SAVED BY THE BELLE (1939) -- ThreeStooges.net

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Released June 30, 1939
Featuring Moe, Larry and Curly

Columbia
17.5 min. (Short Subject)

The Stooges are fur salesman trying to sell coats in a Central American country prone to frequent earthquakes. Desperate to raise the funds to pay for their hotel bill, the boys start succeeding by selling pillows as shock absorbers, but get arrested and are suspected of being spies out to kill the country's president.

Avg. Rating:

[7.50/10]

Cast List

Jerry Howard
Curly

Moe Howard
Moe

Larry Fine
Larry

Al Thompson
Wagon driver

LeRoy Mason
Singapore Joe

Bobby Barber
Siesta-ing barfly

Vernon Dent
Mike

Carmen LaRoux
Senorita Rita

Gino Corrado
General Casino

Bert LeBaron
Arresting officer

Richard Terry
Arresting officer

Manuel Paris
General LeGrande

Eddie Foster
Rebel sergeant

Unidentified SAVED BY THE BELLE 1
Siesta-ing traffic policeman

Unidentified SAVED BY THE BELLE 2
Siesta-ing townsmen

Unidentified SAVED BY THE BELLE 3
Jail guard

Unidentified SAVED BY THE BELLE 4
Firing squad

Production Crew

Charley Chase
Producer

Hugh McCollum
Producer

Charley Chase
Director

Searle Kramer
Story and Screenplay

Elwood Ullman
Story and Screenplay

Charley Chase
Story

Allen G. Siegler
Photography

Arthur Seid
Film Editor

Stooge Businesses (0)

Stooge Goofs (3)

Stooge Mayhem (Avg. 2.25)

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2001-10-29 10:38:00 by Shemp_Diesel
Edited 2014-12-24 10:41:03 by Shemp_Diesel

A weak short, one of the worst directed by Chase after "Mutts to You".

4 pokes

Reviewer's Rating:

(4)

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2010-10-20 23:59:26 by Final Shemp

Featuring less of a plot and more of random ideas strung together, Saved by the Belle doesn't have enough laughs to make it a worthy addition to Stooge legacy. The short ends up just plain goofy instead of funny, as the Stooges stumble around to one random situation to the next in utter confusion. By the time the short ends, you'd have forgotten half of it because it's incoherent nonsense.The Stooges try to make the best of it, but no lemonade can be made out of these rotten lemons. Curly especially seems to be trying his damnedest to make this short funny, and he manages to turn what could be an abysmal effort into something that has its moments.The jail scene is a triumph, though. There's quite a few gags that work in it, but the short becomes a dud again as soon as they Stooges are on the run again. It's a shame that a group as fall down funny as the Three Stooges can be hampered by the material they're given, because the glints of gold in the dirt can't shine when it's buried. Final Shemp's Final Word: 2 Pokes

Reviewer's Rating:

(5)

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2002-01-29 03:04:00 by Stooge
Edited 2008-06-13 04:26:11 by Stooge

Comment: A lot of people don't like this short much, and I find that surprising. I thought this was a very good short. A lot of funny scenes, Curly's his usual wild self, and good performances from one-time Stooge supporting players Carmen LaRoux and LeRoy Mason. Why weren't those two brought back again, anyway?Interesting Points:- Probably Vernon Dent's smallest role in a Stooge short. He barely had any lines here.- The horse with the crooked back gag was also used in PLAYING THE PONIES.Funniest Moment:- The Stooges falling off the horse at the end.

Reviewer's Rating:

(9)

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2003-02-25 23:56:00 by metaldams
Edited 2006-03-24 20:04:54 by shemps#1

The last of the Charley Chase directed Stooge shorts. Chase always had a coherent plot within his shorts, and this one is no exception. Nothing bad about this short at all in terms of what's in it. I find "Saved By The Belle" to be consistently enjoyable, yet there isn't too much to make it stand out. "A Plumbing We Will Go" has the maze of pipes, "How High Is Up?" has the sweater scene, "Tassels In The Air," (another Chase short), has the pig latin scene; while Saved By The Belle is missing that defining moment. Still a funny short with plenty of great little touches, like the boys looking over the bill with dozens of beers listed and arguing over who bought only one of them, and Curly's flirtations with Seniorita Rita are excellent as well.

