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Ants in the Pantry (1936)

metaldams · 29 · 15867

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Offline metaldams

http://threestooges.net/filmography/episode/12
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027301/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Well, we're in 1936 now and we have the Stooge debut of director Jack White, AKA Preston Black.  While I enjoy ANTS IN THE PANTRY, I also think this is the weakest short since RESTLESS KNIGHTS.  First the problems, because this whole discussion thing wouldn't be fun without a party pooping nitpicker such as myself.  The whole idea of the boys drawing up more business by placing rodents in people's homes is a little...well, gross and dishonest.  Now, this was made during the height of the Great Depression and people were desperate for work, so perhaps audiences of the time were OK with seeing the boys get work at the expense of the filthy rich, but it just seems wrong to me.  My other minor gripe is the lord and countess characters just seem a bit over the top compared to the the other wealthy characters.  When Del Lord was directing wealthy characters in PARDON MY SCOTCH and HOI POLLOI, the characters all played well off each other and seemed believable in the context of the world being portrayed.  A good example is the two ladies in the bedroom scene where the mouse is in the shoe are perfectly believable, then that countess comes in like a parody from Hell.  I just find the clash jarring.

OK, that out of the way, there's still some funny stuff.  I love it when the house owner looks at the boys and says, "My word Gawkins, what are these?"  Just a classic line that always gets me a laugh.  The cats in the piano scene is great and puts all three stooges to good use.  I love the line where Curly says conspicuous derives from the Latin "no canna speak a anguls."  Moe flirting with he maid in vain is hysterical as well.  The over dramatic advances and his obliviousness to her lack of interest get me every time.  This short also has the debut of the "I can't see, my eyes are closed" gag, done by Larry in this case, and in my opinion, it was never done better.

I'd call this a good short, but not one of the all-time greats. 

7/10
« Last Edit: November 29, 2014, 09:23:40 PM by metaldams »
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

The year 1936, a year that ranks to me alongside the golden period of 1940-42, not a bad short turned out during this time period & Preston Black was a great, albeit short-lived director for the stooges.

Ants in the Pantry is a great short, marred only by an ending that doesn't seem to pack enough punch. But there's plenty of great stuff before it to make up for a weak finish. The Boss, A Mouser. is a scream with his lines & apparently he would turn up in one other short later on.

The whole party scene is a riot, the clap and dance routine is funny, although every time I watch this one, I can't help but think of Vernon Dent in the remake.

Overall, I rate it an 8 out of 10, Preston Black gets off to a very good start & there will be even better to come in the next few weeks.

Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline metaldams

The Boss, A Mouser. is a scream with his lines & apparently he would turn up in one other short later on.

It's amazing he's the same guy who plays Bustoff in GRIPS, GRUNTS, AND GROANS.  I would've never guessed if told differently, it's like he pulls a Lon Chaney of disguises.  I guess it shows he's versatile.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

Yeah, I guess we can add him to the list of actors who should have been used in more shorts.
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

Yeah, Harrison Green was the surprisingly versatile one I was referring to ( mysteriously, I hoped, but obviously not around you mental giants ) a couple of weeks ago.  The only way ( in retrospect, I certainly didn't figure it out myself ) that one might be able to tell is that Mauser's line " All over der houses" approaches Bustoff's timbre.


Offline Rich Finegan

I always thought it odd that the crazy idea of planting mice in peoples' houses was suggested by their boss, not by The Stooges.

Also, the careless editing of the scene where Moe and Curly are trying to pull Larry out of the piano is strange. Apparently two versions of the scene were shot: one in which the guests watching reacted with indignation, and the other where they think it's hilarious. Then for the final scene parts both versions were used so it makes no sense to see the guests reacting in completely different ways in alternate shots (with Bobby Burns especially hamming it up). Did the editors think we wouldn't notice?

But on the plus side: the always delightful Phyllis Crane is present once again.


