Rancho Mirage Loan Officers

Three Stooges - Three Smart Saps

Description

Another hilarious compilation of Stooge classic shorts. Includes;

Three Arabian Nuts (1951) As owners of a storage company, the Stooges give customers an inferiority complex about their valuables. But when Shemp finds a lamp and conjures up a genie, it‘s not the irate customers they‘re worried about, it‘s the Arabian thieves who‘ve come for the lamp.

Three Little Beers (1935) When the Panther Brewing Co. excludes its three new delivery men from its annual golf tournament, the Stooges get really teed off and come up with a plan to gain entry, with an eye on winning the $100 first prize. Too bad they‘re as bad at golf as they are at delivering beer.

Three Smart Saps (1942) In an effort to help their fiancées’ father, a warden who has been overthrown by one of his convicts, the Stooges go undercover at the jail, which is now being run as a nightclub. When they successfully crash the party, they get the best reward of all: marriage to three lovely ladies.

Three Dark Horses (1952) It isn‘t just politics as usual when the Stooges, working as janitors inside a presidential candidate‘s campaign headquarters, are recruited by the crooks in charge of the campaign. The balance of world power has never been so... well, unbalanced.

Three Loan Wolves (1946) Pawnbrokers Larry, Moe and Curly get more than they bargained for when a curvaceous con girl leaves them carrying the bag — which contains a baby boy, who now wants to know why he has three fathers!

Reviews

Rating: 1 / 5
Date: 2008-11-24
Summary: "Funniest scene missing?"

Do not buy this DVD because they apparently cut out the funniest scene in "Three Little Beers". The scene where Moe pops Curly on the head and all the golf balls come pouring out of Curly's coat and pants - GONE.

Whoever reviewed content before release was asleep at the wheel. How could they miss it?

Very disappointed.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2006-08-16
Summary: "Pretty good in spite of the deficiencies"

Four of the five shorts included here are of very high quality, even though it is ridiculous how Columbia has begun issuing these discs with only 5 shorts apiece, when they used to put six on (and once even seven). I also agree that it was pretty stupid to not have included all of the shorts matching the theme which haven't been issued on DVD yet (which would include 'Three Hams on Rye,' 'Three Sappy People,' 'Three Little Twirps,' 'Three Little Sew and Sews,' and 'Three Pests in a Mess'). This is seriously shortchanging the consumer, asking him or her to pay more for less. However, the most important thing to be rating is the quality of the DVD, not how it could have been better but wasn't.

The shorts included are:

'Three Arabian Nuts' (1951). This is a really good film, with a really good plot and great performances by everyone. The ending is also hysterical, since we don't often see a supporting player (in this case Vernon Dent) being the one to get the closing gag. This short is just proof that the Stooges were still capable of making great funny shorts even as Columbia's budget was growing smaller year by year and were great even in spite of the dwindling budget. Shemp in particular is hysterical in this short; I'm so embarrassed that once upon a time I was one of those people who dismiss him out of hand and don't want to watch any of his shorts just because he wasn't Curly.

'Three Dark Horses' (1952) is a great send-up of the political system, and what's so brilliant about it is that it's a spoof on politics in general, not any particular party. It's just as relevant today as it was over 50 years ago. Once again, this short shows that they could still be hysterical and do a great job with the material even though the budget of their golden era in the late Thirties and early Forties was no longer there. Also of note is that fact that this short is Bud Jamison's only appearance, so to speak, in a Shemp short, and a posthumous appearance at that. Though he passed away in 1944, his picture appears on the campaign posters for Hammond Egger, a really nice tribute to him and all of the work he did with them over the years.

'Three Smart Saps' (1942) is my favorite short on here. It's perfect from start to finish, with no dull or wasted scenes or moments. There are so many great scenes and gags, particularly the scene on the dance floor. Curly was such a nice dancer, which one might not expect coming from such a big person. (The reason he was such a skilled and graceful dancer was because he took up dance as physical therapy following the accident when he shot himself in the foot and ended up with a lifelong painful limp.) Of course, fans of classic comedy will know that the gag of the loosely basted suit was borrowed from the 1925 Harold Lloyd classic 'The Freshman.'

