As somebody who watched all of vol. 7 this weekend, my biggest disappointment with this set is, well....the shorts themselves. There are probably about 3 or 4 genuine classics, or at least near classics on here, but come '52 - '54, we've entered the era where Jules White's unit took over the department completely and the remakes came pouring in. I'm very happy to have these shorts in the condition they're in, but man, I just can't help but feel ripped off by all these stock footage jobs. Not ripped off by Sony, mind you, but the Columbia shorts department. Yeah, yeah, I know, shorts back then were released years apart and not exposed as much as they are today. The problem is, it's 2009. The 3-D stuff? Nice to have for accuracy, but consider me underwhelmed. 3-D was a cheap novelty, and while it was cool for a split second to have a flame jet out at me, overall the 3-D concept is a distraction from the actual short itself. I'm glad 2-D versions were included, not that these two shorts are all that great anyway.
On a positive note, THREE DARK HORSES and GOOF ON THE ROOF, no matter how they're framed, are Stooge classics. The former by far has the most spontaneous feel of any Stooge short of the era, and perhaps rushing it out there for the 1952 election has something to do with this. The latter is just plain kick ass slapstick. LISTEN, JUDGE is basically just using up old plot lines and routines from past Stooge efforts, but they borrow from the best stuff. The boys perform this old material well, making LISTEN, JUDGE feel more like a great compilation album as opposed to a classic proper album. CUCKOO ON A CHOO-CHOO? Criminally underrated. All the boys do a fine job in this one, and the scene where Shemp has the electric razor down his back kissing the ladies is one of the most wonderfully bizzare Stooge scenes ever. There are a few other fun shorts on here, but overall, the mentioned four are the best.
As far as presentation of this or any other volume goes , I am perfectly satisfied. The restorations are beautiful, in logical order, and the shorts are complete. I remember a DVD world with an entire gag spliced off from THREE LITTLE BEERS, crappy prints, and "themes" that nobody actually cares about. Oh yeah, there was that whole color thing too. You folks want something to complain about? Try the North American treatment of the Laurel and Hardy catalog. We're lucky as Stooge fans.