Offline metaldams

I always thought it odd that the crazy idea of planting mice in peoples' houses was suggested by their boss, not by The Stooges.

Also, the careless editing of the scene where Moe and Curly are trying to pull Larry out of the piano is strange. Apparently two versions of the scene were shot: one in which the guests watching reacted with indignation, and the other where they think it's hilarious. Then for the final scene parts both versions were used so it makes no sense to see the guests reacting in completely different ways in alternate shots (with Bobby Burns especially hamming it up). Did the editors think we wouldn't notice?

But on the plus side: the always delightful Phyllis Crane is present once again.

Well, the editors sure fooled me, because I never did notice!  I'll have to rewatch that scene, as I was so busy paying attention to the Stooges that I barely bothered with the crowd.  I never knew about two versions of the scene being shot, but that's interesting info.

Yeah, as far as Phyllis Crane, she's got one more short in her before she's gone from Stooge films, but in these early shorts, she was definitely queen of the Stooge films.  She was pretty and talented, and it's a shame she left so early.  Thankfully, Symona Boniface and Christine McIntyre took over as the talented female presence later on.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Dr. Hugo Gansamacher

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I agree that Ants in the Pantry is somewhere in the middle or maybe just above the middle of the corpus of Stooge shorts as far as overall merit is concerned. A few observations:

(1) It strikes me that "A. Mouser" appears as the Stooges' boss in the short that immediately follows the one in which their boss is named "A. Panther." The formulaic joke may be feeble compared to "I. Slipp" and "Watts D. Mater," but it is one of those formulaic jokes that for some reason retain their charm for me. Until I read this thread, I had no idea that the actor was the same one who played Bustoff later, in Grips, Grunts, and Groans. Aside from the versatility that this shows, what I would note about Harrison Green's performance in this role is that his German accent is dead-on. It is easy to affect an accent that will be recognizable to audiences as German, Itailan, or whatever, but to make it sound as if it is the natural speech of the character is a high level of mimicry that is much less often attained.

(2) The gag in which Curly responds to Moe's directive "Cut the cards" by raising a meat cleaver and chopping the deck in two was done four years earlier by Harpo in Horse Feathers. It seems to me much funnier when Harpo does it; I venture the following analysis of the reasons why: (1) Harpo is not a participant in the game but is merely passing two card players when one of them asks the other to cut the cards, making his act all the more gratuitous and shocking. (2) Harpo quickly pulls the meat cleaver seemingly out of nowhere, whereas we see Curly deliberately retrieve one from under the table, as if he had placed it there for the purpose, which dulls the impact of the gag. (3) Harpo's act is completely in keeping with his character, which is constantly given to manic outbursts of mischievous energy, while the same act on Curly's part, even if it is supposed to be a manifestation of his character's literal-minded dimness, makes less sense. To put the point another way, in Curly's case, the inherent zany audacity of the act is underplayed, thereby weakening the gag.

(3) The use of Larry and the bear trap is a bit disappointing to me. I believe this is the earliest of the many gags about or with bears and bear traps in the shorts. I would take a moment to reflect that the writing and production staff had to set up this entire business just for the one gag of Moe replying to Larry's statement "We might meet up with a bear" by saying "Meet my bear [bare] hand" and giving him a slap in the face. What disappoints me is that nothing is done with the bear trap after that point. When Moe sets it down as he approaches Mouser, who is standing at his desk, I can't help feeling cheated that Mouser is not made to sit down on the trap and get his bottom clamped in it. This would not only add another characteristically Stoogean gag but would bring the scene to a climax rather than have an ending imposed on it by an arbitrary editorial cut. The writers failed to observe the rule of Chekhov's gun: "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off."

