![]() Transitioning Shemp, Joe, and Joe into Curly's "third Stooge" slot was quite natural when you realize that some of their solo shorts were already remakes of Three Stooges comedies, in which they essentially play Curly's old part. For one thing, White was constantly experimenting, teaming Shemp with Andy Clyde and later Tom Kennedy, and Joe Besser with "Hawthorne" (as radio personality Jim Hawthorne was billed), to name three examples. ![]() These shorts also make clear why it was so easy for Shemp to replace Curly, for Joe Besser to replace Shemp, and for Joe DeRita to replace Besser. Even before joining Columbia Studios, their brand of slapstick meshed almost perfectly with White's, and was even enhanced by his silent movie veteran's experience, and Columbia's sound effects department. The Stooges, on the other hand, were lucky. But it also forced some talented comedians into material that really wasn't suited to their particular screen persona. This interchangeability undoubtedly saved money, making it easy for an Andy Clyde short to be remade with, say, Shemp in the lead, and then again a few years later with Joe Besser, with stock footage from the earlier films further cutting costs. ![]() The better Columbia shorts, such as most of the two-reelers made by Buster Keaton and Chase in the late-1930s/early-'40s played to their strengths (while also adapting to White's style to some extent) but the majority of Columbia's shorts are definitely on the same comedy wavelength. ![]() Viewers may be surprised to see the same tried-and-true routines made famous by the Stooges performed by other Columbia comedy stars, sometimes word-for-word, gag-for-gag. Watching these other, less familiar solo comedies it's clear that department head Jules White pretty much expected all of his comics to fall into line with his particular brand of broad, sometimes violent slapstick rather than the other way around, regardless of each comedian's unique talents and screen personas. These shorts also help put the Stooges and their Columbia two-reelers into perspective. One sincerely hopes this release will help open the floodgates to even more releases, even if in manufactured-on-demand format. Some of these previously unavailable shorts are quite hilarious, others are dreadful, but for many they'll all be a revelation of sorts, hinting at the comedy gold mine Sony has been sitting on for decades yet which remains virtually unseen by anyone for more than half a century. Also included are solo shorts starring or featuring Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe DeRita, as well as three cartoons featuring animated renderings of the trio - in all 3,867 minutes of material, or more than 64 hours' worth of eye-poking lunacy. Brand-new is a three-disc offering of "Rare Treasures from the Columbia Pictures Vault." It includes two heretofore unreleased-to-DVD feature films, including their strangely obscure first starring vehicle. Included are all 190 two-reel comedies Columbia released during 1934-1959, packaged in eight two-disc volumes (three discs for Volume Eight). Mostly a repackaging of previously released two-reel comedies but featuring significant and very rarely screened obscurities, this 20-disc set's stats are staggering. While it doesn't include absolutely everything they did for Columbia Pictures, few will accuse Sony's The Three Stooges - The Ultimate Collection of false advertising.
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