The Three Stooges: Cops and Robbers

You know the formula: responding to a variety of accidental mishaps and innocent puns, bowl-cut victim Moe Howard physically abuses his two closest buddies, only to discover the importance of teamwork amidst the most hilarious of hijinks. In this collection of six Stooges shorts made between 1936-1949, Larry, Moe, and Curly (and to a lesser degree Shemp) play veterinarians, court witnesses, janitors, gumshoes, and firefighters with equal (comic) aplomb. “Disorder in the Court” is the oldest of the shorts and perhaps the best, featuring Moe swallowing a harmonica, Curly's difficulties with the witness oath, and a parrot loose in the courtroom. Cobs and Robbers also demonstrates that the only thing funnier than the Stooges by themselves is the Stooges with animals, since nothing facilitates comic bumbling like a dog-napped prize pooch (in “Calling All Curs”) or an apeman run amok (in both “Dizzy Detectives” and “Who Done It?”). Even if these aren't your favorite Stooge moments, and even if you stubbornly insist that Shemp (who appears in only two of the shorts) was the funniest Howard brother, this is definitely recommended. (D. Fienberg)