3 Stooges Big box of Nyuks (1936-2000)

Reviewed by Jason S. Lockard

As a child I was raised on the classics. Whether it was Lucille Ball, Cary Grant, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers.  Screwball comedies were my favorite, and it didn't get any screwier than The Three Stooges. Whether your favorite was Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, Joe or Curly Joe it didn't matter. When it came to the stooges it always meant plenty of laughs.

There have been plenty of releases of the 3 Stooges over the years. Public domain shorts, colorized shorts, documentaries, retrospectives, but all seem to com up a little short, that is until now. The great folks at Mill Creek Entertainment have released a tremendous collection of stooges fun that will make any stooge fanatic go "Woob! Woob! Woob!" Let's take a close look at what is in The big box of Nyuks.

Our Rating System:
****=Don’t Miss it!
***=Worth a look.
**=An OK way to spend an evening.
*=You haven’t missed anything.


                                               The Sultans of Slapstick Collection

Discs 1-3: 
The complete New 3 Stooges Cartoon show including live action 3 Stooges 'wraparound' skits. ***

Disc 4 and 5:
Hey Moe Hey Dad! - This is a 9 part documentary series about the six men who comprised the iconic comedy team The Three Stooges. This Documentary is narrated by Paul Howard (Moe's son) and features other Stooges relatives. ****

Disc 6:   Various shorts and TV shows

Disorder in the court (1936) The stooges are witnesses at a trial where their friend, a dancer at a nightclub where they are musicians, is accused of murder.  ****

Brideless Groom (1947) To inherit a fortune, voice teacher Shemp must marry before six o'clock, but no girl will accept his proposal.  ****

Sing a song of six pants (1947) The stooges are tailors and heavy in debt. When the boys read about the big reward for a fugitive robber, they think it could be the answer to their problems.  ****

Malice in the Palace (1949) The stooges run a restaurant in the desert. They set out to recover the stolen Rootin Tootin diamond after they learn from the thieves that the Emir of Shmo. ****

Jerks of all trades (1949) In this TV Pilot the Stooges are paper hangers. ***

Kook's Tour (1970) This was another TV Pilot. In this one the Stooges decide to retire and tour the world with their dog, Moose.  ***

The Three Stooges Family Album (1998) This is a half hour program featuring behinds the scenes photos and insights into the lives of the Stooges. ***




                                       The Masters of Mayhem Collection

Disc 1: 
The Three Stooges (2000) - This TV movie is based on the book The Three Stooges: From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons. This movie dramatizes the rise of the comedy trio to worldwide fame. ***
A bonus on this disc includes three cartoons featuring the likenesses of the 3 stooges.

Disc 2: Comedy shorts featuring 3 of the stooges. Also included on this disc are rare The Three Stooges Columbia cartoons.

 >Shemp Howard Short Films

Home on the rage (1938) A husband mistakenly believes his wife and brother-in-law are conspiring to murder him for insurance. ***

Glove slingers (1939) A fighter trains for the big bout, and discovers that his opponent is his girlfriend's brother. ***

Money Squawks (1939) Andy and Shemp guard a mine's payroll at a train depot. ***

Boobs in the woods (1940) An annoying brother-in-law (Shemp Howard) tag-a-longs with his sister and husband as they are on vacation. ***

Pleased to mitt you (1940) A young fighter discovers that the money he has been saving for college has been stolen by his rival. ***

Pick a peck of plumbers (1944) Two vagrants get hired as plumbers' assistants. On their first job, they proceed to destroy a house while searching for a lost ring. ***

Open season for saps (1944) Shemp's wife complains that he cares more about his lodge meetings then he does about her. ***

Off again, On again (1945) Shemp, dejected over the breakup of his engagement, hires a ganngster to rub him out. ***

Where the pest begins (1945) Shemp volunteers to help neighbor Mrs. Batts and her husband in all their domestic chores, indoors and out. ***

A hit with a Miss (1945) Shemp Howard is a prizefighter who has a complex that leaves him a coward and unable to fight unless he hears "Pop Goes the Weasel". ***

Mr. Noisy (1946) Shemp Howard is hired by two gamblers to rattle a ball team while the gamblers bet on the opponents. ***

Jiggers, My Wife (1946) Shemp Howard knows many ways to get into trouble with his wife, and one he opts for here is stay out late playing poker with the boys and then tell his wife he has been working. ***

