U.S.Volume One October 30, 2007 Volume Two May 27, 2008 Volume Three August 26, 2008 Volume Four October 7, 2008 Volume Five March 17, 2009 Volume Six June 16, 2009 Volume Seven November 10, 2009 Volume Eight June 1, 2010 The Ultimate Collection June 5, 2012 The Complete DVD Collection October 18, 2016
Running time
Volume One 340 mins. Volume Two 415 mins. Volume Three 396 mins. Volume Four 360 mins. Volume Five 432 mins. Volume Six 390 mins. Volume Seven 356 mins. Volume Eight 515 mins. Total running time 3204 mins.
The Three Stooges Collection is a series of DVD collections of theatrical short subjects produced by Columbia Pictures starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges. Each volume is a two-disc set, and covers a three-year interval, with the exception of Volume Eight, which is a three-disc set and covers the last five years at Columbia.
The series was first made available by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on October 30, 2007 and released Volume One: 1934-1936 and marked the first time the comedy team's shorts were released on DVD in chronological order. In addition, every film was remastered in high definition, another first for the comedy team's body of celluloid works.
The series proved to be a success and was very popular, so Sony released, Volume Two: 1937-1939 on May 27, 2008. Three months later, Volume Three: 1940-1942 was released on August 26, 2008. Volume Four: 1943-1945 was released just two months later on October 7, 2008.
After the release of the fourth volume, the global economic crisis slowed down the release schedule. Volume Five: 1946-1948 was belatedly released on March 17, 2009. Volume Six: 1949-1951 was released three months later on June 16, 2009. Volume Seven: 1952–1954 was released on November 10, 2009, and included a pair of 3-D glasses to view the two shorts, Spooks! and Pardon My Backfire. As of 2013, the 3-D versions of these shorts have been removed for the current versions of this volume. The final volume, Volume Eight: 1955-1959, was released on June 1, 2010, which is a three-disc set and covers the last five years with Columbia Pictures.
On June 5, 2012, all eight volumes were reissued in a box set entitled The Three Stooges: The Ultimate Collection, with the addition of a ninth, 3-disc volume entitled Rare Treasures from the Columbia Pictures Vault. The additional volume featuring the feature films Rockin' in the Rockies and Have Rocket, Will Travel, several cartoons featuring the Stooges from the 1930s and 1940s, and a number of Columbia shorts featuring Shemp Howard, Joe Besser and Joe DeRita as solo comedians prior to joining the Stooges; several of these solo films are remakes of Stooge films.
On October 18, 2016, The Three Stooges: The Complete DVD Collection was released. It had all the DVDs from volumes 1 through 8 but it did not include the "Rare Treasures from the Columbia Pictures Vault" discs. All eight volumes are also available on iTunes. On June 15, 2020, iTunes released The Three Stooges: The Complete Series, which features all 190 shorts in an entire collection.
Most of the shorts will be released on Blu-ray in July 23, 2024.[1]
Rare Treasures from the Columbia Pictures Vault[edit]
3-DVD set of bonus material released with Ultimate Collection box set, focusing on solo films featuring Shemp Howard, Joe Besser and Joe DeRita. Also included were animated cartoons featuring the Stooges.
