Reviews (26)

Beware this sequel to the classic original--it needs help...
"The Return of the Fly" attempts to duplicate the success of the original science fiction/horror classic but pretty much trying to duplicate the original plot line. However, instead of achieving horror the end result this time around is completely laughable. Philippe Delambre (Brett Halsey), the son of the original "fly" Andre Delambre, grows to continue his father's teleportation experiments. Once again Francois Delambre (Vincent Price) helps Philippe as he did the boy's father. And, once again, a Delambre trades his head and an arm with a fly. Price, whose performance in the original was wonderfully understated, goes back to overacting and when the fly starts running around the countryside it is impossible not to start laughing so hard you are in danger of choking on your popcorn. Go watch David Cronenberg's remake, where he tells how this story would have "really" happened, instead of "The Return of the Fly." Watching this sequel will only leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Excellent Originals! The FLY x 2 on DVD!
This DVD is a good example of 1950s classic science at its best. You get the original "The Fly" and its sequel. In 1958's "The Fly" man through his science takes experimentation of his environment one step too far. Man's attempts to disrupt nature's harmony leads to destruction and horror to him and his loved ones. This is a well intentioned, poignantly directed and produced film. The horror resulting from Al (David) Hedison's experiments gone awry are devastating and disturbingly represented in the film's images. Once seen, the viewer can never forget them. This is a powerful film even to this day. Vincent Price as François and Charles Herbert as the young Philippe are good. However, David Hedison and Patricia Owens' performances are brilliant and elevate this film a notch higher. This CinemaScope print by cinematographer Karl Struss on this DVD is beautiful. The colors are rich and the Stereo Sound is excellent. Paul Sawtell's lush score is eerily touching. On the flip side, 1959's "The Return of the Fly" is an interesting and imaginative sequel. Brydon Baker's black & white CinemaScope photography gives it a feel of film noir with a twist of science fiction. It looks great on this DVD. Both Vincent Price as François and Bret Halsey as the grown Philippe turn in believable performances. This can be attributed to Director Edward Bernds' choice to concentrate on characterization over the science fiction elements, which had also been effectively accomplished in the original. John Sutton as Inspector Charas (played by Herbert Marshall in the original) turned in his best performance since 1952's "Five Fingers." The score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter was very effective to the mood of the piece. This is an excellent and highly underrated film. This is a handsome DVD and highly recommended.

Help...Me...
This is truly a classic sci-fi flick from the 1950's. A man switches head and arm with a fly. The struggle to find the tiny fly with "a white head and a funny looking arm" begins after learning of this tragic mistake. The movie reaches its climax when the fly's head is revealed and the woman screams. At the end, we see a scary ending that kept me up that night. I heard that the only reason Vincent Price and the person who played Chalas didn't talk to each other is that they couldn't help but laugh when they talked due to the squeaky voice of the Fly (What?). The ending is truly a classic. And please...help...me...

A Classic
The Fly is a true classic. A woman is arrested for crushing her husband in a steam press, she seems rather mellow about it, doing what she had to do, and it's up to the detective and her brother-in-law (Vincent Price) to make her tell the story - a flash-back. What follows is a truly disturbing tale of a scientific experiment gone terribly wrong, the concept being hilarious and truly horrible at the same time, while the matter-of-factly treatment sets the perfect mood.
The image-transfer is adequate, but the colours seem a little washed out. Although Return of the Fly is rubbish it's of course an appropriate B-side feature. It has a few incitingly surreal images, the protagonist running around the country side with an enormous bug head for example. Being in black and white it looks better than the first one.

