User Reviews

"Sweet and Hot" is one of the last Stooge two-reelers shot at Columbia. As such, the production values are poor, and let's face it --this film is merely a pilot to showcase Muriel Landers.

I will defend this film, however, as NOT being the worst film in the Stooges canon. (That honor must surely go to the racist "The Yoke's on Me.") Muriel Landers has a modicum of talent; she later appeared on early episodes of "Laugh In" and previously appeared as the love interest (!) of Sammy Petrillo in "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla."

I must also defend Joe and Larry. The talents of Joe Besser burst forth here. He tears paper and does a little dance. What's bad about that?

Okay, so some of my comments are tongue in cheek. "Sweet and Hot" is no classic, but it's not the worst Stooge film, either. Although it musk rank in the bottom 20. 4 out of 10.

I liked this short because the Stooges played separate roles and Muriel "Tiny" Landers was comical (like some over-sized women I know). Moe and Larry did not wear their vintage Stooge haircuts, which gave a different flavor to this short. I was surprised to see Joe do a tap dance (I did not know he had such a talent). Larry did play the violin (for real) like in other shorts. The music was swinging.

As a die-hard Stooges fan, Spike TV (and AMC) have not shown this short. There are a lot of shorts that have not been shown by these two networks. I was told that Columbia owns the "missing" shorts and have not released them to television. Joe was alright as a Stooge. They were getting too old to hit anyway. I did see Joe get some hits in his shorts (unless that was a stunt man).

I have to say I agree with a lot of what's said in the other comments. No, the Stooges should not have been reduced to this. Yes, it violates a key Stooge ethic to have the guys play different, and separate, characters like this. (That ethic never needed to be stuck to more than in the sadly low-budget Besser years. Separating the guys, as in this one or FLYING SAUCER DAFFY -- presumably as a way of trying to deal with Joe "not fitting in" -- just made things worse; the guys always worked best as a true trio.) And, yes, it was a mistake to center a Stooge short so much around a non-Stooge character. As for that character, the most charitable thing I can say is that her singing, etc., must have gone over much better in 1958 than it does now. Overall, this short is just too different, and that "different-ness" is not good.

But the Stooges themselves, as always, give it their best. They still manage to be fine comic actors even with all these disadvantages. Yes, we miss the usual Moe, but he plays his atypical character here well; his fractured English is a hoot ("A mice! A mice!"). (I'm surprised no one's pointed out that each Stooge plays TWO characters in this, though in the flashback scene they don't do much funny.) And, as one who does not worship at the altar of Curly (I like Shemp best, actually), I maintain that Joe could have made a fine Stooge were it not for the low budgets and the poor scripts in which they seemed not to know what to do with him. (Joe's tap dancing -- or anyone's, actually -- doesn't fit well into a Stooge short, but it gives a hint of how much more talent this guy had than his Stooge work let him show.)

The worst Three Stooges film of all time! There's so many things wrong with this film, it's almost impossible to list them all.

First off, the most important thing: Where the heck is Moe??? Sure, he's in the short, but not as his usual "Stooge" self at all. Instead, he plays a German psyciatrist, with glasses on, and his hair all combed back! Larry and Joe Besser work as a team, but Larry's hair isn't poofed up like it usually is and he doesn't do anything funny or Stooge-like at all here, and Besser's his usual annoying self. You can't break the Stooges up like this and have them appear as seperate characters! They've done this several times before and it never worked, but it really takes the cake here.

Secondly, there's no Three Stooges slapstick in this. A good majority of the film is taken up by long, boring musicals (musicals - never one of the Stooges' stronger themes, other than the classic MICRO-PHONIES), and the scene at the psyciatrists' office isn't funny at all.

And lastly, Muriel Landers, the lady playing Tiny is just annoying (like Besser - no surprise they played siblings in this), and her acting talents are so bad, it's very embarrasing. It's obvious this short was a vehicle for her so-called "singing" talents, but why waste the Stooges just for this lady's "talents"?

Like I said before, it's sad seeing comic geniuses like the Three Stooges relegated to a disaster like this. This is very embarrasing for a Three Stooges fan like me to watch, cause it ain't a pretty thing to watch. It just doesn't get any worse than this!

