Topic: Re: 3 Stooges Collection 1934 - 1936 REVIEWS

[stooged and confused]

No, Jimmy. It was daylight. Viewing the sky, it was light out and in the scene where Larry is driving the truck, you see him "shade" his eyes as if sunlight was making it hard for him to see where he was going (although a double was driving the truck). Due to the lighting, or lack there of, and the way the film was spped up, it always created a darker image and grainier picture. There is vast improvement on the new transfer, but it still has some issues due to the process of filming during that time. Hope that helps!

[Dagurasu]

Are the shorts closed-captioned or is there an English subtitle option? I know a few Stooge fans here in Japan who would like that option.

[xraffle]

I'm sure "Punch Drunks" will look exactly like the one on the "Goofs on the Loose" DVD. If this new set is even better, then I will be shocked to pieces because it already looked fantastic on that "Goofs on the Loose" DVD.

[ThumpTheShoes]

... in the scene where Larry is driving the truck, you see him "shade" his eyes as if sunlight was making it hard for him to see where he was going (although a double was driving the truck).

Larry covered his eyes because he was driving so fast he nearly crashed at every turn!

Surely, those bits in Punch Drunks were shot day-for-night since the fight was supposed to take place at night. Based on the old dvd version, it looks like they (the filmmakers, not the Sony dvd people!) slapped quite a dark filter on the footage, too, burying all that shadow detail! Still, in my humblest of humblies, day-for-night never looks authentic on film no matter how many filters are applied.

You should never be able to see (saw?) the sky in a nighttime setting, see?

Saw? 

-Th

[stooged and confused]

The discs are closed captioned.

[stooged and confused]

Comparing transfer to transfer, Xraffle, I think the print of "Punch Drunks" looks slightly better on the Chromachoice DVD than on the new set. I don't know if they did extra work on restoring due to the coloring (and, perhaps, that is why those sets were so pricey), but it is so minimal, that only the most anal of fans (like us!!) would really notice. You'd think that all of the prints made for the 4 Chromachoice discs would just be recycled on the new set, but I feel that "Disorder In The Court", "Punch Drunks" and "Men In Black" seem slightly crisper than on the new disc.

When you get the new set, see if you agree.

[xraffle]

Comparing transfer to transfer, Xraffle, I think the print of "Punch Drunks" looks slightly better on the Chromachoice DVD than on the new set. I don't know if they did extra work on restoring due to the coloring (and, perhaps, that is why those sets were so pricey), but it is so minimal, that only the most anal of fans (like us!!) would really notice. You'd think that all of the prints made for the 4 Chromachoice discs would just be recycled on the new set, but I feel that "Disorder In The Court", "Punch Drunks" and "Men In Black" seem slightly crisper than on the new disc.

When you get the new set, see if you agree.

I see. Well, when I get the set, I'll let everyone know what my opinion is. I'll also provide screen shots of both versions so other people can see the differences. Of course, that'll be in one week because I don't have a pre-release copy.

[stooged and confused]

I've been asked what my favorite episodes are that encompass the first new DVD set.

My two favorites are "Half Shot Shooters" and "Movie Maniacs." I love the line from the latter where Curly asks Moe how they're going to get into picures because they know nothing about making movies. Moe's answer is priceless: "There's a couple of thousand people in pictures now who know nothing about it. Three more won't make any difference."

My two least favorites are "Woman Haters" and "Whoops! I'm An Indian."

What about the rest of you?

[stooged and confused]

Oh, and the other 15 are pretty darn good, although "Restless Knights" and "Horses' Collar's" have some slower pacing that hurts the overall flow of those shorts.

[Justin T]

I've been asked what my favorite episodes are that encompass the first new DVD set.

My two favorites are "Half Shot Shooters" and "Movie Maniacs." I love the line from the latter where Curly asks Moe how they're going to get into picures because they know nothing about making movies. Moe's answer is priceless: "There's a couple of thousand people in pictures now who know nothing about it. Three more won't make any difference."

