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The Best of The Three Stooges

DVD

Time-Life

1934 – 1959 / 1.33:1 / Over 45 Hours (!)/ Street Date – June 6, 2018

Starring Moe Howard, Curly Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita

Cinematography by Benjamin Kline, Gert Andersen, Ray Cory

Directed by Jules White

Garden variety slapstick has always been fraught with physical peril but The Three Stooges took the concept to medieval levels, their persona defined by equal parts vaudeville and the Spanish Inquisition.

With clothes seemingly hijacked from clotheslines and manners borrowed from feral raccoons, the scrappy trio were nothing if not street survivors – always on the dole or making do with hardscrabble day jobs. Their raw brand of comedy, all simmering anger and violent outbursts, was the embodiment of depression-era resentment.

Ticket buyers loved them, so much so that Columbia president Harry Cohn used them as a bargaining chip when striking deals with hungry theater owners – if exhibitors wanted The Three Stooges, they were stuck with Blondie Plays Cupid.

Viewers looking (desperately) for American leaders to admire can’t do better than to reflect on John Ford’s folksy, at least partly authentic honorarium to one of the greats. Henry Fonda is 100% dead-on as a vision of Abe Lincoln to bring tears to our eyes. Imagine . . . there’s such a thing as political integrity, or simply a person that puts the public good ahead of personal advantage. Criterion’s older extras are augmented with a fine new feature commentary by John Ford authority Joseph McBride.

Young Mr. Lincoln

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 320

1939 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 9, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver, Arleen Whelan, Eddie Collins, Richard Cromwell, Eddie Quillan, Ward Bond, Milburn Stone, Francis Ford, Fred Kohler Jr..

Cinematography: Bert Glennon

Original Music: Alfred Newman

Written by Lamar Trotti

Produced by Kenneth Macgowan, Darryl F. Zanuck

Directed by John...

Pioneering woman director Lois Weber socially conscious drama 'Shoes' among Library of Congress' Packard Theater movies (photo: Mary MacLaren in 'Shoes') In February 2015, National Film Registry titles will be showcased at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus Theater – aka the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation – in Culpeper, Virginia. These range from pioneering woman director Lois Weber's socially conscious 1916 drama Shoes to Robert Zemeckis' 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future. Another Packard Theater highlight next month is Sam Peckinpah's ultra-violent Western The Wild Bunch (1969), starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine. Also, Howard Hawks' "anti-High Noon" Western Rio Bravo (1959), toplining John Wayne and Dean Martin. And George Cukor's costly remake of A Star Is Born (1954), featuring Academy Award nominees Judy Garland and James Mason in the old Janet Gaynor and Fredric March roles. There's more: Jeff Bridges delivers a colorful performance in...