Stooges: The Men Behind The Mayhem
by Paul E. Gierucki
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DVD details
Actor: Curly Howard, Emil Sitka, Larry Fine, Moe Howard, Paul 'Mousie' GarnerDirector: Paul E. Gierucki
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Extra tracks, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 50 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Mackinac Media
DVD Reviews of Stooges: The Men Behind The Mayhem
DVD Review: Great extras, very good documentary
Summary: 4 Stars
This is basically an extended version of the A&E Biography on the boys from some time back. The only difference is that it's now padded out with a lot of great extras. Though they're essentially the same but for the bonus features, it's kind of confusing how reviews for both 'The Men Behind the Mayhem' and the old VHS of the original documentary are showing up on one another's review pages instead of being separated.
I agree that there are very few clips shown, and the only Columbia shorts shown via clips are 'Disorder in the Court' and 'Sing a Song of Six Pants,' but the title of this documentary is 'The Men Behind the Mayhem,' not 'The Mayhem Behind the Men.' If one wants something that's little more than a glorified clipshow, there's always the dreadful 'Stop! Look! And Laugh!' It also seems to work under the premise that the majority of viewers are already quite familiar with the shorts, so they won't need to see endless clips of them paraded out. However, while I did enjoy this documentary and found it really good, I just wish it had been longer and gone into more depth about some things. There wasn't a lot of information here that I didn't know already.
The photographs used both during the documentary and included as one of the bonus features (grouped into memorabilia, pix of the boys in character, and rare photos from Lyla Fine Budnick's personal photo album) are a real treasure trove. I think that most people who move beyond being casual fans into more serious interest in the boys and their careers find it really fascinating, sometimes even touching, how off-camera they were devoted family men and a far cry from their crazy screen characters. The pictures of Curly (with a full head of hair) and his daughter Janie, from the last few years of his life, were particularly touching. Janie herself was interviewed, and had nothing but good things to say about her parents' marriage, which was shortlived but very happy, and the father who adored her in the short time he had with her.
Other extras include an appearance Moe, Larry, and Shemp made on 'The Comedy Caravan' (hosted by Ed Wynn) in 1950, the 4 public domain shorts ('Brideless Groom,' 'Disorder in the Court,' 'Sing a Song of Six Pants,' and 'Malice in the Palice'), an interactive DVD-ROM webpage created by Bob Bernet, "Me and My Pal Moe" (full of personal letters, photographs, newspaper and magazine obits, and memorabilia), radio interviews, extended interviews with Billy West, Nate Budnick, and Lyla Fine Budnick, and movie trailers. The television appearance is somewhat amusing, but not really fall-down funny, and it's hampered by the poor print quality. It's far from unwatchable, but still not crystal-clear. (It's also shocking how it's sponsored by Camel cigarettes and even contains a skit where Ed is putting up a display of them and then selling them to customers; how far we've come since 1950!). And speaking of poor print quality, the public domain shorts weren't much better. 'Brideless Groom' in particular had very bad pictorial quality. I've seen much better prints of them, so it's not like these shabby prints were the only ones to choose from just because they're public domain. The radio interviews are also great, even though we hear Moe perpetuating the apocryphal legend about Joe DeRita being their first choice to replace Shemp (an urban legend which thankfully is corrected in the documentary itself) and that Shemp left the group in 1932 to play Knobby Walsh in the Joe Palooka series. Shemp was doing Vitaphone shorts in 1932; the Joe Palooka series wasn't until 1936. The first half of the final interview is with Larry, about two weeks before he passed away; because of the strokes he'd suffered, his speech is kind of slow and he doesn't sound like his old self, so one has to listen carefully for that one.
All in all, there are a lot of good things on these two discs. The only reason I can't give it a full 5-star rating is because, as aforementioned, the best possible prints were not used, and as great and informative as it is, I just wish it had gone into some more depth in certain areas instead of reading like a succinct biographical profile of these 6 men and their lives and careers. The new or casual fan probably won't mind, but people who are more serious fans will want a lot more than just the basics with some elaborations.
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