Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Walter Lang

Writers:

Noel Langley (writer)
Elwood Ullman (writer)

Release Date:

29 December 1961 (Finland)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Fantasy

Tagline:

Rollicking Fun For Everyone!

Plot:

An ice-skating Snow White finds refuge from the Wicked Queen with the Three Stooges.

Plot Keywords:

Mountain | Snake Oil | Princess | Cottage | Arrow

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Carol Heiss	...	Snow White
Larry Fine	...	Larry
Joe DeRita	...	Curly-Joe
Moe Howard	...	Moe
Edson Stroll	...	Prince Charming
Patricia Medina	...	Queen / Witch
Guy Rolfe	...	Count Oga
Michael David	...	Rolf
Buddy Baer	...	Hordred
Edgar Barrier	...	King Augustus
Peter Coe	...	Captain
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marie Blake	...	Servant (as Blossom Rock)

Also Known As:

Snow White and the Three Clowns

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | USA:G

Company:

Chanford

Trivia:

Originally budgeted at $750,000, the film ended up costing $3,500,000.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the Stooges play music to Snow White, Curly Joe plays a concertina, an instrument that was not invented until 1844.

Quotes:

[hawking an all-purpose "medicine" called Yuk]
Moe: Become the envy of your friends. Surprise your wife. You, lady, grow a beard and surprise your husband!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2 (1999) (TV)

A REAL SNOOZEFEST

What happened? This had the makings of a great film here! You have The Three Stooges, one of the greatest comedy teams of all time. The director, Walter Lang, made the great "Can-Can" with Frank Sinatra the year before. Cinematographer Leon Shamroy supplied some of the most stunning cinematography of all time (his titles include "Leave Her to Heaven", "The Robe", "The Egyptian" and "Cleopatra") and one of the most decorated (he won 4 Oscars)The script was written by Elwood Ullman, who wrote many of the Stooges' very best shorts ("Dutiful But Dumb" comes to mind) What went wrong?

According to Moe Howard, a lot went wrong. The original director was Frank Tashlin, a former animator for Warner Bros. who became a feature director and had directed many excellent comedies such as "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" and "The Disorderly Orderly".His style would have fit the Stooges like a glove. He was replaced by Walter Lang, who was not a comedy director and didn't fit the Stooges style. Another problem was the casting of Olympic ice skater Carol Heiss in the role of Snow White. She was pretty, but couldn't act. And of course, once she came on board, Lang became obsessed with creating elaborate ice skating sequences for Heiss. This leads me to the third problem:budget. Tashlin's budget was 750,000 dollars which was reasonable. Lang was given carte blanche (big mistake and it was decisions like that that nearly bankrupted Fox) The final cost was 4 million dollars.

Was it worth it? Absolutely not. Despite the title, The Three Stooges are hardly given a chance to do what they do best. In fact, they don't do much at all. But when they do, at least it provides a laugh. But the film is a real snoozefest, with butt numbing ice skating sequences that inspire yawns rather than ahhhs, boring musical numbers and a plot with enough holes that could make Swiss Cheese jealous. If you want to see the Three Stooges in their prime, see some of their classic shorts or even their later features. Skip this. You'll thank me later.

* 1/2 out of 4 stars