Reviews

I saw this film and was pretty disappointed. No, it's not because of Curly-Joe. I saw other Stooge movies prior to this one with Curly-Joe and he seems alright, better than Besser at the least. Anyway, this film is kinda weak, and seems like something left over from the Besser-era, probably because this is only the first movie they made. But the boys have done a better sci-fi movie, in THE THREE STOOGES IN ORBIT. Curly-Joe also looks like he's having trouble settling into his "Stooge" character, and he has to copy off of Curly's mannerisms quite a few times. This was somewhat fixed a little later on. Anyway, not a terrible movie, but not great either. The Stooges made better.

CUCKOO ON A CHOO CHOO is a very bizarre Three Stooges short. The gags are all rather silly and dumb other than genuinely funny, and the Stooges act stranger than usual here. I think it's one of the worst ones I've ever seen, and I never was a fan of the shorts that have the boys playing different characters. That comes off too forced and drama-like.

Grade: D-

This is around the time after Curly got ill. To make things easier for him in this short, they decided to reuse excessive amounts of footage from earlier shorts just as SO LONG. MR. CHUMPS and IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE, and build somewhat of a plot around it (they would end up doing this a lot in the later in the mid-50's). A lame and poor idea, especially since you can notice a huge difference in Curly's performance from the new footage compared to the reused. Also, the footage from SO LONG adds nothing because in it, the Stooges are looking for Convict 41144, yet there's never an explanation of why. That was very lazy and confusing.

The weakest of the Curly shorts.

The first Three Stooges short after Shemp's death, and this is a remake of MALICE IN THE PALACE (1949) with Joe Palma doubling for Shemp (with his back faced toward the camera to hide his face) in the new footage. This remake was terrible. The new footage was weak and poorly written and acted. And Joe Palma doubling for Shemp was pathetic. It was so obvious that wasn't Shemp from the first moment the back of the double's head appeared on screen. Who's idea was this? I feel the Stooges should've just called it quits after Shemp died. The Palma/Shemp's are embarrasing, and the later shorts with Joe Besser are terrible. Plus, it wasn't worth it for Moe to go on with the pain after losing TWO of his brothers in just 3 years. That must've been sad.

Another one of these low-budgeted, remakes after Shemp's death in 1955. A remake of DUNKED IN THE DEEP (1949) and not even worth watching. The second half is entirely reused footage from DUNKED, and the first half is just reused footage from CRIME ON THEIR HANDS (1948), with a small new scene added in. At least that stupid double used for Shemp was only in one part.

Pretty much a carbon copy of the classic short HOI POLLOI (1935). I don't like it when they re-do classics, although this is okay. But as we all probably know, Curly (who was already ill at the time from a previous stroke) suffered a second, more powerful stroke during the filming and had to be hospitalized and retired afterwards. While Curly was in the hopsital, the heartless Columbia-head bastard, Harry Cohn, forced Moe and Larry to finish filming the short without him. That must've been really hard for them to do, and it wasn't worth it anyway. The pie-fight may be pretty funny, but Curly's absense from it is too obvious, and the ending was pretty weak and out-of-place.

As a big Curly fan, it's not easy for me to see this comic genius struggling in his last few years, and watching this film knowing he had another stroke during the filming is hard. This short should have never been released, and they should've left THREE LITTLE PIRATES as Curly's last short, since he does a remarkable job there, even despite his ill health.

Also, a few more things: to the person who said they used a double for Curly for the rest of the short after he was sent to the hospital, that didn't happen. Maybe you're thinking of Shemp's death, where they used a double for him in 4 shorts after he died. And also, to the person who said that Shemp wasn't that great - you have to give Shemp another chance. Although Curly's my personal favorite Stooge, Shemp was very talented and funny in his own right, and he and Curly are both equally great. Plus, he was the original third Stooge anyway, so he already had experience, even before he re-joined in 1947. Now, Joe Besser, on the other hand, he was a pathetic Stooge from start to finish.

...this is the very first Three Stooges short for Columbia. While this is an interesting film, I don't think it's very good, and doesn't showcase our Stooges well enough. The whole short's a musical novelty, and all the dialogue is done in rhyme. The rhyming dialogue is pretty corny and gets annoying. There's not that many funny scenes, either, and the short is very strange. Their second short, PUNCH DRUNKS, would've been a better contender for the first, since it was written by the Stooges themselves, and has the boys meeting each other in a restaurant, and is a lot funnier.

But this is an interesting film, and a must-see for Stooge fans.

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!

