The Three Stooges Collection Volume Two: 1937-1939 (2008)

4 Stars (out of 4)

Wise Guys

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy The Three Stooges Collection Volume Two: 1937-1939 on DVD

Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard did not exactly represent the apex of American comedy. Their short films were crude and obvious and rarely showed any hint of cinematic excellence. And yet they have exuberance and a bald-faced joy that makes them irresistible. Even intellectuals can find themselves laughing at their overblown antics. Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have long made the Three Stooges shorts available on home video; their most recent efforts cobbled together four or five random shorts on a single disc (supposedly grouped by theme or subject matter). Now for the first time the Stooges get some respect with these new chronological releases. Volume two covers the years 1937 to 1939, grouped, conveniently, with eight short films per year (24 in all, on two discs). And best of all: every single short features Curly! Highlights include Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise (1939) and We Want Our Mummy (1939). (We'll have to wait until the next set for the masterpiece You Nazty Spy!). Here is the complete listing:

Grips, Grunts and Groans (1937)
Dizzy Doctors (1937)
Three Dumb Clucks (1937)
Back to the Woods (1937)
Goofs and Saddles (1937)
Cash and Carry (1937)
Playing the Ponies (1937)
The Sitter-Downers (1937)
Termites of 1938 (1938)
Wee Wee Monsieur (1938)
Tassels in the Air (1938)
Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb (1938)
Violent Is the Word for Curly (1938)
Three Missing Links (1938)
Mutts to You (1938)
Flat Foot Stooges (1938)
Three Little Sew and Sews (1939)
We Want Our Mummy (1939)
A-Ducking They Did Go (1939)
Yes, We Have No Bonanza (1939)
Saved by the Belle (1939)
Calling All Curs (1939)
Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise (1939)
Three Sappy People (1939)