(4) The close-up shot of "that chatterbox Eleanor," the woman in riding habit whose approach alarms the hostess and her friend when they have just discovered the infestation of ants, persistently fascinates and horrifies me at the same time. There is something peculiarly grotesque about her, with her smug officiousness and her phony-sounding fluty way of talking. She seems to me one of the most repulsive female characters in all the Stooge shorts! Ugh!  :o

Edited to add:

(5) The ending sequence, in which the Stooges join in the fox hunt, seems to me the weakest of any short up to this point. Clearly the sequence was planned all along as part of the movie, since we have house guests in riding habits talking about going hunting, but, for all that, it seems utterly extraneous and tacked-on. Moreover, the one gag in it, in which Curly, because he (quite suddenly) has a cold, mistakes a skunk for a fox and catches it in a sack, is far too feeble to bear the weight of the sequence. A terrible anti-climax after the hilarious disaster with the cat-filled piano.

(6) I notice on re-reading this that I have mostly talked about the weaknesses of the short (apart from my observation no. 1). So I will just add that the whole business of Larry and Curly hunting mice around the living room (Larry applying a hammer to the guests' feet, mice flying through the air, Curly forcibly dancing with Phyllis Crane, etc.) is excellent and that the business with the cats in the piano, from the meow-meow version of the Blue Danube waltz through Moe's administration of ritual punishment to Curly and Larry for putting the cats in the piano to the final debacle of the piano falling on Moe and Larry getting stripped of his trousers and pulled out of the instrument entangled in wires and hammers, is one of the Stooges' more inspired bits. This is not the last time that the Stooges will have a violent encounter with a piano, much to the detriment of the piano!


Offline metaldams



(2)"If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off."

(4) The close-up shot of "that chatterbox Eleanor," the woman in riding habit whose approach alarms the hostess and her friend when they have just discovered the infestation of ants, persistently fascinates and horrifies me at the same time. There is something peculiarly grotesque about her, with her smug officiousness and her phony-sounding fluty way of talking. She seems to me one of the most repulsive female characters in all the Stooge shorts! Ugh!  :o


I completely agree with you concerning "chatterbox Eleanor" and will apply that theory to her.  If you can create a character so annoying, why not have her receive some sort of slapstick comeuppance?  There were far less offending characters in, say, POP GOES THE EASEL than Eleanor who got their share of clay projected somewhere on their face or body.  Surely she deserved a similar fate?  At least I would've found it satisfying.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Dr. Hugo Gansamacher

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I completely agree with you concerning "chatterbox Eleanor" and will apply that theory to her.  If you can create a character so annoying, why not have her receive some sort of slapstick comeuppance?  There were far less offending characters in, say, POP GOES THE EASEL than Eleanor who got their share of clay projected somewhere on their face or body.  Surely she deserved a similar fate?  At least I would've found it satisfying.
You know, I never thought of that, but it seems quite right: well played, sir! They could have redeemed the fox-hunting sequence at the end by showing Eleanor making malicious gossip with someone and then finding a mouse crawling on her; when she shrieks and brushes off the mouse, the cats attack her; the convergence of the cats on her attracts the attention of the hounds, which all jump on her.  Something on those lines. Alas, that you and I were not among the writers!  [pie]


Offline Kopfy2013

To me this is a weird short.  Especially compared to the masterpieces before it.

It feels disjointed and hurried.  Curly seems stiff.  There are some entertaining parts that have been mentioned but overall to me it was not a good short. 

I wrestle between a 6 or a 7 but will go with a 7.
Niagara Falls


Offline luke795


Offline Shemp_Diesel

I like the remake PEST MAN WINS better.


It's funny you say that, because I was just about to ask what everyone's opinion of this short is as far as comparing it to its remake? Better, worse, the same. I have to say I lean slighty towards the remake, a better ending for sure, a wild pie fight vs. a boring old fox hunt.
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline metaldams

It's been a while since I've seen PEST MAN WINS, so I can't say I have a preference.  In a few years, I will be referencing my notes on this short when talking about the remake.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Kopfy2013

Because of this forum and the posts I watched Pest Man Wins today.