BZZZzzzzzzzzzz...
"The Fly" is a well made / known sci-fi classic. Andre (David Hedison) is a scientist, working on a contraption that disintegrates solid matter, sending it to another location to be re-integrated. Andre wants to develop it for the good of mankind, but that would make for one dull movie! Instead, he accidentally enters the disintegration chamber with an undetected fly. The two become fused into one being. Andre ends up with a fly head and claw. The fly gets Andre's head and upper body. Andre's wife is tested to the depths of her love for her now hideous husband. A frantic search for the tiny fly ensues (maybe they could de-fuse them??) with tragic results. Vincent Price is excellent as Andre's brother. Yes, it's true that "Return Of The Fly" is nowhere near as good as it's predocessor. However, I like having them both together anyway. Andre's son Phillipe is all grown up and decides to continue his father's work. He enlists the help of a guy who turns out to be a sociopathic criminal, bent on stealing the invention and selling it to an accomplice. After killing a nosey cop (by turning him into a guinea pig man), he knocks Phillipe out and puts him in the disintegration cabinet with a suspiciously handy fly. The rest of the film is a revenge story. I like the crooks and the way Phillipe avenges their treachery. A great double feature! Pop some corn, pour the beverages, and check the house for those pesky insects... ... Read more

Reviews (12)

For the very young, I guess....
I saw this on TV when I was about five or six, and really enjoyed it. I was especially impressed by the submarine/tank/helicopter. Years later there were a special showing at the theater, so I took a young boy. Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed this time--and neither was he. He was apparently too old. Although this movie stars Moe and Larry, it doesn't have Shemp or Curly--it has Joe de Rita, one of the later Curly clones. On the second viewing the only time I really enjoyed it was at the end, when the Martians (who were vaguely Frankenstein-looking) started doing the Twist. Hey, it was shot in the early '60's, remember? So I guess I could recommend this film for the very young. Beyond that, even if you are a Stooges' fan, I think you'll be disappointed.

One of the 4 Best Three Stooges Features
After the huge success of "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules"(1961), Columbia Pictures didn't waste time in signing Normandy Productions(Moe's son-in-law's film studio)to produce another stooge picture. Titled "The Three Stooges In Orbit"(1962), it is one of the team's funniest films and is almost on a par with their best feature "The Outlaws Is Coming."

The plot: After being thrown out of every apartment and hotel in Los Angeles, the Stooges take shelter in Professor Danforth's(Emil Sitka) spooky mansion. The boys are TV stars and they need a place to rehearse their lines for their television show, The 3 Stooges Scrapbook. Soon after their arrival, Danforth starts talking about Martians trying to steal his secret war machine. The trio thinks he's off his rocker, but it doesn't take long for them to learn the truth and the mayhem begins.

The Three Stooges Scrapbook was an actual unsold pilot for an unsold TV series in 1960. The footage of the haunted mansion and the Stooges on their TV show was derived from this show. "The Three Stooges In Orbit"(1962) was Moe, Larry, and Joe's last shining moment at the box-office. Soon their popularity would begin to slip. They had reached their peak in this terrific film. It was directed by Edward Bernds, the talented man who directed Shemp's first short, "Fright Night"(1947) and the classic "Brideless Groom"(1947) among many others. If you liked "Have Rocket, Will Travel"(1959) check out "The Three Stooges In Orbit"(1962).

The question remains of Ogg and Zogg
Gather 'round my friends. That's it make room for everyone. C'mon now kids up in front...everyone comfortable? Can you hear me in the back? Clem, how's your ma doing? Good good. Well folks I've gathered you all here tonight to tell you a tale of intrigue, hope, lost love, sentimental childhood, and the Cold War... That's right Gus, you hit the nail right on the head, The Three Stooges in Orbit.

First off there's the music, that sweet single violin playing those sad notes in a scale of D minor. It always reminded me of the girl I spent one magical summer with on the beach, I'll never forget her.

The plot is rich and has many side stories that the cretons of today's 20 minute SitCom and microwave burritos would fail to appreciate. That being said, let's look at the story and break it down as best we can.....

The Stooges are trying to break into TV amid various problems, sponsor buffoons ("Aw said aw want a whole new type of a cartoon show"), meddling executives ("They'll never make it J.B. They'll never make it") Obviously the Stooges are attacking Columbia Pictures. The Three Stooges are an American icon who's talant was wasted and taken for granted, while the second rate Abbot and Costello team made millions. I salute thee Mr. Howard, not only for your skill of acting the tragic Greek classics, but also for the violence of Shakespeare.