Reviewer's Rating:

(8)

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2002-02-20 01:42:00 by [Deleted Member]
Edited 2003-06-30 00:54:00 by [Deleted Member]

I just watched this short for the first time in years (since I was a kid, and I saw it on TV). It's one of the best of the Charley Chase efforts""the weakest of which is "Flat Foot Stooges."This one's much better; Chase tended to use a lot of story, and there's less pure Stooging in his shorts. The Stooges behave more like straight actors at times, which has some pluses and some minuses. This short is kind of plot-heavy, but it's also a lesson in how to cram enough material for an entire feature film into two reels! If you watch enough well-edited two-reelers, full-length films can start to feel drawn out and heavily padded (which a lot of them are).The setup here is one that's already familiar from W.C. Fields's "Million Dollar Legs" and the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup:" the little faraway country that's a little off the beaten track... and a little off the beam. But this film soon veers off in a different direction from either of those two.The Stooges being dumb enough to try selling winter clothing in the tropics is pretty funny (Larry tries to pass off a raccoon coat as a "kimono!"), and so is Curly's flirting with the senorita, which doesn't look like acting to me. He's [i]really[/i] a wolf here, much more than in any other short. Makes you wonder if he actually got anywhere with the girl, off the set""he sure was trying!And the earthquakes are a great visual gag, just because they're so cheesy looking; the cameraman jerks the camera around, while everybody either jumps or falls over. This reminds me of the original "Star Trek," where they'd do the same thing whenever the Enterprise was hit by something. Only, on "Star Trek" they weren't trying to be funny on purpose""they were just stuck with a low budget.Also, has anyone mentioned that Charley Chase was really good at filming explosions? Most of his Stooges shorts have a spectacular explosion of some kind in them, and this one has about half a dozen! Working with dynamite must have been a specialty of his.I'd say that this short deserves its three-poke rating, no question about it.

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2002-01-29 02:30:00 by Genius In the Lamp

A bump in the road for the boys. I felt the pacing was a bit slow, the humour was a bit too understated for their style (there were some amusing moments, but they were more cute than hilarious), and the "Ward Robey" premise was fairly weak. Also, the ending left a lot to be desired, as if they had run out of film. One of their weaker efforts; fortunately, they would go on to greater triumphs.

Reviewer's Rating:

(5)

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2002-01-28 23:37:00 by BJR

A pretty weak Curly effort. Not deserving of its three-poke average at all, IMO. It's another one, like so many Curly-era shorts, that is simply given credit for having Curly in it. It has a few mildly funny moments, but for the most part, it's just plain bad. The shock absorbers weren't very funny to me, nor was the "Senorita Rita, and that ain't no double talk." If you are a big fan of Curly and take everything he says as hysterically funny, you'll like this one okay, but as for me (I prefer Shemp over Curly, but think Moe is far superior to both), this is just too lacking in Stooge punishment. Honestly, many shorts with a lower rating than this are probably much more widely-appealing.Rating: 4.5/10

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2002-01-18 22:13:00 by Ichabod Slipp

A very odd, disjointed entry in the Stooges' pantheon. The boys arguing over who had what beer is a pretty good moment. Perhaps the weirdest moment is Moe *salting* Curly's hand before he bites it! Somehow it gives that whole bit of abuse a new definition!

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2002-01-16 16:33:00 by Mike Holme

I agree with Shemp D., Charley Chase was probably one of the worst directors, he had a hit, "Tassels In The Air", but most of the rest were weak. This is one of the weak ones. I found this short strangely lacking in humor, in my top ten weakest.1 1/2 pokes

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2001-11-07 05:57:00 by [Deleted Member]

Very good short. I thought that Richard Fiske (the sargeant in "Boobs in Arms") played Singapore Joe, but that ain't the case! I looked this short up on imdb.com a while back, but I can't remember who really played him.I think the scene where the boys broke out of the cell is what gave the writers of "Three Little Pirates" the idea for the breakout scene in that short-only for the hole in the wall, but for the attractive lady helping them and sending them on a mission.I love those earthquake shock absorbers! The boys would surely have made a customer out of me!ISLIPP. Then I get up and ISLIPP some more. ®2001Edited by - ISLIPP on 11/7/2001 6:26:33 PM

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2001-10-02 01:23:00 by Mike Holme

One of the best Charley Chase shorts, the Ward Robey joke is quite funny. Curly steals the show in this one, and it was also a great site to see the Valeskans with pillows on their butts! 3 1/2 pokes Mike Holme

Re: SAVED BY THE BELLE
Posted 2001-02-19 18:41:00 by sickdrjoe

While I'm not wildly enthusiastic about the Charley Chase entries, they all had a wonky kind of charm to them. This is the best of the lot.

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Prod. No.:	430
Shooting Days:	4 days From: 1938-12-12 To: 1938-12-15

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