World Famous Comics: Snow White and the Three Stooges
Snow White and the Three Stooges
Starring: Carol Heiss, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita, Moe Howard, Edson Stroll Directed By: Walter Lang, Frank Tashlin Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: G (General Audience) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 26, 2005 Running Time: 107 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1961
Description: The world's greatest fairy tale is about to get a few new and hilarious wrinkles. For starters, it's all live action as Snow White takes to the ice in the person of 1960 Olympic figure skating champion, Carol Heiss. Then, standing in for the Seven Dwarfs,
Amazon.com: Many Stooges fans will find Snow White and the Three Stooges painful going, while some might find it quite charming. The film was conceived as a vehicle for Carol Heiss, the 1960 Olympic figure skating champion, but it was obvious that her limited acting would not carry the classic plot very far. So the Three Stooges were substituted for the Seven Dwarfs, and Prince Charming (Edson Stroll) became their companion. The start and end of the film follow the Disney version fairly closely, with Patricia Medina providing the only real acting as the Wicked Queen, abetted by the reliable villainy of Guy Rolfe.
In fact, Snow White lost in the woods is almost a frame-by-frame copy of the Disney sequence, complete with a live tree out of the 1939 Wizard of Oz. This might grab some youngsters' attention by frightening them and some by amusing them, but the love sequences and the forgettable songs might bore them. The fight sequences are possibly too grisly for some children; Guy Rolfe dies by falling into a vat of boiling oil.
As a Three Stooges vehicle, it differs from their other films. Except for Curly Joe's spoonerisms, there is little humor in the dialogue, a bare minimum of slaps (without the reassuring comic sounds), and no eye pokes. (Moe was sensitive to parental complaints about their television shorts.) There is, however, a touching moment when they are mourning the supposed death of Snow White. And you do get to see them in color. --Frank Behrens
A lavish, technicolor fairy tale for the Stooges Fans of the Three Stooges may find themselves divided on whether or not they like this 1961 re-working of the fairy tale classic. Depending on the age group viewing, children might get bored during the long musical production numbers while waiting for the Stooges to return; die-hard Stooge fans might complain that the Stooges are taking a secondary role, providing much-needed comic relief for Olympic skater Carol Heiss & company; and others might find it a nice change of pace from all the Stooge's usual violent slapstick, and an utterly charming film. To accomodate the plot, Moe, Larry & Curly Joe have replaced the Seven Dwarfs, Prince Charming is their companion on their travels, and of course, there are many musical numbers performed on ice skates to showcase Heiss' talents (along with skaters who are made up in long shot masquerading as the Stooges). But, it's actually the villainy of Patricia Medina as the Wicked Queen and Guy Rolfe as her right-hand man who provide the more delicious moments of the story. It's a rare delight to see the Stooges in a big budgeted production--and in technicolor, no doubt! Their scene in which they return too late to find Snow White fallen victim to the poisonous bite of the apple is well done, and genuinely touching as they openly weep. It's true that the Stooges have done far funnier fare in their earlier years (even their current 1960's features). But if you can endure the syrupy romantic moments & production numbers, it's enjoyable family fun.
Love this movie! I had forgotten how much I enjoy this movie. The download to my computer, though, is painfully slow. Not likely to rent online again.
Not that bad, not that great This actually doesn't seem like a half-bad little film if one takes it as a children's fairytale and not a Three Stooges movie. It is interesting and pleasant enough, and sticks fairly well to the familiar Snow White story (with the obvious exception of the Seven Dwarves not being in it); I can definitely see it as being rather appealing to young children. And it is gorgeous to look at, being in Technicolor. However, even taking that into consideration, it doesn't exactly hold up as great top-notch entertainment either. It just symbolises what the Stooges had become in this final phase of their career when they were being marketed heavily to children and forced to seriously tone down the slapstick violence by parents' groups. Being child-friendly does not have to equate being boring, watered-down, lame, and unintelligent. A lot of their classic shorts can be considered child-friendly without being bad kiddy fare. And if the kids of the era were able to watch those shorts in syndication without incident, it wouldn't have killed the powers that be to have allowed some more violence in their features. (There are a couple of pretty violent scenes, but none of them with the Stooges.) Apart from the opening scene where the prologue is told via the storybook, with the Stooges periodically popping up on pages where they shouldn't, the only times I laughed were when the film was so unintentionally bad it was funny.
