Page 22 THE VILLADOM TIMES I, II, III & IV • June 20, 2012 DVD releases (continued from Restaurant page) security of a long-term contract and never asked for -- nor were they ever given -- a salary increase. The peak years of the Stooges’ output were 1935 through 1941, when several shorts became nearly instant classics. “Hoi Polloi” (1935), a Pygmalion-inspired tale, involves a cultured professor betting he can transform the coarse, uncultured trio into refined gentlemen. “Disorder in the Court” (1936) finds the Stooges witnesses in a murder trial. In “A Plumbing We Will Go” (1940), very elaborate for a low-budget short, the Stooges are impossibly inept plumbers who end up destroying a socialite’s mansion, with water shooting out from every appliance in the house. A stroke forced Curly into retirement, and Shemp returned to the act in 1946. Joe Besser replaced Shemp in 1956, appearing in 16 shorts. In December 1957, with the format’s waning popularity, Columbia did not renew the Stooges’ contract. When their popularity soared after their shorts were released to television, they returned to Columbia and made five feature-length films, with Moe, Larry, and Joe De Rita billed as Curley Joe. The box set contains over 65 hours of viewing, including 28 new-to-DVD short films starring Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Joe De Rita; the features “Have Rocket Will Travel” and “Rockin’ in the Rockies” (available for the first time); and a trio of Three Stooges animated shorts. Lina Wertmuller was one of the most popular directors of the 1970s. Wertmuller entertainingly explored political, social, and sexual themes. Three of her most famous and controversial films have been released on Blu-ray by Kino Classics. All are in Italian, with Italian and English subtitles. Each disc contains a photo gallery. “The Seduction of Mimi” (1972) set in both Sicily and mainland Italy, follows the adventures of a sad sack man named Mimi (Giancarlo Giannini), who is asked to rig a local election. Instead, he votes for a communist representative. To elude the Mafia, he leaves his wife and falls for and lives with female political activist Fiorella (Mariangela Melato). Soon, Mimi comes to question the life he has and what he will do next. “Love & Anarchy” (1973) stars Giancarlo Giannini as the sensitive Tunin, a freckle-faced innocent who becomes an accidental anarchist. His contact in Rome is Salome (Mariangela Melato), a prostitute with her own gloomy story. While they prepare for an assassination, Tunin falls in love with Tripolina (Lina Polito), which threatens the entire operation. “All Screwed Up” (1974), concerns Gigi (Luigi Dibert) and Carletto (Nino Bignamini), two southern Italian boys who travel north to get work in Milan. Arriving with nothing but the clothes on their backs, they join the labor movement and live in a communal home with other migrant workers, including some conflicting love interests. Their dreams of wealth are reduced to a series of slapstick adventures, from an uproariously inept attempt at petty crime to the daily indignities of life in a restaurant kitchen.