'Three Little Beers' (1935) is generally regarded as one of their earliest classics. Though they had pretty much perfected their screen personae, comedy style, and screen relationship by this point, it does kind of have the feel, at times, of being one of those very early shorts with a more freewheeling and chaotic spirit, as opposed to a set tight plot and a sense of resolution at the end. I find most sports boring, so it's a pleasure to see the boys ruining the game of golf and driving all of the players batty (much like they ruin the football games in 'Three Little Pigskins' and 'No Census, No Feeling'). However, it really was inexcusable how Columbia used a bad print for this. Their claim that there was a jump-cut that was unable to be repaired (hence the about 20 seconds of missing footage) is pathetic, given how everyone knows that there's a better print out there, a print that has been issued on VHS and shown on television many times over. Are they picking the worst prints on purpose, the way that Hallmark has been mishandling the Laurel and Hardy catalogue they were the unrightful owners of until recently? All 190 of the Stooge shorts have been on safety stock since 1974, so to make such a claim is just laughable. We're not talking about some 90 year old film that really was in such a state of deterioration, with only one known surviving print, that not much could be done to digitally restore it in its entirety!

'Three Loan Wolves' (1946) is pretty dismal. I don't think it's necessarily as awful as a lot of other fans do, but it's still nowhere near the likes of 'Hoi Polloi' or 'You Nazty Spy!' However, it is one of the worst shorts of the sick Curly era. The poor man looks, sounds, and acts like a zombie in it, barely has any lines, and after locking one of the bad guys in the desk during the fight scene, he just disappears instead of coming to help Moe and Larry while they're fighting the other two bad guys. At times it also sounds like his cries of pain are real instead of just acting. It's also really a slow-paced short overall, only picking up somewhat during the fight scene. The ending also makes no sense; why is Larry the one being punished instead of that annoying ungrateful little brat they've been raising since his aunt left him at their pawn shop when he was a baby? That little boy deserved it more!

Overall, this is a strong collection, if one can get past the fact that only 5 shorts are included (once again without a "Play All" feature) and that one of them is missing about 20 seconds of footage (which contain one of the funniest scenes). However, it makes no sense that the cover picture is from 'Three Little Twirps' (1943), which isn't even one of the shorts included. One also wishes that the dismal 'Three Loan Wolves' could have been excluded and replaced with something far superior, like 'Three Sappy People' (1939) or 'Three Little Sew and Sews' (1939).

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2005-01-27
Summary: "Fifteen times the fun and humor!"

This package offers fifteen times the fun and humor compared to the others. Every film title begins with the word "three",that's why I say that. In these five hilarious adventures,we see in THREE SMART SAPS,the Stooges visiting their fiances,but they learn that the sisters' father was behind bars in a jail taken over by a gangster(later the father and the gangster switch places). In THREE LOAN WOLVES,the Stooges are operators of a pawn shop and Larry babysits a beautiful girl's infant nephew. In THREE LITTLE BEERS,the Stooges are deliverymen for the Panther Pilsner brewery. They deliver to patrons of a golf course and they also play the recreational sport. In THREE ARABIAN NUTS,Moe,Larry and Moe's brother Shemp(Shemp filled in for terminally ill Curly) are employees at Superior Warehouse are are hired by John Bradley(the late Vernon Dent) to deliver some Oriental merchandise to his residence. Shemp discovers what appears to be a syrup pitcher,but it's a magic lamp that discharges a genie when rubbed. Shemp refers to the genie as "the genius of the lamp". John paid 50 cents for the item at a bazaar and gives it to Shemp since Shemp was already interested in it. The "genius" brought Shemp a new suit and it's taken away at the made wish of Larry. Shemp's final wish from the "genius" was a million dollars accompanied by three beautiful girls. In THREE DARK HORSES,also from the Shemp Howard era,the Stooges are hired to be delegates at the Presidential convention by the candidates' managers(who are crooks). The crooks hope to make Hammond Egger the new President. When the Stooges switch their vote in favor of Abel Lamb Stewer,the crooks are outraged(they heard it on the TV news) and seek revenge for the Stooges at the Stooges' home. The crooks are dunked into the Stooges' water-filled bathtub and the Stooges' take a bath with their clothes on!

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Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2005-01-05
Summary: "Could be so much better"

If Columbia hasn't gotten these DVDs right by now, they never will. If you're going to release a DVD with a certain theme, then release ALL the shorts that fit said theme. Specifically, all the shorts that fit the theme that have not been released yet. Among these would be: Three Hams on Rye, Three Little Sew and Sews, Three Sappy People, Three Pests In A Mess, and Three Little Twirps. If Columbia released those, along with the five on here, this DVD would be perfect. As far as Three Little Beers, I understand there was nothing Columbia could do about it. The print they used was missing that scene - it was not "edited out".

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Rating: 2 / 5
Date: 2003-11-18
Summary: "Disappointed"

Only five shorts and the deleted golf ball scene. Sony is taking our money.