User Reviews

"Scheming Schemers" is one of the four Three Stooges shorts that Moe and Larry made after Shemp died but before Joe Besser joined them. Shemp, then, is only seen through stock footage (in this case, from "Vagabond Loafers" [1949]) while a fellow supporting actor named Joe Palma doubles for him in a couple of shots in the new footage. Yes, this practice is demeaning, and poor Shemp has to miss out on a lot of the action since Moe and Larry are forced to cover a majority of the film without him. And yet, "Scheming Schemers" is quite good for a Three Stooges short made under these circumstances. Moe of course was heartbroken over the passing of his older sibling, but he and Larry knew the show must go on, and they carried on through the short like true professionals, as if no tragedy occurred.

Here are my favorite highlights from this film (don't read on until after you have seen it). Moe and Larry throw pies at an art thief named Mr. Allen (Kenneth MacDonald); a good portion of the pie fight is stock footage from "Half-Wits Holiday" (1947). Shemp caves himself in a maze of pipes ("Vagabond Loafers"), and director Jules White was clever to place this scene at the very end of the short for a change. Larry and Shemp clumsily jump down the fireman's pole when the Stooges answer the plumbing call ("Vagabond Loafers" again). When Mr. Norfleet (Emil Sitka) tells Moe and Larry to work quietly in searching for a missing ring down a wash basin, they prove that their work habits are anything but quiet (new footage, with Shemp conspicuously missing). The cook (Dudley Dickerson) manages to steal the show when the stove and the kitchen sink malfunction (stock footage from "A Plumbing We Will Go" [1940]); later when Mr. Allen and his wife (Christine McIntyre) ask for a drink of water, the chef quips, "Turn on anything. You'll get it" ("Vagabond Loafers" again).

It's difficult for me to watch "Scheming Schemers" without being distracted by the fact that Shemp was deceased at the time of filming. Nevertheless, I still think it is a very good Three Stooges short with a lot of laughs.

"Scheming Schemers" is the third and most recent version of one of the Three Stooges most successful short films and just like the previous 2, it is a black-and-white sound film. This one was released back in 1956, so it's already over 60 years old and the White Brothers were in charge of this one again like they were on so many other 3S shorts. The reason you will find so many scenes with Moe and Larry together here is that Shemp had died already when this was made, so his scenes are all just archive material. But they also took a great deal of archive material from the previous 2 films from characters whose actors were still alive in 1956, so this one is put together as anything but a new innovative creative work to be honest and I genuinely wonder whey it was made in the first place. Story-wise the Stooges are plumbers again who manage to destroy a rich family's home due to their lack of craftmanship and there are many jokes with water coming out of nowhere, such as a phone receiver and the typical cake battle jokes are in it as well like in half of the other Stooges short films. But there are also really unlogical moments like you think they are basically alone in a room with the bad guy near the end and then all these cakes all of a sudden hit all these people who couldn't care less about what happened before apparently. Or when they capture the bad guy, the female is almost near to him, but completely vanishes out of nowhere not caring at all what's happening. So yeah, this film was a mess and honestly even if (or because) I miss Shemp, it needs to be said that it really never should have been made. 4 out of 10 is still fairly generous. Another weak take and the previous 2 weren't really any better.