Snow White and the Three Stooges

No, this is not your usually Stooge fair. I grew watching them on Saturday afternoon. I was 9 years old when this movie came out. I thought this is going to the stupidest movie ever and ruin the Snow White story. I live in Central Florida where there was a drive-in movie every ten miles. We went to the movies once a week. I saw the movie and surprised that I liked it. I and my children like this movie. No it is not great Stooge comedy or great acting. I still like the movie and watch it from time to time. It is entertaining, pleasant, and no cursing. I like the skating sequences, they much to the movie and my enjoyment of it.

Based on IMDb ratings I would give a 5 Star rating.

If you, like most of the critics, were expecting to see a comedy, forget it! The Stooges, in their only color film, tried to do it straight and I think they succeeded. They were starting to get a bit older at this time, and I think they wanted to show the world that they could act and carry off a beautiful fairy tale. Sure, there are some funny spots... but this is an adventure, with romance and fantasy thrown in for good measure. Carol Heiss and Patricia Medina are excellent as Snow White and the Queen/Witch. Nice wide screen photography, FX, and action. THIS IS A GOOD FILM!

It would seem that I agree with about half of the other reviewers of this film. It HAS been unfairly blasted by Stooges fans because the emphasis is on the fantasy and not on the slapstick humour of the much-beloved trio. Personally, although I enjoyed their antics as a child, I was never a fan of the Stooges and would never put them in the same class as Abbott and Costello, for example. Nevertheless, they prove in this film that they are not bad actors at all. The sets and opulent costumes boost this film considerably, as do the presence of the very dark, traditional elements of European folklore, and I think this movie would have been a GREAT fantasy film if there had been seven dwarfs in it! I would agree that Carol Heiss is not a very good actress, but the character of Snow White does not call for the use of great thespian skills. I think that Patricia Medina makes this movie: she is gorgeous and exudes delicious villainy as the Queen/Witch. She was the major draw for me when I watched this film as a child. Guy Rolfe, as Count Oga, is also very effective, and the siege on the castle well-mounted. Fantasy film fans are bound to like this better than Stooges fans.

This movie has been slammed by disappointed fans of the 3 Stooges for good reason! However, with all things considered, this movie set out what it was meant to do. It put Carol Heiss in the limelight, focusing more on her incredible skills as a champion ice skater and a little less on her not-so-incredible skills as an actress.

This movie was standard matinée material in 1962. It was meant to be shown in movie theaters full of children.

Considering that the movie was made in a time when the PTA was a very powerful force to reckon with, the 3 Stooges wisely limited their slapstick routine, though not entirely. Moe is still the boss. Larry and Curly-Joe still get in the way. There was still some fun slapstick and some pie-in-the-face comic mayhem, though there are no poking in the eyes.

In an early scene, the 3 Stooges are trying to sell their product, called "Yuk". An old spectator in the crowd, heckles the Stooges, calling them "frauds". Was that old spectator played by Lou Archer? (Lou Archer played "Good Time Charlie" in the 1935 Stooge short, UNCIVAL WARRIORS.)

The movie showed promise in the beginning. An introduction with the story book, its pages turning with the Stooges showing up in the wrong time, much to the irritation of the narrator, leads the viewer to believe that this is the makings of a "fractured fairy tale". Sad to say, this was not the case.

This is not a 3 Stooges movie to be shown at any Stooge Filmfest. In spite of all this, I must give this movie a High Six after all, this film was intended to entertain a younger audience, which it did!

The movie trailer for this movie (an added feature on the DVD) accurately described the movie with promises of lots of ice skating, swashbuckling sword fights, love & romance, and (of course) the 3 Stooges.

Though nothing as memorable as the musical score from Walt Disney's animated Snow White comes out of this film, this children's story has one thing the other doesn't have. Well three things actually.

Instead of seven dwarfs to serve her exiled majesty in the forest, Snow White has Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe at her beck and call. Snow White And The Three Stooges was a film especially designed to make Olympic ice skating star Carol Heiss, the Sonia Henie for a new generation. It didn't quite work out that way for Heiss who got to show her stuff on the ice through an imaginary dream ice ballet. You can also plainly see that other than some establishing shots during that sequence it's not her less ice talented cast members in the ballet with her.

Of course the Three Stooges are up to their usual monkeyshines. In those last years of feature films with Curly Joe, it was a kinder and gentler Moe slapping the other two around. I well remember in the late Fifties when WPIX started running those old Stooge shorts from Columbia there were many complaints about how violent they were, that little kids were imitating Moe doing all kinds of nasty things to their littler brothers and sisters. I think Columbia had them tone it down a bit in those last years.

Edson Stroll who later served on the PT-73 with Ernest Borgnine and the rest of that crew in McHale's Navy makes a stalwart Prince Charming. And Patricia Medina and Guy Rolfe as the villains are feasting on all the scenery available, but it's those kind of parts and they both look very happy. As for Carol Heiss as Snow White, she was a great figure skater and might have in a few more films become competent as an actress as Sonia Henie did. But she preferred the ice to the soundstage and probably was happier for it.

Snow White And The Three Stooges is a nice charming filmed fairy tale and it's for Stooge fans of all ages.