"Stop! Look! and Laugh!" is basically nothing more than a compilation film designed only to make a quick buck from the millions of Stooge fans. Apparently Moe Howard thought the same thing, because he sued Columbia to prevent the film from being released. Eventually, he relented after Columbia offered to finance and distribute all Stooges features thereafter. If anything, "Stop! Look! and Laugh" made the Three Stooges even more popular and at least washed the awful taste of "Snow White and the Three Stooges" away.
Basically, producer/director Jules White (who directed most of the shorts clips were taken from)edited the best moments from such classic shorts as "Micro-Phonies", "A Plumbing We Will Go", "Calling All Curs","How High Is Up" among others and shot new footage with Paul Winchell and his dummies, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. This made sense, since the Stooges shorts were packaged into a half hour show and shown along side "The Winchell/Mahoney Show" on regular TV. This way both shows get exposure.
Unfortunately, fans looking for a full fledged Stooges feature will be disappointed. But take solace in the fact that this so called "compromise" film was actually much better than most of the New Three Stooges features that followed. We get to see the original Stooges team in top form, great gags with Winchell and Mahoney and many memorable moments. The editing is excellent; much of it is seamlessly handled by a team of skilled editors; it should have garnered an Oscar nomination.
The only thing that sort of slows this film down is the Marquis Chimps sequence, which I could have done without, but if seeing animals acting silly is your thing, fine, enjoy it. But it doesn't take away from the previous 60 minutes of hilarity.
**** out of 4 stars
Basically, producer/director Jules White (who directed most of the shorts clips were taken from)edited the best moments from such classic shorts as "Micro-Phonies", "A Plumbing We Will Go", "Calling All Curs","How High Is Up" among others and shot new footage with Paul Winchell and his dummies, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. This made sense, since the Stooges shorts were packaged into a half hour show and shown along side "The Winchell/Mahoney Show" on regular TV. This way both shows get exposure.
Unfortunately, fans looking for a full fledged Stooges feature will be disappointed. But take solace in the fact that this so called "compromise" film was actually much better than most of the New Three Stooges features that followed. We get to see the original Stooges team in top form, great gags with Winchell and Mahoney and many memorable moments. The editing is excellent; much of it is seamlessly handled by a team of skilled editors; it should have garnered an Oscar nomination.
The only thing that sort of slows this film down is the Marquis Chimps sequence, which I could have done without, but if seeing animals acting silly is your thing, fine, enjoy it. But it doesn't take away from the previous 60 minutes of hilarity.
**** out of 4 stars