Collection Vol

The Three Stooges Collection, Vol. 7: 1952-1954
$24.96
At some point during the production of this long-awaited chronological compilation of Three Stooges shorts, Sony simply abandoned the quality and intent of the project with which it had started. About halfway through the series the remastering achieved on the early editions was forsaken, but why ...? Had the restoration been handed over to another production facility which was only concerned with transfering the old films to DVD; or was there a budgetary consideration that had to be made?

As noted by other reviewers, there is a problem here with those widescreen editions which have cropped the picture to the point of being bothersome. In response to this -- who made such a poor decision after reviewing the results and then deciding to stick with the matted format, as opposed to the original format which preserved all of the picture?

And the 3D extras are so poorly assembled as to be unwatchable. But what I have found to be most disturbing is a problem that creeps up in nearly every short from the last of the Curly films to the present, which is the sudden degradation of video quality of one or two shots per short which you can see are cropped and which then expand in an instant to a much higher resolution. This cannot be how these scenes were filmed, but are errors in the digital rendering that have been overlooked in the final version.

And in the short "Income Tax Sappy" there had been digital errors in the audio from previous versions released on tape, which still remain, such as Moe mouthing "a double-crossing rat" in a scene where it is clearly visible that he is not speaking the line, but which is a digital audio artifact somehow present from an earlier scene.

Yes, it seems that we almost have every Stooge film -- as we always wanted, but what a shame that the transfers have deteriorated so badly throughout.

The Sims Triple Expansion Collection, Vol 2: Hot Date / Vacation / Makin' Magic
$19.99
The Sims Triple Expansion Collection Volume 2 contains three previously released expansions: Hot Date, Vacation, and Makin' Magic.

Cartoons That Time Forgot: The Ub Iwerks Collection Vol. 1
$2.99
KINO's FREE FORM FAIRY TALES videotape is a typically fine gathering of nicely-preserved animations, this time from Ub Iwerks. The shorts are in "Cinecolor" and all demonstrate this animator's free-wheeling style. Tape is recorded in SP mode and has HiFi audio.


Also from KINO:
THE RAINBOW PARADES features polished Technicolor shorts from the final days of Van Beuren studios.


CONTENTS--

ALADDIN AND THE WONDERFUL LAMP (1934) - Young Aladdin works as a polisher for a used-lamp merchant.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK (1933) - In Iwerks' bizarre version, the hen lays golden coins that always land in a cash register.

THE BRAVE TIN SOLDIER (1934) - Adaptation of Han Christian Anderson story about a one-legged soldier and toy ballerina.

PUSS IN BOOTS (1934) - Ogre turns princess into a caged bird. Her unlucky rescuer must be saved by three cats.

LITTLE BOY BLUE (1936) - Wolf steals Bo Peep's flock and she, Little Boy Blue, a scarecrow and Bo Peep's black sheep save the day.

THE QUEEN OF HEARTS (1934) - Playing cards come to life. The Queen bakes tarts out of soap powder.

SIMPLE SIMON (1935) - Simon steals a duck at the fair and sells it to buy more than he can eat from the pieman.

THE KING'S TAILOR (1934) - After getting a rip in the Royal trousers repaired, the King encounters an ogre.

THE THREE BEARS (1935) - Musical version of the famous tale, as directed by Ub Iwerks.

DICK WHITTINGTON'S CAT (1936) - Rather than drown his afraid-of-mice cat, Dick hides it on a Morocco-bound boat.

The Steel Drum Island Collection - Vol. 2
$14.99
I bought this CD while moored in Manchoneel Bay on Cooper Island in the BVI (population 24, so they say). On our chartered catamaran, we listened to it over and over again without tiring of it. The variety is amazing - songs from Bob Marley to Pat Boone to Santana, Beatles, and Beach Boys. Your cares melt away as you listen to the mellow steel drums.