The Cold War was in full swing by 1962. (This was also the year that Marilyn Monroe died, so like all artists with sentimental hearts, the Stooges had to pay tribute to the fallen goddess.) Notice the general in this movie, see how fat he is, the overflowing girth of a belly. He represented all the fat profiteers who keep the war rumors blowing. The weapon contracts, the spy equipment, the NASA program (who would fake a moon landing just 7 years later using the same special effects from this movie!)The Stooges were pacifists who used this film as a cry out to the world to end it's jealous and violent way. After all, it was Shemp who pinted out in 1953 that 'The War to end all Wars' ended 35 years ago.

Now Ogg and Zogg are interesting characters and there is some argument over their meaning. Some took them as a religious symbol. Moe was Jewish as were his two brothers Shemp and Curly. Were Ogg and Zogg a tribute not only to his late brothers, but a warning that could have been influenced by the Torah? Ignore the subtitles and listen to the actual words of Ogg and Zogg. They are speaking an ancient Arabic tongue and are quoting Dead Sea Scrolls. The guy standing in line behind me at the Salvation Army soup kitchen told me this. He was there when the movie was made, he worked as a grip. He said Ogg and Zogg WERE NOT costumes. He claims to have had relations with the woman who has in the shower scene being frightened by the 'aerosubmatank'. Her real name was Shelly and she died shortly after her second Hollywood appearance as a dancing extra in 'Martian Beach Party'. Apparantly she went into a coma after sampling a super diet version of Dr. Pepper that was never put out on the market.

The Stooges were obviously more than the funniest comedy team that ever existed, they were prophets, scholars and finally martyrs. Ya'll come back soon and I'll tell you of the REAL story behind 'The Three Stooges meet Hercules'.

Probably the best of the Three Stooges feature films
By the end of the 1950s Harry Cohn the head of Columbia had died and the shorts department had been shut down, which meant after almost 200 two-reelers the Three Stooges were out of work. Although there would be a big Three Stooges revival on television in the next decade, the boys (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita) decided to make feature films. The first was "Have Rocket Will Travel," and "The Three Stooges in Orbit" was their fourth effort.

This 1962 film begins with Moe, Larry and Curly Joe being kicked out of their boarding house because they keep cooking in their room and ending up in the mansion of Professor Danforth (Emil Sitka from the Stooge's stock company of players). The professor has created a new vehicle for the military that is a tank, submarine and helicopter roled into one. However, the brilliant scientist is apparently also a loon, because he insists that Martians want to steal his invention and then take over the world. The Stooges decide the professor is crazy and in fact Danforth is wrong. The Martians, Ogg and Zogg, just want to destroy the Earth, not take it over. For that matter the title of this film is wrong too, because the Stooges ending up in orbit is one of the shorter gags in the film. There is also an uninspiring romantic sub-plot between the professor's daughter, Carol (Carol Christensen) and Captain Tom Andrews (Edson Stroll) that makes the dancing Martians look good.

Still, "The Three Stooges in Orbit" is one of the better Three Stooges film, and the credit goes to writer Elwood Ullman who provides not only a coherent plot (a rarity when it comes to the Stooges) but a lot of pretty good one-liners. Keep in mind that the Stooges were in their Sixties at this point, so the slapping and eye-poking does not work as well when the actors are grandparents. The end result is not classic Three Stooges comedy, but a decent enough effort from the boys at the tail end of their long careers. Still, it is hard not to wonder what this film would have been liked if it had been made 20 years earlier when Curly was in his prime.

Moe, Larry & Curly Joe in Orbit
The Three Stooges play themselves as TV stars. After getting kick out of their apartment and a long day of looking for a place to live, the boys meet up with Professor Danfort (Emil Sitka, a regular after the Curly days). The professor has invented a tank/helicopter/submarine vehicle for the military. The Army doesn't want it since it flies, the Air force doesn't want it since it goes under water, etc. The professor has suspected that the Martins want his device for their world and to destroy the earth. Moe, Larry and Curly Joe wind up baby-sitting the contraption, giving it nuclear capability and almost help the Martins in their quest.

If you like the Three Stooges you will enjoy this movie.