The shorts the Stooges made toward the end of their careers were universally terrible. The budgets were slashed to almost the point of invisibility, and as a previous poster has said, the boys were old, tired and past their prime. This actually looks more like a "trial balloon," as it were, for the "talents" of one Muriel Landers, who plays Tiny. She is neither talented nor tiny. She is a short, heavyset woman who is given a number where she sings and dances and proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that she can do neither. Something else she can't do is act--there's one scene where she sticks her finger in her mouth and starts talking baby talk, which is embarrassing, uncomfortable and, frankly, creepy. Moe has his hair slicked back and plays (badly, to be honest) a German/Austrian/whatever psychiatrist. There are virtually no production values--the whole film looks like it was shot in a dark, ill-lit corner of the studio somewhere. There is not one even remotely funny line in this film--not ONE. Moe and Larry look like they're trying to give it their best, but they were either too old, too tired, too discouraged, or a combination of all three, and their best in this case wasn't even remotely good enough. This is a complete embarrassment, and if you love the Stooges as much as I and a lot of others do, spare yourself the sad spectacle of watching a comedy team that was once at the top reduced to participating in this sad excuse for a comedy in order to pay the rent. Watch some of their masterpieces from the '30s and '40s with Curley, or even some of the later ones with Shemp, but whatever you do, avoid this one like the plague. Remember the Stooges as they were in their prime, and not suffering the indignity of having to make this pathetic, embarrassing and, finally, sad mess.

I'd give this a much lower rating than 1 but there are no negative numbers given as an option here. My god! Were Moe and Larry on something or what when they went ahead and did this "thing"? Did they need the money that bad? Or were they just trying something out "new" and experimental like Chaplin had several times before? And that "Tiny". Tiny is right, as far as any talent that would have been perceivable. She makes Joe Besser look like an Olvier or Barrymore by comparison. This is not even a "Three Stooges" short, by definition. Moe appears as some sort of quack German/Austrian shrink and Joe and Larry are what again? Are they a two man comedy team now or what's their relationship? This is a comedy vacuum! It has absolutely nothing at all going for it. It's as if Columbia had some left over film they wanted to use so they could claim it on their operating cost of the studio in their tax forms to the IRS. Any other comedy team would have simply refused to do this crap. Guess Moe didn't want to get sued for not fulfilling their contract obligation to the studio. So who was doing the slapping and poking in the eye now?

When I was about 9 years old, my folks left me and a friend at the theatre to see some or another kids' movie, and what pops up before the feature but "Hellooo, Hellooo, Hellooo… hello." The Three Stooges(!), singing, and in wide screen!

I was stunned. I'd figured the Stooges had died before my grandfather was born. With this perception in my mind, it seemed no wonder that there was no Curly. In fact, I had the impression I was not really watching a "Three Stooges" movie so much as some kind of playful little teaser with Moe and Larry and another funny guy name Joe. Moe and Larry certainly did not perform their usual roles, and Moe even had his hair slicked back. But that was no problem: he WAS Moe, and he WAS Larry, and the whole affair actually seemed like a logical "update" for these comedians. Like, they are still around but doing different things now..

Larry danced and jumped and moved about so lithely that it seemed impossible he was the same guy in the ancient 1930s movies we watched on TV. But there he was! And doing a wonderful comic dance. Joe, too, did a nice dance, and later Moe did a few steps. (Even later, Joe did a REAL nice tap number, BETTER than Curly, joined by Larry on the violin.)

But when the movie was over, I was disappointed. Not because I missed Curly, nor even because the Moe and Larry did not play The Stooges, but because the Grand Finale somehow never occurred. Logically, there should have been a memorable song-and-dance with Joe, Larry and Moe. And this absence of a musical climax, to this day is my main criticism of this film. (Although if I were using Final Cut on this thing, I'd cut out the entire "childhood-memory" section.)

As it was, I thought then (and still think) that "Sweet and Hot" came across as a cheery little film, with some good dancing and a few moments of modest slapstick. But it was not a good "story" movie, and it was missing that key element of really strong physical comedy we kids loved so much. Rather, this was just a very lively "guest appearance" for Moe and Larry, in a quickie film made to warm up an audience for the feature film, and offered as an amazing surprise to 9 year olds. As such, it succeeded.

"Sweet and Hot" is neither sweet nor hot. What it is, actually, is sad. The Stooges were near the end of the line (Columbia would shut down the shorts department and unceremoniously dump them later that year), and it shows. They are old, and they look tired. Columbia cut the budgets for its shorts department to almost nothing, which is obvious by watching this thing. Besides the Stooges, the only other "actor" (for lack of a better word) in this film is Muriel Landers, a woman who is so monumentally untalented it is actually embarrassing to watch her. You wonder if she was related to some Columbia executive, as that could be the only possible explanation for her appearance. She can't sing or dance (although for some unfathomable reason she's given a musical number), and she certainly can't act. There's no real plot to speak of; nothing in this film is anywhere near funny. The whole thing runs about 15 minutes and looks like it was shot in 16 minutes. It is not easy to watch this film, and not just because of its cheapness and ineptitude. It's sad to see two comics (Joe Besser was never considered a real Stooge by true Stooge fans) at the end of their careers in a vehicle that is nowhere near worthy of their talents, and this piece of crap definitely isn't.

