Topic: 3 Stooges Ultimate Collection DVD, June 5

[metaldams]

The news is good!  The 3 bonus discs will contain HAVE ROCKET WILL TRAVEL (1959), ROCKIN' IN THE ROCKIES (1945), 28 Columbia solo shorts starring Shemp Howard, Joe Besser and Joe DeRita, and 3 Columbia Color Rhapsody cartoons with Stooge caricatures.

Product description from Movies Unlimited's website...

Legally, they have a right to do this, it's Sony's property.

Morally, I think this is terrible.  A lot of us spent good money on those first eight volumes and are in no position to double dip.  I really hope Sony finds a way to release these films separately, because if not, my position stands, I pass.

[falsealarms]

I would not count on seeing these individually. Sony doesn't have a good track record of releasing this kind of stuff on its own. Look at the Seinfeld sets - after releasing the 9 seasons, they put out a complete series set with extra reunion footage and a coffee table type book. Neither were later released on their own. There's a chance some eBay sellers would sell the bonus discs on their own.

It all makes sense now, doesn't it? Sony released 8 wonderfully restored volumes of Stooge shorts, but they were completely devoid of ANY extra material. There were certainly things they could have put on there. It's now apparent why they never did: for a set like this. They probably knew the shorts alone would sell themselves, but they also knew they were sitting on bunch of other material diehard fans desperately wanted. And now with the FOX Stooges movie putting the Stooges back in the public spotlight, they likely saw this as the best time to release this.

Will I buy it? Maybe. This set gives me exactly what I wanted to see (the solo shorts). You won't see them on TV. And while I've seen some via the collectors market, the video quality was often bad to the point of being distracting. That's not going to be an issue here. The solo shorts have been missing from the home video market for 30 years. Ultimately, the packaging might determine if I get this or not. I'm not going to spend this kind of money on a set with paper sleeves (ala the L&H set). If this is properly packaged, I'd lean in favor of getting it.

A minor content quibble would be no TIME OUT FOR RHYTHM. If only one of TIME OUT or ROCKIN could be included, the former was a better choice.

[metaldams]

It all makes sense now, doesn't it? Sony released 8 wonderfully restored volumes of Stooge shorts, but they were completely devoid of ANY extra material. There were certainly things they could have put on there. It's now apparent why they never did: for a set like this.

I swear I made a post saying this would happen around the time volume 1 was released.  Shame on me for not trusting my instincts and waiting a few years.  I'm sure I'll find a way to get these solo shorts, either if I can find a VERY reasonably priced version of this set (meaning $30 - $40, which is what the extras are worth to me), or an online/digital outlet.  I just need to be patient, but I guarantee I won't be making a pre-order.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Boy, those sure sound like some great extras. It almost makes me wish I had another 100+ bucks to drop on this set. But I don't & hopefully Sony will release those extras separately. I've been dying to see some solo Shemp for ages...

[mark32570]

Very dissapointing. How can it be "Ultimate" when the other Curly Joe features arent being included? So instead of finally getting all of those films remastered the way the shorts were, we just get the one, and are stuck with the lousy looking original DVDs of the others. IMO, they should release all the Curly Joe features as Volume 9, then Rockin' In The Rockies and the shorts as volume 10.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Does anybody else feel cheated that you paid good money for volumes 1-8 with no extras & now they are coming out with this "ultimate" collection featuring the Shemp, Joe Besser and Joe Derita solos that fans have been dying to see for goodness knows how long?! I know I do...

[fearlessfrizzletop]

Does anybody else feel cheated that you paid good money for volumes 1-8 with no extras & now they are coming out with this "ultimate" collection featuring the Shemp, Joe Besser and Joe Derita solos that fans have been dying to see for goodness knows how long?! I know I do...

Yes, even though this was discussed as a possibility all along I'm MASSIVELY pissed off at this situation...especially after Sony also released a heavily discounted 17-disc box. It's a real insult to the initial supporters of the Stooge releases -- the people MOST interested in this bonus material.

[Bum]

Does anybody else feel cheated that you paid good money for volumes 1-8 with no extras & now they are coming out with this "ultimate" collection featuring the Shemp, Joe Besser and Joe Derita solos that fans have been dying to see for goodness knows how long?! I know I do...

Cheated? Yes. The least bit surprised? Not a bit. This is what these companies do: Try to scam people. There's no reason NOT to release the Curly Joe movies separately, or not to have configured the Shemp and Joe sets so that the solo shorts could be included there. This is the Stooge equivalent of that music industry ripoff known as the "boxed set": Get hardcore fans to pay through the ass by releasing a bunch of stuff everyone already has, with a few rare items included. But make sure not EVERYTHING is included- that way, you can get them to pay through the ass yet again in a few MORE years! Can the "Super-Ultimate Stooge Mega-Set" [with all the Curly Joe movies included] be that far away?