A horrible Three Stooges short. Their shorts are usually excellent and they don't usually make ones this bad, but it was almost routine in this late 50's era, which were hard times for the boys (due to Columbia cutting the budgets to almost nothing, and Shemp's untimely death). But this is almost as worst as it gets. The plot of this short dealing with the Stooges and a talking horse was just terrible, as well as the writing and there was a lack of funny gags. Not even Moe and Larry much funny lines and gags, and they don't look so comfortable here. Benny Rubin, however, as the foreign landlord steals the show and is the only funny thing.

There also should be a mentioning that this is the first short with short-lived third stooge, Joe Besser. In short, he was just terrible, annoying, and his style did not fit the Stooges at all. He even had it in his contract that prohibited Moe from hitting him, because he was too much of a wuss to take a hit, so poor Larry had to take all of Moe's hits! He should have been fired right off the bat!

Overall, one of the Stooges worst shorts, but for some stupid reason, they made a sequel to this less than a year later, that turned out even worse.

As most shorts with Curly when he was sick, this was pretty weak. The plot deals with the Stooges telling their adopted son a flashback story of who his real mother is, and how they found him. Not only was the plot weak (the "baby" theme was never one of the Stooges' stronger recurring themes). What's really strange about this is that Larry and Curly's roles appear to have been switched. Larry is the star of the short and gets most of the attention and lines, and Curly hardly has any lines and is pushed into the background. This was strange - it's usually the other way around. I'm guessing Larry and Curly's roles were switched because Curly wasn't up to following the original script. While Larry has some funny lines here, I don't think that he can really carry a short by himself. He's a lot funnier as the middleman, and he's had better shorts where he's shined (FUELIN' AROUND for example), and a lack of Curly in this short is too noticeable. Not a great short.

An excellent, hilarious short. The writing and direction was superb, as well as the performances. Symona Boniface is hilarious as Mrs. Van Bustle (she was always typecast as a rich socialite, but always did a great job carrying that role). Vernon Dent is great as usual as the Stooges boss, and Bud Jamison gives in a great last performance in a Stooge short (he died shortly afterwards due to diabetes) as the butler.

There is no real ending - just hilarious slapstick between the Stooges, and it has them at their best. The funniest part is Larry - pay attention to him in the background, while Curly and Moe are beating each other up. His reactions and expressions are funnier than the focused action going in the actual scene.

One of the Stooges' best shorts.

An excellent Stooge short, and one of their best. Like everybody else said, it was very gutsy of the Stooges to make fun of Hitler in the pictures since nobody else had done it yet. I can't believe this wasn't nominated for an Academy Award like MEN IN BLACK (which I don't think is that great) was. Moe's Hitler impression is simply BRILLIANT, and the man deserves more recognition for it. This short is filled with hilarious, non-stop verbal puns and funny one-liners. One of the few Stooge shorts that dared to do this instead of relying almost fully on physical humor (TRICKY DICKS is another one filled with puns and one-liners, and that's also a great short), which proves the Stooges are excellent verbal comics as well as physical. This was sequeled a year later with the Stooges as I'LL NEVER HEIL AGAIN.

This was also the very first Stooge short from the early 40's, which was the Stooges' classic, Golden Age period.

My favorite Three Stooges short of all-time. I loved this short since I first saw it, and I never get tired of it.

First, the opening scene the Stooges having no-luck selling greeting cards to passerbys in the street is great. Especially when one man blows cigar smoke in Curly's face as a sign to leave him alone, and Curly replies, "Oh, a SNOB, eh?" One woman even punches Curly in the face, and he replies, "Oh, a SNOBESS, eh?!!?"

The next scene with the Stooges accidentally bumping into a man (played by Richard Fiske), and ending up getting into a fight with him is hilarious, ending with the Stooges knocking the man deep into a shut-in, and locking him in!

Then the Stooges try to help a lady who thinks her husband doesn't love her anymore by flirting with her to make her husband jealous. But her husband turns out to be the same man who the Stooges knocking into the shut-in! He quickly whips out a gun and runs after the boys, and after a hilarious wild chase, the boys end up dodging him, and wind up hiding in a line for Army recruits. In no time, they wind up as Army soldiers.

The next scene with the Stooges marching with the other soldiers is excellent, and features Curly at his best. He's especially funny when he's making those funny faces when the sergeant is going through the manual of arms.

And finally, the ending scene, which is the best part. The boys get blown with laughing gas, and laugh hysterically all the way as they are captured by the enemy, attacked by the general, and knock out all of the enemy soldier, all ending with the Stooges being blown by a cannon into God-knows-where in the sky! I love that part, and I think it's the funniest and most outrageous Three Stooges ending ever.

Those are just SOME of the many reasons why this is my favorite Three Stooges short. But this short is a must for any Three Stooges fan.