bmbdsm After the king of a far-off land dies, his second wife, the Evil Queen, locks up his beautiful daughter, Snow White, because she fears that Snow White will become more beautiful than her, and become Queen. A huntsman is then ordered to take her into the forest and cut out her heart as proof that she is dead. But the huntsman cannot bring himself to kill her, and orders her to run far into the forest and never come back. She eventually happens upon a small cottage. Also taking up residence in the cottage is a team of strolling players, the Three Stooges, in addition to Quatro, the ventriloquist. The team is borrowing the cottage from the Seven Dwarfs, who are off mining gold. Quatro and Snow White slowly start to fall in love; unfortunately, the Queen finds out about Snow White's whereabouts, and orders her men to search the kingdom and find her. It is revealed that Quatro is Prince Charming, who was ordered killed several years earlier, as he posed a threat to the Queen's reign. Quatro is kidnapped, and it's up to the Three Stooges to save the day and bring Snow White and the Prince back together.This film has been unfairly panned by critics over the years, which is a shame. It is a charming little film. True, the Stooges' trademark comedy is played down in this film. However, they do manage to sneak in a few funny moments (they ARE the Stooges, after all), and they prove themselves to be fine dramatic actors as well, such as when they find Snow White poisoned by the Queen. What makes this SNOW WHITE unique is that Snow White is played by Olympic ice skater Carol Heiss, whose skills are put on display in several lovely fantasy sequences. She is a pleasant fairy-tale heroine, and is fine in the role. Edson Stroll, as Prince Charming, is clearly having the time of his life and also turns in a fine performance. Patricia Medina and Guy Rolfe, as the Queen and her henchman, are fun to watch, as they chew up the scenery. The sets and costumes are quite lavish and add the appropriate fantasy to the film. Leon Shamroy provides excellent CinemaScope cinematography, which is put to good use in the skating scenes. The fight scenes are exciting, and surprisingly grisly (for 1961); Rolfe dies when he falls in a pot of hot oil, and Stroll almost dies when he is hit by an arrow. The songs help get the job done, and the script is co-written by Noel Langley, who helped bring THE WIZARD OF OZ to the screen. All in all, the film is not bad as some might think. Just give it a shot. Recommended for the whole family. 10/10.

fatshieronymous Snow White and the Three Stooges is a conflicted little film. It's a fairy tale, a capitalization on Carol Heiss's (then) new-found fame as an Olympic figure skating champion and a Three Stooges vehicle, all at once. Because it attempts to be all things to everyone it seems odd that it didn't achieve a greater level of success upon it's theatrical release. As with most films facing this predicament, it has earned something of a "cult status" and rightfully so, since it's not without it's charms.SWAT3S has been regarded as "the red-headed stepchild", if you will, of Three Stooges entertainment. The plot devotes much of it's time in telling the Snow White story rather than focusing on the slapstick comedy of Larry, Curly and Moe, and herein is where a lot of disappointment lay, during it's theatrical run, for those who were eager to see a Three Stooges film in color for the first time. The Three Stooges do get their fair share of screen time, however- even if that screen time is mostly geared towards having them be stand-ins for the seven dwarfs rather than mischief-makers. For those who aren't well versed in Stooges entertainment, or are willing to overlook the lack of traditional Stooges comedy, I suspect this won't cloud your judgement of this delightful film.Now onto the rest of the cast: Carol Heiss is Snow White, Patricia Medina is the Wicked Queen, Guy Rolfe is Count Oga and Edson Stroll is Prince Charming. The real stand outs here are Medina and Rolfe. As the Queen, Medina revels in the sheer vanity and ruthlessness of her character while Rolfe as Oga acts as a foil to her plotting and is an unscrupulous villain in his own right. Is it any wonder, though, that the villains are always the most fun to watch? Heiss wasn't an actress and one can see that here in her performance as Snow White, but she suffices, and Stroll makes for a dashing, if not particularly noteworthy, prince.The production design is lavish, colorful and truly befit for a fairy tale. Everything from the costumes to the set designs are enchanting and capture the atmosphere evoked by the tale of Snow White (although there is a certain level of "Disneyfication" going on). The costumes are glorious and a spectacle to behold; on a side note, I much prefer the appearance of this Wicked Queen to Disney's version of her. The sets are magnificent and have that surreal (if somewhat campy and unrealistic) sound-stage look to them that is so iconic of films from the era. We get to see the Queen's castle sitting high atop a snowy mountain and the quaint little home of the dwarfs (virtually a live-action replica of the one seen in Disney's film). Alongside the film's visuals, the soundtrack is appropriately majestic, at times lilting and sentimental and at others chilling and foreboding. And three more things worth mentioning: one is that there are some elaborate action set-pieces, including a suspenseful chase sequence and a decent amount of swashbuckling, lending an adventurous feel to the traditional Snow White story. Another is that you can expect to see Carol Heiss put her figure skating talents to use in several dazzling skating sequences that lend a lovely winter atmosphere to the story's proceedings. And third of all, again showing the aforementioned Disney influence, is a handful of musical sequences performed by Snow White and her prince. I suppose they're meant to act as character development, revealing the inner thoughts of our heroine and hero, and on that level they work. But I suspect some viewers, if not most, would find them tedious to sit through as they slow the story down somewhat.Snow White and the Three Stooges has become something of a "forgotten" film. Despite a plethora of negative reviews and criticisms, the film remains a favorite of mine since the first time I saw it over a decade ago. If you're looking for a film geared around the Three Stooges then this might not be the film for you, as it's main goal is to tell a fairly accurate, though slightly fractured, version of Snow White. But for fans of fairy tales or vintage Hollywood this just may be worth checking out...

echernoffw-1 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!

moonspinner55 ...so what's a joker to make of such a product, rife as it is with warmed-over fairy tale baloney? Poor skater Carol Heiss looks positively in pain as Snow White, which may provide some unintentional comic relief from the sub-Disney nonsense on hand. As for the Three Stooges, they are wasted in what must be the three most unfunny comedic roles in kiddie film history. As an adult now, I guess I liked the torture chamber best (the burly woodsman whines like a little girl on the rack) which just goes to show what little else there is on display here. What a waste of celluloid, and what was Twentieth Century Fox thinking? *1/2 from ****