My two least favorites are "Woman Haters" and "Whoops! I'm An Indian."

What about the rest of you?

For this new set, I also really love "Half Shot Shooters" and "Movie Maniacs" myself. Moe's line about making movies to Curly is awesome.
My other favorites are "Punch Drunks", "Three Little Beers", "Uncivil Warriors" and "Disorder in the Court". My least favorites would
also be "Women Haters" and "Whoops! I'm an Indian!".

[Moe Hailstone]

The only episode that I'm not looking forward to watching is "Women Haters", just because I don't like singing in movies.

I wonder if everyone here dislikes this episode the most from the set?  I noticed a few members mentioning it.  The rest are okay to great in my opinion.

[ThumpTheShoes]

I wonder if everyone here dislikes this episode the most from the set?

Not me. I like this one, if not just for it's "relic" quality, but more for the fact that they actually pulled it off!

What I would really like is quite impossible-- I'd like to be able to hear just the musical score for Woman Haters, much like WB did for the Looney tunes discs. But, unless someone has the cue sheets and actual music to re-record it would never happen!

-Th

[busybuddy]

I personally like Woman Haters a lot. My least favorite two from the set are Men In Black and Disorder in the Court because they just don't have enough Stooge humor in them. I re-watched them tons of times thinking I'm going to find something that I missed but everytime I just find them dull. But like all Stooge movies, there is always at least one hilarious scene or line. In these two both of those go to Larry; the tarzan yell and "let's pluck 'em and see if he's ripe!"

My two favorites are Pop Goes the Easel and Three Little Beers.

[Sadistic Stooge]

does anyone know when the next set is coming out ? and will the price be the same ?

[Hammond Eggar]

I've been asked what my favorite episodes are that encompass the first new DVD set.

My two favorites are "Half Shot Shooters" and "Movie Maniacs." I love the line from the latter where Curly asks Moe how they're going to get into picures because they know nothing about making movies. Moe's answer is priceless: "There's a couple of thousand people in pictures now who know nothing about it. Three more won't make any difference."

My two least favorites are "Woman Haters" and "Whoops! I'm An Indian."

What about the rest of you?

Well, here's my Top 3 favorite Stooges shorts overall.

1) An Ache in Every Stake
2) Three Little Beers
3) Studio Stoops

So, obviously, 3LB would be my favorite of the new DVD set.  Since childhood, I've always been partial to such shorts as Pardon My Scotch and Ants in the Pantry.  The scene in which the Stooges begin dancing around a party guest who has a mouse down the back of his shirt is priceless comedy that never fails to make me laugh.  I am just chomping-at-the-bit to get my hands on Sony's new DVD collection.  This all sounds so fabulous!

[JH24]

I've been following the sales rank on Amazon.com and i am glad to see that it has been consistent between #50-70 over the past three to four days. It has had a better ranking than the Looney Tunes Golden Collection v5 in that time.

[xraffle]

You'd think that all of the prints made for the 4 Chromachoice discs would just be recycled on the new set, but I feel that "Disorder In The Court", "Punch Drunks" and "Men In Black" seem slightly crisper than on the new disc.

I guess that means that "Disorder In The Court" will be a good print, but not the best one out there. It's funny how Sony doesn't used the best print for that short. The best print I've seen is the one used for "The Three Stooges In Color" DVD released by Fox. If Fox can find a superb print, I don't know why Sony couldn't.

Here are a couple of screenshots that compare the two versions:

"Stooges On The Run" Chromochoice print

"Three Stooges In Color" print

As you can see, the print used for "The Three Stooges In Color" seems to be slightly better than what Sony used for the Chromachoice DVD. But based on what S&C said, we can expect the print on the new set to be similar to what they used on the "Stooges On The Run" Chromochoice DVD.