I'm not for piracy/bootlegging, but things like this make me realize why people do it.......

[xraffle]

Cheated? Yes. The least bit surprised? Not a bit. This is what these companies do: Try to scam people. There's no reason NOT to release the Curly Joe movies separately, or not to have configured the Shemp and Joe sets so that the solo shorts could be included there. This is the Stooge equivalent of that music industry ripoff known as the "boxed set": Get hardcore fans to pay through the ass by releasing a bunch of stuff everyone already has, with a few rare items included. But make sure not EVERYTHING is included- that way, you can get them to pay through the ass yet again in a few MORE years! Can the "Super-Ultimate Stooge Mega-Set" [with all the Curly Joe movies included] be that far away?

I'm not for piracy/bootlegging, but things like this make me realize why people do it.......

Scamming is a bit of a strong word to use. And we all had the choice not buy the volumes individually and patiently wait for this "ultimate" collection. Nobody twisted our arms and forced us. Just sayin'...

[Mark The Shark]

I know what you guys are saying and I agree to a point, since I bought all 8 volumes, most on their day of release.

The Movies Unlimited write-up begins "Along with volumes 1-8," which might mean the eight volumes will be included "as is," and maybe the rest will make up a separate release or two. Maybe they will issue the extras as a separate set. (But I'm not going to hold my breath -- as others have pointed out, Sony is not known for doing that.) But part of me is saying if they really wanted to "stick it to" the hardcore fans with a big "cash grab," they would have included all of the 1960s features as well. (Maybe even those colorized shorts too, why not?) I note that NONE of these extras have been on DVD before. And apart from Have Rocket, Will Travel, the rest might not have even been officially released on VHS either -- not certain whether these particular cartoons were on video or not, but that's definitely true of all the solo shorts.

Bottom line is that a lot of stuff is coming out which a lot of us have wanted for years, even decades. (I'm talking Stooge fans here, otherwise this stuff isn't even on most people's radar.) And that's definitely a good thing! I would love to have all those solo shorts from clean sources, without multi-generation tape artifacts and sans superimposed foreign-language subtitles. I say bring it on! (That's assuming they have pristine source material in their archives, and I've learned never to assume that! But I bet they do...they have to have better stuff than what's out there now!)

[Bum]

Scamming is a bit of a strong word to use. And we all had the choice not buy the volumes individually and patiently wait for this "ultimate" collection. Nobody twisted our arms and forced us. Just sayin'...

You're right: Scamming is the wrong word, since there's no actual deception involved. "Greed" is the word I should have used. However, as for waiting for the Ultimate Collection: Was there ever a promise of such a collection when the individual sets were being released a few years back? It's not always automatic that such a set will come out. If it was, a lot of us [myself included] WOULD have been willing to wait, but Sony doesn't want that. They want us to buy the same stuff over and over ["greed"]. Maybe after Sony releases the "Super-Ultimate Stooge Mega-Set" [containing the Curly Joe movies] in a few years, they can wait a few more and put out the "Super-Mega-Deluxe-Ultimate-We-Promise-This-Is-Everything-We-Have-In-The-Vaults" Stooge set which contains all the Columbia features/cameos from the '30's and '40s.

Then they'll put out the Blu-ray version.......

[falsealarms]

Not putting the 190 shorts out on BR does leave the door open for that later on.

[locoboymakesgood]

I don't agree with how Sony is handling this. It's a slap in the face. They know we wanted material like this, so now they expect us to double-dip? Well, I hate to say it, but I'll be one of those suckers. I want to see that bonus material.

I think it's stupid ALL the features aren't included. I probably wouldn't watch them more than a few times (I haven't watched the old releases much since I bought them years ago), but it just seems so incomplete with just Have Rocket and Rockin' in the Rockies. Have Rocket sticks out like a sore thumb.

Are 28 solo shorts the complete collection of Besser, DeRita, and Shemp or are those only a select few?

[falsealarms]

Are 28 solo shorts the complete collection of Besser, DeRita, and Shemp or are those only a select few?

My count, using this site's extensive filmography:

SHEMP

1. NOT GUILTY ENOUGH
2. HOME ON THE RANGE
3. THE GLOVE SLINGERS
4. MONEY SQUAWKS
5. BOOBS IN THE WOODS
6. PLEASED TO MITT YOU
7. PICK A PECK OF PLUMBERS
8. OPEN SEASON FOR SAPS
9. ON AGAIN OFF AGAIN
10. HIT WITH A MISS
11. MR NOISY
12. JIGGERS MY WIFE
13. SOCIETY MUGS
14. BRIDE AND GLOOM

BESSER

15. WAITING IN THE LURCH
16. DIZZY YARDBIRD
17. FRAIDY CAT
18. AIM FIRE SCOOT
19. CAUGHT ON THE BOUNCE
20. SPIES AND GUYS
21. THE FIRE CHASER
22. GI DOOD IT
23. HOOK A CROOK
24. ARMY DAZE

DERITA

25. SLAPPILY MARRIED
26. GOOD EGG BAD EGG
27. WEDLOCK DEADLOCK
28. JITTER BUGHOUSE

Covers all of their Columbia solo shorts.