Sure, it's not the best story, and it was a showcase for Muriel Landers, but I've always enjoyed the dialogue in the doctor's office.

"Gentlemen, take a chair." "Here, here, here! Please don't take them home!" "Indian Giver."

I like this short. OK guys one this is 100% wrong. You say Muriel Landers cannot sing. She has a great voice. She may not sing in a style you like but the woman could carry a tune.

"Let's Fall In Love" was a beautiful song when she sang it. And for being a plus sized woman she managed to pull of "The Heat Is On," OK too.

Again this wasn't a great short for the Stooges and you may have not liked it but Muriel COULD sing.

The Stooges were already canceled by the time the Besser shorts came out and Columbia was just playing out the product for every dime they could squeeze out of them.

Not a true classic but you have to understand the circumstances. After Shemp died The Stooges were still under contract to make 10 more shorts. Thus enter Joe Besser. Also understand that Moe and Larry were getting on in years so their roughhousing was greatly diminished. There was a pretty funny line here though, when Larry was explaining to Tiny the advantages of stardom. Of course she wasn't interested until he mentions "the food" That opens her eyes. "Steaks that thick, great big gorgeous lobsters" and she starts licking her lips and after he mentions strawberries she's ready to go.

In 1957, singer and actress Muriel Landers was signed by Jules White to start in a pilot short for a new series of musical comedy two-reelers called The Girlie Whirls and the audience reception was so dismal that no other entries were produced, though Jerome S. Gottler (who had wrote the very first Stooges short Woman Haters) had written a second entry called Sweet and Hot, but White hired his brother Jack to re-write the script as a Stooges short, with Landers in a co-starring role. Of course, the Stooges play different characters in this. Talent agent Larry returns to visit old friend Joe and his sister Tiny, who is persuaded by Larry to have her and Joe come with him to New York. The problem is, Tiny has severe stage fright and they go to German doctor Moe (Benny Rubin was originally considered for the role when the short was still under the Girlie Whirls name). The short is just dreadful, but the dream sequence with Tiny and her father (Moe) and her uncles (Larry & Joe) is pretty funny.

You kind of can see that the Stooges get old - so no pun intended. Yes everyone gets older (if they are lucky enough I reckon or whatever you would call it), but this is not just an appearance thing. The jokes seem to repeat themselves - where were you born? The answer to this question, the literal one that is, seems to be a go to joke ... one they used before (as I was made aware by watching some of the shorts the beloved group did).

It's still the Stooges, it still can be fun. Even if Moe now is not just Moe, but a doc ... who'd have thought right? Well don't think this will change much of course ...

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

One of the most unique Three Stooges shorts is Sweet and Hot. In this short is Muriel Landers. The acting by this unusual actress is great! There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts and it very good. I strongly recommend this one!

The ONLY thing I recall about this from my childhood is a Stooge (Joe?) tearing a newspaper while someone sang "Let's Fall in Love". One of my all time favorite songs - because of this short.

Although many consider Sweet and Hot to be the worst of the 3 Stooges Columbia shorts. I disagree. It had some great musical performances. My vote for worst 3 Stooges short ever goes to Cuckoo In The Choo Choo with Shemp. The entire story takes place in a train car and involved Shemp in love with an imaginary 6 foot tall canary. It was dumb, boring, annoying and totally unfunny. The female co-stars were not up to the standards of actresses in the earlier stooge shorts. They were at best mediocre actresses, unfunny and not particularly good looking. Neither Moe nor Larry were particularly funny in this one but just seemed to be going through the motions. Shemp's silly plot with the canary that only he and us viewers could see was boring and completely unfunny. Despite his physical comedy his performance was just an embarrassment as was this entire film and the performances of all other cast members. However in SWEET & HOT Muriel Landers' performance as a jazz singer accompanied by Larry and Joe made this a great musical comedy short even though it lacked the classic Stooge humor of the Curley and Shemp eras. I bet theater audiences in late 1950s may have enjoyed the music in this film.