The DVD contains no extras. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

The four Stooges
I say "the four Stooges" because this collection features Moe,Larry,Curly and Shemp. CACTUS MAKES PERFECT,the only short with Curly,is where the Stooges hunt for gold with their new invention,a "goldfinder",which is more like a standard metal dectector. In OUT WEST,the Stooges go out west primarily for the sake of Shemp's unhealthy leg. In PUNCHY COWPUNCHERS,the Stooges are sent to the Panhandle country to capture the Killer Dillons. In MERRY MAVERICKS,the Stooges are wanted for vagrancy just like in an earlier film with Curly,PHONY EXPRESS. In VAGABOND LOAFERS,a remake of another Curly short,A-PLUMBING WE WILL GO,the Stooges as plumbers wreck havoc,and during a couple's party. In DOPEY DICKS,the Stooges as private eyes,rescue a kidnapped beauty from a labrotory. Great support from Christine McIntyre who appeared in OW,VL,DD and PC. Curly was still alive,but terminally ill when his brother Shemp's shorts were made.

finally, some hint that's it's a DVD!
They finally did something nice for the DVD opening. There's a short series with still photos and sound effects that shows the boys "in action". They still should put many more shorts on one DVD, though. The ones that did make it are funny, of course. Shemp is a very underrated member of the team.

Great DVD!
This is a great DVD. I don't mind the fact that there are five Shemp shorts and one Curly short. I like Shemp better.

CACTUS MAKES PERFECT (1942) is not a very great short, and this is it's third release. This is too slow paced and unfunny for me. I wonder why Columbia Tristar keeps releasing this one when they could be releasing some brand new shorts.

OUT WEST (1947) is an excellent short. I personally believe this is the best Stooge western short. This is quite possibly the best short on this DVD. I love this short. Highly recommended!

VAGABOND LOAFERS (1949)- I believe this is the strongest and funniest short on this DVD. I have to say this is my second favorite short next to HEAVENLY DAZE. This is a remake of Curly's classic A PLUMBING WE WILL GO. Shemp makes this short even better than the original. A MUST SEE! Shemp's maze of pipes is a highlight.

DOPEY DICKS (1950)- Another "top" Stooge short. This is an excellent short. There are many great moments while the Stooges are being chased thru the mansion. This is the best short here next to VAGABOND LOAFERS and OUT WEST.

PUNCHY COWPUNCHERS (1950) in a way, is too close to OUT WEST, but I like this anyway. I must say, this short must have the biggest supporting cast of all. There are some great moments and punches. This is a gem.

MERRY MAVERICKS (1951) on the other hand is horrible. This is a horrible remake of PHONY EXPRESS, which I wasn't fond of in the first place. Edward Bernds is usually a great director. Here, he makes the worst effort ever. This is quite possibly Shemp's worst.

A great DVD, worth adding to your collection.

Good, but not classic Stooges material!
As an avid Stooge fan I feel this release is not very funny. Main gripe is that some of the stories are repeated from other episodes. Of all of the footage that Columbia has surely they could have included some that is not repetitive, and also more funnier! If you're a fan of Curly then you will definitely be disappointed that he is only on one of these shorts, and even then it is not one of his best. Shemp was underappreciated and he can be hilarious, but again, the story lines are just not interesting. Another big complaint, and it describes the entire series that Columbia has issued so far, is that after each episode you have to go back to the main menu and choose another episode to view. In other words, you cannot watch each one in succession, which is ridiculous.

I commend Columbia for releasing this collection and hope they continue this series for a long time, as I enjoy this kind of humor, and the quality of other labels' Stooges DVD's is just horrible. I just wish that more careful planning is put into future editions, where hilarity is stressed and not just a theme.

Pretty good
This DVD disc includes 1 curly short and 5 shemp shorts. The best epsiode in this disc is "Dopey Dicks", a very funny short. But the worst is Edward Bernds' remake of "Phony Express", which isn't funnier than the original at all. They should've released the original instead of the remake. There is also another thing I think is rather dumb, they should release episodes that are not seen on TV, but instead they come out with these bare-boned DVDs with most of the episodes we've seen on TV, but this one does include two shorts which are not shown on TV, which is a plus. ... Read more