I really slowed down the past few weeks wrapping up this long project of viewing all 190 Three Stooges shorts at Columbia. Now, either on Saturday or Sunday, I'll view and review the final one. Yes, there's just one more to go then I'm done. First, the truly atrocious Sweet and Hot:
(Short # 186 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)
This was neither sweet nor hot. This is rated by Stooge fans as one of the worst they ever did. A big issue: the short is one of a rare few where the boys don’t play their archetypal roles. That isn’t necessarily a demerit for me; however, it was here, especially when there’s hardly any laughs to be had.
Think of this as the 1950’s version of a backdoor pilot; Columbia wished for Muriel Landers (a fuller-figured lady performer) to become a success-it didn’t work, despite her past in teaming up w/ Ray Bolger. She and Joe Besser are siblings on a Kansas farm; she sings but has stage fright. Larry brings them to New York City, where Moe is a German psychiatrist who has a stereotypical accent. Even lower hanging fruit is the fat jokes made about Landers and Besser. Moe also plays their father in a flashback scene.
The biggest sin: Sweet and Hot does not feel like The Three Stooges at all. There’s a few slapstick moments but they are background players in their own film; instead we hear several musical numbers from Landers. The fact that this wasn’t funny is insult on top of injury. Unless you’re like me and wish to see all 190 shorts the Stooges did at Columbia or you’re morbidly curious, this is one you can be happy to avoid.
Flying Saucer Daffy:
(Short # 187 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)
Why would you combine a Cinderella story with a fake photo of a UFO that’s actually a… one paper plate on top of another? Beats me. Some Stooge fans seem to like this-I hardly laughed at all. As always with my reviews of the Stooges, my opinions sometimes are an outlier so YMMV.
Of course, Joe is Cinderella (the fairy tale is directly referenced); Moe, Larry, and their mother abuse poor Besser. The trio go on a camping trip, where that “flying saucer” is photographed. Moe and Larry take credit for the photo and they win a contest-of course the photo was later proved to be a fraud, but then Joe meets actual aliens, naturally a pair of attractive women…
There’s only three details I’ll note:
Joe gets beat up via slapstick violence far more than typical. You know, I think I know why some Stooge fans like Flying Saucer Daffy…
Some stock footage is used-from Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.
While there’s only three more of these to review, Daffy was the last one filmed. After filming wrapped on December 20, 1957, Columbia’s two-reel division shut down and the boys were unceremoniously let go. After nearly a quarter-century, there was no ceremony or any sort of acknowledgement from the studio for all the time spent w/ them, all the money raised, how they started to find new fans via the advent of television.
Yes, it is easy to be bitter about Hollywood. At least I know the next one to be reviewed (which won’t be until sometime next week, most likely) is better-liked by me.
Oil's Well That Ends Well:
(Short # 188 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)
My apologies for not doing one of these in over a week. That’s how my schedule turned out-there is only two more after these then the Stooge run at Columbia will be completed. Incidentally, more than a few Stooge fans believe Oil’s is the best Joe Besser short, for whatever that’s worth.
This is reminiscent of 1939’s Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, although isn’t a remake. Instead of Curly’s wishes coming true as they help a farming family deal with unscrupulous A-holes after oil is found on their property, Joe’s wishes come true as they attempt to find uranium on their father’s old mining claim to pay for his surgery. They find oil instead, using a bit of stock footage from Rise.
This still isn’t as good as one of their classics; be that as it may, there’s still some funny lines, silly scenarios, and amusing slapstick to have some entertaining moments, without being too lame or irritating as the boys could be this late in the run. This is even as there are some moments that reminded me of old bits from years prior, although there are new moments also that tickled me pink.
I’ve never seen the next short, but the one after that isn’t good. I’ll be happy if they had one last good effort this late in the game.
Triple Crossed:
(Short # 189 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)
Well, at least this is set at Christmas, appropriate for the holiday season… sometime this weekend, I’ll review the next short, which is also the last short they did at Columbia, and I’ll conclude this long project, lasting nearly all of 2025. What I’ll write in that review-where I’ll at least briefly summarize my thoughts on viewing all 190 shorts-is uncertain, and is better if I spend a few days collecting my thoughts..
As for Triple Crossed, it is a remake of a 1952 Shemp short (He Cooked His Goose) using stock footage-to the point that one actress in more than one scene was only shot from behind because they couldn’t get the original actress to return-that I didn’t really enjoy in its original form, and I liked less here. I might as well copy and paste part of the review, making the appropriate changes:
“Deviating from the norm, this did. Only on a few occasions did we see the trio play different characters. In this case, Larry portrayed the owner of a pet shop who is also a philanderer, going out with both Moe’s wife and (Joe’s) fiancé. His secretary Miss Lapdale… in fact sits on his lap. Larry in fact keeps his affairs as public as the now-former CEO of Astronomer!
I wanted to like this; however, this was more bizarre than funny. It’s set around Christmas and magically, because (Joe) hides in a chimney, suddenly he materializes a Santa costume and wears it. Moe eats birdseed and suddenly starts acting like a bird. Yeah, the idea of Larry attempting to frame the other two so he can continue his cheating ways is a decent one but the execution didn’t really work for me. I also couldn’t tell you why on a few occasions, the viewer hears a musical stinger whenever Larry has an evil thought in his head.
Sure, there are some chuckles along the way; overall, though, it is lamentable that their attempt to not repeat themselves resulted in something I could not rate any higher.”
With the new footage, Joe actually earned the most laughs. Moe… his new footage doesn’t even appear until the conclusion. Not that I necessarily blame them for not really caring as they were winding down the last few days before the shorts department at Columbia closed down, but the filmmakers left in an obvious yell from an unseen Shemp in the stock footage-they couldn’t be bothered to dub in a replacement yell from an unseen Joe.
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