shorts, DISORDER IN THE COURT (1936), SING A SONG OF SIX PANTS (1947), BRIDELESS GROOM (1947) and MALICE IN THE PALACE (1949), plus a handful of NEW 3 STOOGES (1965) cartoons. Original material is limited to a 10 minute video of hellos & introductions from Stooge family members taped at a 1998 convention in CA, plus some brief hosting segments by a Curly-impersonator. Visual quality of the shorts and cartoons is lacking, dark and non-contrasty, sourced from 16mm and vhs dupes. The cartoons are 'split up,' i.e., the live-action segments are under one menu, & the animated segments under a separate menu; the return to each menu contains annoying freeze frames that cut off approx. the last second of film, rather than seamless segues. From the perspective of a low price, maybe you'll feel you got what you paid for. But if you're looking for a collection worthy of the label '75th Anniversary,' you will be very disappointed. Definitely not recommended!"

"

Disapointed

Melvin Jay Babb | Lewiston Idaho | 08/07/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"When I bought this set from wal-mart, I should have taken my own advice:"Let the buyer beware."



Given the number of shorts the 3 stooges made, the content of this set is lame. How they get away with calling this "75th anniversary collection" I'll never know. I enjoyed watching what is on this set-but there's not a whole lot to brag about. "Kooks ture" is about the best thing here-but still it's not worth it.



Don't buy this set! Now you've been warned."

Ripoff

JRH | Southern US | 08/24/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this set thinking I was going to enjoy many hours of The Stooges. It only has a few shorts that are all over-played on TV, having seen them a hundred times already.



Charging a full retail price for a set like this, containing just a few shorts, is shameful. You're paying an extra 10 bucks for the tin box, little more. This set is a bargain-bin type item worth maybe four to five bucks at most.



It's my fault for being suckered out of my money. This purchase has taught me to read the content descriptions VERY CAREFULLY before buying future "special collections."



Now I'm off to buy the REAL complete chronological collections of The Three Stooges being released by Sony Pictures."

Mis-leading packaging

Joe The Reviewer | 01/10/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Curly, perhaps the most popular and most imatated stooge is on the cover, on the back and in all the pictures that come with this slick looking boxed set.

But he is in only one of the three short films. (Also, there are hardly any short films that come with this. The other filler is cartoons, a movie without Curly and interviews and other junk.)

This is not a good collection for fans of Curly. It is however good at misleading the 3 Stooges fan into thinking that he or she has found a gold mine of 3 Stooges material at a great price. Sadly, that is not to be.

Instead of wasting your time and money on this blatent rip-off, you would be better off at building your 3 Stooges library on other collections that don't contain the words "75th Anniversary Collection."

"