I have a VHS tape of this movie and the reason I recorded it was because of the beautiful ice skating of Carol Heiss. I am a Three Stooges fan, to this day, but we all know from the other reviews that this movie wasn't about the Stooges and their kind of slapstick comedy, but a fantasy, fairy tale with ice skating. I saw this movie when I was a young, impressionable 11 year old girl and I think that after I had seen it, I only wanted to ice skate. Even now as an adult (who doesn't ice skate), my dream would be to ice skate in the beautiful, winter-land, smoky ice pond that Snow White (Heiss) skated on. It was one of the most beautiful scenes in a film. What girl wouldn't want to have her "Prince Charming" skate with her happily, forever after!

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.

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.

Why are some people so down on this movie? I saw it when I was only 7 or 8 years old and I loved it. I was already a fan of the 3 Stooges and I found this a great change from their usual slapstick. I even thought Joe DeRita was Curly Howard, they looked so much alike. What I don't understand is that often the Stooges were attacked by critics who claimed they were not funny, that all they did was hit each other in the heads. Yet for once they made a movie in which they did less hitting and played up fantasy,romance, and adventure instead. And then the critics complained that they did not do enough! It just goes to show you can't please everyone. All I can say to the people who hate the Stooges, if you don't like them then go watch something filthy on Comedy Central. I say the 3 Stooges rank right up with Laurel and Hardy as classic comedians. God bless them for bringing me so much happiness as a child!