[ThumpTheShoes]

Those Chromachoice transfers look like they had the gamma tweaked for the addition of the colour, plus they were, no doubt, drenched in DVNR to give 'em an overly-polished look. The result is that alot of detail was crushed out in various places within the films which, I'd guess, were the most dirty, damaged or marred. After seeing those screenshots and other transfers of the same film, I concur that the Chromachoice one is, quite, not the best or most accurate presentation. If that's the look the restoration folks are goin' for currently, they need to rethink their process. 

As a sort of aside, and to further bang the nails in the coffin of the previous releases, with all the work done to clean up and "restore" the picture for those colour discs, somewhere along the line someone decided to leave in the "historically accurate" hair(s) in the gate that is/are clearly visible in the outdoor shots of Punch Drunks. Heck, West Wing (bless 'em!) even coloured the dern thing brown (or brown-reddish? kinda henna colour) and I wonder how the heck they knew that was accurate? If you have the disc handy you'll find that at about 5:31. Jack the colour way up and you'll see!

If Sony went back and re-re transferred the films done for the colour discs, it could only be for the better.

I want the new set! Don't care how- I want it NOW!

And, frankly, I'd like to see these sets completed before I'm 140!

-Th

[stooged and confused]

The "hair" is still on the new set transfer as well (also appears on a few other titles, too).

Curly: There's a hair in my soup.

Moe: That's a crack in your plate.

Curly: I never saw a crack go that way.

Moe: Well, that neither hair nor there.

[stooged and confused]

Thump--

If Sony sticks to their plan of three years, you should make it before 140!

[stooged and confused]

I will retract my statement about the Chromachoice transfers looking better than the new set. Like a dummy, I had my set's noise reduction mode off at the time I was doing a comparison and forgot to place it in the on mode while I was messing around doing my comparisons. The NR was on at the time I viewed the new set. When I went to compare the two transfers, I was fiddling with the NR on/off and when I compared "Punch Drunks" at that time, the NR was off when viewing the new set transfer at that time.

You will all be very happy with the look of the films (even with the wild "hairs".)

Larry: Boy, do I feel silly.

Moe: You look it! (Slap)

[xraffle]

I will retract my statement about the Chromachoice transfers looking better than the new set. Like a dummy, I had my set's noise reduction mode off at the time I was doing a comparison and forgot to place it in the on mode while I was messing around doing my comparisons. The NR was on at the time I viewed the new set. When I went to compare the two transfers, I was fiddling with the NR on/off and when I compared "Punch Drunks" at that time, the NR was off when viewing the new set transfer at that time.

That's a relief! 6 more days before I run to store and grab a copy. There better be a store that carries this title or they will be looking at one angry customer.

[locoboymakesgood]

That's a relief! 6 more days before I run to store and grab a copy. There better be a store that carries this title or they will be looking at one angry customer.

Yeah, me too. I'm crossing my fingers Best Buy or Wal-Mart have it in.

[Curley91]

I'm happy to hear that the prints on the boxed set are no worse than the prints that were used for the colorized disks. 

Now, the countdown has shrunk to only five days!!

I'll be waiting impatiently!



Another Pie Takes Flight 

[Hammond Eggar]

Yeah, me too. I'm crossing my fingers Best Buy or Wal-Mart have it in.

I gotta think that at least one of those places will have it in stock next Tuesday.  You may also want to try Circuit City, Target, Borders or Barnes & Noble.  The only problem with the last three, though, is that they are usually pricier than places such as Circuit City, Best Buy and Wal-Mart.  Some shopping malls have a store called Suncoast, which specializes in DVDs and entertainment merchandise.  That might be another possible option.  That said, if you have a combination of any of these stores in your town, I don't think you'll have a problem obtaining a copy of the Stooges DVD set.  Happy shopping!

Oh, count me among the "impatient patients" around here.  Even though we're less than a week away from the release date, it seems the wait is even harder.