Which Three Stooges DVDs are Available on DVD?

Credit: Amazon.ca

A DVD collection including the shorts Disorder in the Court, Malice in the Palace, and Brideless Groom

Since the recent Three Stooges movie, I have had a real desire to see more of their original work. Are there any Stooges movies available on DVD? – T.W. via e-mail

Although the Three Stooges made several feature-length films in their later years, they are best known for their “shorts,” generally 16–18 minutes long, which were made by Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1953.

Their first such film, when they were fresh out of vaudeville, was 1934’s Woman Haters for which they were paid $1,000 split three ways. The short was a success, and Columbia signed them to a long-term contract for $7,500 per film, again, split three ways (the equivalent today would be roughly $130,000).

The Stooges wrote and starred in more than 200 different films. For all their years at Columbia, they didn’t receive a single raise, as the studio worked hard to suppress news of their wildly popular success. It was not until 1957, after Curly had been dead for nearly a decade (from a series of strokes) that Moe, who was Curley’s brother, and Shemp’s as well, learned that they made millions for Columbia, little of which ever made it into the star’s hands.

Moe was a family man who was a frugal investor, and whose hobby was hooking rugs. He invested his Stooges income wisely and was financially well-off until his death from lung cancer in 1975.

Such shorts titles as Disorder in the Court, Malice in the Palace, and Brideless Groom, are readily available at such retailewrs as Best Buy, Future Shop, and HMV, or online from Amazon.ca.

There were several less-than-stellar full-length films as well, all readily available on DVD, including The Outlaws is Coming, Hercules Meets the Three Stooges, (1962) and Snow White and the Three Stooges, (1961).