[Curly4444]

I'll wait, i'm not double dipping for one movie and some solo shorts. I might have thought about it if it was a blu-ray release. I dont care about the solo shorts, i only want the movies. So since theres only one in here, ill pass.

[fearlessfrizzletop]

Well, I know my plan. It involves rental and a spindle of blanks.

[Curly4444]

Well, I know my plan. It involves rental and a spindle of blanks.

Shhh, dont say that too loud.  Though, i dont know where you would rent them? I also might look on e-bay after its been out awhile.

[falsealarms]

I'll wait, i'm not double dipping for one movie and some solo shorts. I might have thought about it if it was a blu-ray release. I dont care about the solo shorts, i only want the movies. So since theres only one in here, ill pass.

The solo shorts, the few I've seen, are pretty good. Mr. Noisy, the Shemp solo, is on par with his better Stooge shorts. You'll see many of the same supporting players that enhanced Stooge shorts too.

[Curly4444]

The solo shorts, the few I've seen, are pretty good. Mr. Noisy, the Shemp solo, is on par with his better Stooge shorts. You'll see many of the same supporting players that enhanced Stooge shorts too.

I wouldn't mind seeing them, just dont want to shell out that kind of money. It would be cool to see stooge material i haven't seen. Ill try and see if i can get em on e-bay.

[HELLOLARRY]

We haven't seen an 'official' announcement from Sony on this (Just the Movies Unlimited blurb) so maybe - just maybe they will be releasing this separately. I for one bought all the releases as they came out as there was speculation along the way that the solo shorts would be included at some point. When they weren't I figured the DVD market had just dried up so no further releases would be done. Sans Have Rocket Will Travel (which was speculated to be on hold due to some rights issues with the Harry Romm estate), everything was out including Soup to Nuts. Who thought that would ever happen? I always thought there would be one more box set of the features that would include this bonus material. I'm with all of you, this doesn't surprise me at all as all companies seem to do it. I suppose I could've waited as well as there were enough people buying them to support more releases. However it is always tricky and I don't know the business (aside from the thought of them gouging the consumer) well enough to say that if we didn't buy all along, future volumes would not have been released. I think that is tougher with old movies/tv shows.

[Seamus]

If it's true that Sony doesn't plan to release these solo shorts separately, it's a pretty infuriating development, especially since Sony's vile strategy is probably going to work on me.  I can see myself pulling the trigger on this set at some point if there's no other way to acquire the shorts.  The reason I don't have kids is so that I can throw irresponsible amounts of money at silly things like 70 year old films featuring members of the Three Stooges.

I know they're not a Sony property, but does anyone know the status of Shemp's Vitaphone shorts?  FalseAlarms?  You seem pretty well-informed in these matters.

[xraffle]

Has it been confirmed that the solo shorts are indeed the exclusive extras on this set?

[BeAStooge]

I know they're not a Sony property, but does anyone know the status of Shemp's Vitaphone shorts?

Warner decided to undertake a restoration of the Vitaphone negatives, rather than use decades-old masters; many were in WB's library, others have been retrieved from the Library of Congress.  This is a time-consuming process, with a lot of work to go.  Based on what I've heard, we're looking at another year, at least.

[Seamus]

Warner decided to undertake a restoration of the Vitaphone negatives, rather than use decades-old masters; many were in WB's library, others have been retrieved from the Library of Congress.  This is a time-consuming process, with a lot of work to go.  Based on what I've heard, we're looking at another year, at least.

Thanks for the info.  Glad to hear these are in the works.  As long as there are plans to release them at some point, I certainly don't mind waiting as long as it takes to polish them up.

[HELLOLARRY]

a few things to note - I just checked Amazon and there still is no 'official' description on there. In fact the only thing on there is a 'review' from someone named Jecca who pirated word for word the Movies Unlimited description.

Don't want to throw a conspriacy theroy in here but I'm bored so what the hell. Anyone else think that it is odd that Movies Unlimited has such a description of the bonus content yet that is nowhere to be found elsewhere? I mean, it sure sounds like it's from an offical press release so I'm a little surprised that we haven't seen it posted anywhere else (Classic Flix - Home Theater Forum etc.) as an announcement.

Also for those of you who didn't pre-order last week to at least lock in the price and make a final decision later, it has gone from $111.99 to $143.99.