Moe and Larry do a valiant job with the crummy material (and DeRita once again exhibits no real chemistry with them, let alone much of a personality), but apart from that, there's some extraordinarily bad acting, particularly from Carol Heiss. She was rather pretty and was a great iceskater, but who told her she could act? And then there are the lame songs and some rather long and boring iceskating scenes, esp. the one around the midway point. At least these songs and iceskating scenes might not have seemed so bad had they actually had something to do with the plot. And while it is a kind of nice change of pace to see the Stooges in dramatic pathos-laden roles, they just don't seem like themselves. The kindly grandfatherly types they played in this era are so at odds with their well-established characters from the entire rest of their career! We know that at heart they're sympathetic and even lovable guys, but they're not supposed to be this nice and sweet! The color also makes them look their age; in black and white, even in the last of their shorts, they seem beyond the constraints of their actual ages. In particular, it makes Moe's eye-bags look even more pronounced. I'm glad they were finally able to be in starring full-length features and to make serious money after so long of being exploited, but I just wish these features had been more tailored to their talents and strengths, instead of being boring embarrassing sappy watered-down bad kiddy fare. While I could recommend it as a nice old-fashioned children's movie, I could never recommend it as a great Stooges movie.
Not bad for a Three Stooges movie! Stoogemania was alive and well in the early 1960's. This one proves it with Snow White and the Three Stooges. It features Carol Heiss from the 1960 winter Olympics and Three Stooges. I liked the ice skating, the music and the tale from a Three Stooges perspective. Another nice thing,it was made in COLOR!! Not bad for Stooge fans and yes the families!!
fairytale classic given a new spin While it doesn't exactly follow the storyline of the original fairytale, SNOW WHITE & THE THREE STOOGES comes alive with comedy, romance and action. This film was tailored as a showcase for five-time Olympic champion iceskater Carol Heiss, and while she lacks the dramatic finesse of a true actress, she deeply feels the role of Snow White and does a fine job.
In this version of the tale, the Wicked Queen (played with aplomb by B-movie bad girl Patricia Medina) plots to kill lovely Snow White (Carol Heiss) as well as the prince of a neighbouring kingdom. Both plans flounder, and the two royal refugees find solace in the company of a wandering minstrel trio (played by--of course--the Three Stooges). What follows is a wonderful mix of comedy, adventure and breathless romance as Snow White and her Prince Charming skate towards their "sky of happiness".
As an all-skating, all-musical version of SNOW WHITE, this version hits the mark beautifully. Playing the thankless role of the Prince Charming is no easy assignment, but Edson Stroll does what he can with the part--most of the time he just stands around looking pretty, but what else does a fairytale prince do? Likewise, Carol Heiss rarely rises above the level of department-store mannequin in her performance as Snow White, but achieves what she can, and really comes alive with her ice-skating routines.
Patricia Medina manages to hold back in her rendering of the Wicked Queen; it would have been so easy for the role to be done in a high-camp style, but Ms Medina stays true to the material and plays it straight. The Three Stooges likewise curb their usual comic schtick, and it does make a refreshing and welcome change. They could sometimes be subtle, and the proof is right here.
The production values are indeed lavish. The director, Walter Lang, almost bankrupted the Twentieth Century-Fox studios with his incredible ice-rink sets, and there several wonderful skating sequences to savour, including a "Dream Ballet" for Stroll and Heiss. The musical numbers do little to advance the plot, but are very pretty, and highlights include "Magic Day" and "That Place Called Happiness".
As with any film version of a fairytale classic, it's hard not to get caught up in the romance and adventure--the same is true for SNOW WHITE & THE THREE STOOGES.
The DVD includes both widescreen and full-frame versions of the film, plus the trailer. (Double-sided, single-layer disc).
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