Society Mugs (1946) Mrs. Allen's husband needs an escort for a society party she calls the wrong number and gets Shemp Howard, the rat exterminator. ***

Bride and Gloom (1947) Shemp Howard finds himself in a love nest with the wrong woman, while his bride-to-be is waiting, none too happy, at the church. ***


 >Joe Besser Short Films

Waiting in the lurch (1949) Joe's fiance doesn't like his obsession for chasing fire engines. ***

Dizzy Yardbirds (1950) Joe is in the army, and his sergeant is determined to make a soldier out of Joe if he has to kill him to do it. **

Fraidy Cat (1951) Hired as guards to protect an antique shop, Joe and Jim run into a gorilla who has been trained by a gang of thieves to rob the store. **

Aim Fire Scoot (1952) Joe and his sergeant fall for the same girl. **

Caught on the bounce (1952) Joe needs money to pay back a loan of $2500 and travels to ask his aunt for the money. But she also $2500. What can they do! Capture a bank robber? **

Spies and guys (1953) Joe is sent on a spying mission with a beautiful female officer. Things don't go well and they are captured and set to be executed. **

The fire chaser (1954) Remake of "Waiting in the lurch". **

G.I. Dood it (1955) Joe has a fight with an army sergeant before he is drafted, and when he arrives at camp, finds the sergeant is his NCO. **

Hook a crook (1955)Two detectives are trying to recover stolen jewels. **

Army Daze (1956) Joe is drafted into the army of Starvania, and falls in love with Olga, a beautiful Starvanian WAC, but Joe's sergeant also has his eyes on Olga. **



 >Joe DeRita Short Films

Slappy Married (1946) Joe's wife, who thinks he's been carrying on with another woman, moves out. **

The good bad egg (1947) A bachelor inventor who reads a marriage proposal written on an egg by a lonely widow with one child. He accepts, and soon finds out the boy is a "bad" egg. ***

Wedlock Deadlock (1947) Newlyweds Eddie (Joe DeRita) and Betty barely moved into their new house before Betty's mother, aunt and brother show up and give every indication of becoming permanent free-loading guests. ***

Jitter bughouse (1948) A man and his band try to cure his nurse girlfriend's patient with their music. **



                                          The 3 Stooges 6 Movie Collection

Have Rocket, Will Travel (1959) The Boys first feature film in which they accidental launch into space and land on a Venus and trouble and hilarity ensue. (***)

The Outlaws is Coming (1965) The Boys who work for an editor at a Boston wildlife conservation magazine are sent west to stop the slaughter of buffalo. Upon their arrival they find themselves enemies of every notorious gunslinger in history. (***)

Rockin’ through the Rockies (1945) Prospector Shorty (Moe) hooks two vagrants (Larry and Curly) into investing in his gold mine after they accidentally win big at roulette. Note this is not the boys 1940 short film of the same name! (***)

Three Stooges go around the world in a daze (1963) Phileas Fogg III, great grandson of the original Phileas Fogg, accepts a bet to duplicate his great grandfather’s famous trip around the world and takes with him his servants (the stooges) along for the trip! (***)

The Three Stooges meet Hercules (1962) The Three Stooges and an inventor’s time machine spells trouble and fun for Ancient Greece. (***)

Time out for Rhythm (1941) Kitty Brown, the maid of Frances Lewis, a nightclub star, gets after Frances’ fiancé forbids her to appear in the club, a Hollywood contract. (***)

If all this entertainment isn't enough, included is a booklet featuring contents of this epic DVD set. Along with historical facts, biographies of each of the stooges and 3 Stooges time lines. This is a nice little bonus to an already stacked collection.

This big box set of stooges fun includes 10 DVDs in DVD cases. The audio and video quality on videos does vary a little but for the most part they are really good quality prints. The DVD menus are easy to navigate. This has to be the best 3 Stooges collection I have ever seen! I am proud to have it in my collection!

So if you or someone you love is a 3 Stooges fan treat yourself or them to a great collection of 3 Stooges fun! Head over to Amazon.com and pick up a copy today. I think your going to love it! I know I love my copy!

Moral Rating: mild comedic violence
Audience: families
Genre: comedy
Length: Almost 43 hours
DVD Released: 2017
DVD Rating: A+