Search - The Three Stooges Story on DVD

A pretty solid documentary

Anyechka | Rensselaer, NY United States | 08/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While this documentary does jump around with the timeline a few times, doesn't seem to have been extraordinarily high budget, and has a lot of footage that's available on a bunch of other discs, overall it's pretty engrossing and informative. Through clips from their Columbia shorts, the MGM shorts they made with Ted Healy, the movies they made guest appearances in, television appearances they made in the final stretch of their career, and numerous interviews, the viewer gets a full picture of the Stooges as individuals, how their careers began and developed, what makes their comedy so timeless and endearing in spite of the violence, and their legacy. Along with the requisite familiar footage (such as overrepresentation from the 4 public domain shorts and 'Heavenly Daze,' which at one point was mistakenly believed to be public domain also) are also rarer clips, such as from the movies they made guest appearances in, their MGM shorts in the early Thirties (including one in early Technicolor), some of Shemp's solo films, and appearances on various television shows. Of particular value are all of the interviews, such as the ones with Emil Sitka (their frequent co-star) and Ed Bernds (one of their best directors), as well as interviews with Moe from the late Fifties and the early Seventies. Particularly priceless are the clips from his appearance on the Mike Douglas Show in the Seventies, where he recreates the old Niagara Falls skit and later gets a pie in the face from his wife in the audience. Larry's last recorded interview from 1973 is also featured. The Larry interview, while deeply informative and enjoyable, is also a bit distressing to watch because he looked old and sick, and his speech was a bit affected from the stroke he'd had a few years earlier. There's even an interview with Curly's second wife Elaine and their daughter Marilyn. There might be a bit of overreliance on clips to tell the story, but it's not as though the clips are being used to make up for nothing of value to say. Apart from the overreliance on clips, the only major flaws I could find with it are that they report a couple of urban legends as fact, some things don't go into as much detail as possible, and they got Curly's year of birth and date of death wrong. While I'd more highly recommend a documentary like 'The Men Behind the Mayhem,' this one has a lot of great information as well."

A must have for a stooge fan.

Michael Cipriano | 01/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Excellent and informative documentary on The Three Stooges. If only we were able to turn back time, what an era this must have been. I found this documentary a delight to watch. It was interesting to see Larry and Moe in their elderly years reflect on days gone by. There sad stories of the loss of their two brothers in Curly and Shemp, and their passion to just keep going and make people laugh. It brought me back to my childhood days. This is a must have DVD for any stooge fan because it gives you a behind the scene look at their rise to stardom. Hope you enjoy!

Michael, c/o Australia."