​Comedy legends with limited Blu-ray exposure

Three Stooges fans probably already know that all 190 of their Columbia shorts are on DVD in a multi-disc collection and in eight individual volumes. Although remastered in HD, sadly none are yet on Blu-ray. That will change next month when the two 1953 shorts they filmed in 3-D will be bonuses on the 3-D restoration of Vincent Price’s “The Mad Magician” (1954), coming to 3-D Blu-ray from Twilight Time.

Meanwhile, last year Mill Creek Entertainment released two triple-feature bargain Blu-ray sets with four of the six Stooges starring features, plus two other Columbia features they appeared in. Either would make an ideal Christmas gift for Three Stooges fans with HDTVs, and the first volume may also appeal to film buffs (and jazz/swing music fans) who never really warmed up to the broad and violent slapstick comedy the team was noted for. It’s a shame there are no bonus items, but the films all look quite good and have decent sound.

“The Three Stooges Triple Feature” from Mill Creek spotlights two entertaining but rarely-seen musicals that include the Stooges in roles a bit different from their shorts. The third movie is their first starring feature, made in 1959, with the boys back in their familiar personas, if a bit more subdued due to their ages by then.

“Time Out for Rhythm” (1941) stars the great dancer Ann Miller with Rudy Vallee, Rosemary Lane, Allen Jenkins, Joan Merrill, Richard Lane, Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Band, and others. It’s a nice little backstage musical set in the world of Broadway, nightclubs, radio, and television (before World War II postponed national TV broadcasting for nearly a decade). The plot follows the careers of two agents, one of whom is trying to romance his difficult star, and the other of whom discovers her maid may be even more talented. The Three Stooges pop in every so often as vaudeville comics looking for work, performing some of their best routines. They’re integrated perfectly into the showbiz atmosphere. Without the necessity of carrying an entire storyline or the opportunity to go wild with their extreme slapstick style, they may disappoint die-hard fans at the same time they provide amusing comic relief for viewers who came to see the musical.

Mill Creek’s Blu-ray has a strong film-like HD image with good textures and details. Sound is good, but can benefit from turning up slightly and boosting the subwoofer.

TIME OUT FOR RHYTHM on Blu-ray – Movie: B / Video: A / Audio: A / Extras: F

“Rockin’ in the Rockies” (1945) is another agreeable Columbia musical-comedy, this time based around western-flavored swing music, the precursor to today’s country-western. The Stooges are featured much more prominently than in “Time Out for Rhythm,” but again traditional Stooges fans often dislike this film because again it’s not the typical anarchic slapstick of their shorts. It’s basically a B-western musical that happens to star Moe Howard as a Nevada ranch foreman named Shorty Williams. After watching a musical act by Mary Beth Hughes and Gladys Blake (doing the film’s title number) in a Reno casino, he helps local vagrants Larry and Curly escape the sheriff by conning them into investing in a mining operation. The result is more like “Moe plus the Two Stooges” but this works just fine in the context of the musically-oriented story.

When the casino does not renew their contract, the showgirls reluctantly become Moe’s additional prospecting partners to earn their fare back to New York. Several of the ranch hands also have a musical act they keep unsuccessfully trying to promote at local venues. By convenient coincidence a New York producer is vacationing in the area and they all try to get him to audition them. The ranch is actually owned by Shorty’s cousin, who returns unexpectedly as all this is going on. Plenty of songs fill in between quick plot points and comedy routines, and the whole thing is done in barely over an hour.

Picture quality is fine and audio quality is quite good except for a brief section in one of the music numbers, which has a mild warble distortion as if the film was not tight around the sound drum.

ROCKIN’ IN THE ROCKIES on Blu-ray – Movie: B- / Video: A / Audio: A- / Extras: F

“Have Rocket, Will Travel” (1959) is the weakest of the three, both in entertainment and video quality. The boys are back to the traditional Stooges formula, but by this time Joe DeRita (as “Curly Joe”) makes his first appearance as the third stooge.

Here they play bungling janitors at a rocket science lab who want to save the job of the pretty scientist (Anna-Lisa) in charge of the project. Meanwhile the base psychologist (Robert Colbert) is trying without much luck to romance her away from her career. Somehow the boys concoct a successful rocket fuel but inadvertently get trapped in the spaceship when it blasts off for Venus. There they discover a talking unicorn, a fire-breathing tarantula, and a ruling robot-computer that makes evil twins of each of the Stooges.

There’s some occasionally amusing slapstick, notably at a celebration party after they return to earth, and satire on 1950s sci-fi, but much of the film relies heavily on their trademark comedy of mean-spirited personal pain and humiliation, the formula that endeared them to mass audiences but kept them from widespread critical acclaim. The film lacks the freshness and chaotic sense of energy and non-sequiturs that infused their best shorts of the 1930s and 40s, but it should still appeal to young children and die-hard Stooges fans.

Picture quality is uneven, with some very sharp scenes and many that are soft and/or grainy, likely due to overuse of optical effects and stock footage. Audio is respectable.

HAVE ROCKET, WILL TRAVEL on Blu-ray – Movie: C / Video: B+ / Audio: A / Extras: F