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Rating: - A little past their prime
Sadly, by the time this film was made (1961, according to the copyright date on the film itself, not 1962), the Three Stooges shtick was a little beyond its prime. Partly that was because of the age of the Stooges (Moe was 64, and Larry and Curly-Joe weren't far behind), but partly it was because of the age itself -- their trademark physical comedy had to be heavily toned down because it was no longer acceptable to over-protective children's advocates. And partly, of course, it was because the act no longer had either of its classic line-ups: views vary on the worth of Curly-Joe DeRita, but it may be agreed he was neither Curly Howard nor Shemp Howard.

That said, this film has more resonance of the classic Stooges shorts than most of their later films, even if without the belly laughs. It is also interesting that the producers cared enough about it to invest in wide-screen format, but not enough to invest in making it in colour. There was a lot of that going on in Hollywood in the late 50s and early 60s. Interestingly, there is a promo on the disc for a series of colourised Stooges DVDs, but this one has not itself been given the treatment.

It is disappointing that, aside from that promo, there are absolutely no extras on this disc.

Nevertheless, this is fair value, but probably for hard-core Stooges fans only. Anyone wanting to be introduced to the Stooges for the first time would be better served with one of the many anthologies of their short subjects available than one of these films from the later period. But if you do want to dip into the movies, this is probably the best of them.

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