Not to analyze the short since this is not the time I will say I like this one way better than Ants.


Offline Squirrelbait

Because of this forum and the posts I watched Pest Man Wins today.

Not to analyze the short since this is not the time I will say I like this one way better than Ants.

You're not the only one. Love hearing Shemp's "Somebody's gonna get this pie right in the mush!"

While this one has some funny bits, it felt somewhat stuffy to me.

Highlights:
Curly cutting the cards
Jokes involving the ladder (Curly pulling the ladder out from under the workman, Moe smacking Larry for 'takin the ladder away' after they crash to the ground)
Moe and Curly putting bugs/mice in the bedroom (including Curly trying to stifle a sneeze)
'Oh! Poppyseed cake!'
Watching the Stooges try to get the cats out of the piano - probably the best scene in the short
The ending with the Stooges at the fox hunt - and Curly catching a skunk.

And how exactly did Curly suddenly catch a cold that was 'killing him'?

Rating: 5/10

By the way, what exactly happened to cause a blackout in the scene with Moe and Curly under the bed? In the box set, that bit is missing altogether. I've noticed small blackouts in a few other shorts as well.
If there's no other place around the place, I reckon this must be the place, I reckon.


Offline Squirrelbait

I just got done watching this and Pest Man Wins back to back and came up with a suggestion:

We should try and do a Curly-Shemp smackdown in which we compare the Curly originals to the Shemp remakes

For instance:
3 Dumb Clucks vs Up In Daisy's Penthouse
A Plumbing We Will Go vs Vagabond Loafers/Scheming Schemers
An Ache In Every Stake vs Listen Judge
Phony Express vs Merry Mavericks

It doesn't necessasarily have to be just Curly vs Shemp either - we could do it with all the remakes!
If there's no other place around the place, I reckon this must be the place, I reckon.


Offline metaldams

I just got done watching this and Pest Man Wins back to back and came up with a suggestion:

We should try and do a Curly-Shemp smackdown in which we compare the Curly originals to the Shemp remakes

For instance:
3 Dumb Clucks vs Up In Daisy's Penthouse
A Plumbing We Will Go vs Vagabond Loafers/Scheming Schemers
An Ache In Every Stake vs Listen Judge
Phony Express vs Merry Mavericks

It doesn't necessasarily have to be just Curly vs Shemp either - we could do it with all the remakes!

Well, I figure by the time we get to the remakes, it will be very natural to be comparing the remakes to the originals.  I figured this would just happen naturally in the weekly discussions as we go on, but of course if you or anyone else want to start threads for this, that's fine.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline JazzBill

I like this short a lot. It is full of great sight gags and bits. The poppy seed cake, the scene with Bobby Burns dancing around with a mouse down his back and the piano scene with the cats are some of my favorite bits. I didn't realize for a long time that Bud Jamison was playing the part of Professor Repulso. The story goes that some of the scatching Moe was doing was not all acting. I believe Moe said that one of the ant containers broke open and he really had ants all over him. Like everyone mentioned, the ending seemed odd. This short is high on my list of favorites and I rate it a 9 1/2.
"When in Chicago call Stockyards 1234, Ask for Ruby".


Offline metaldams

I didn't realize for a long time that Bud Jamison was playing the part of Professor Repulso.

My God, I never knew that until now!  They did a great job of disguising him.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Dr. Hugo Gansamacher

  • Birdbrain
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My God, I never knew that until now!  They did a great job of disguising him.
Ha ha, I always recognize Bud Jamison by his size and shape!


Offline Keepum Mind on Business

 [pie]

After watching all these shorts so many times I never cease to find more and more things to appreciate.  When Moe is climbing the ladder with the suitcase with Curly behind him they have to do something, so Curly gets too close and Moe yells "get back!" and kicks him.  Then the short continues.


Offline Larrys#1

Whoooaaa! Can't believe my eyes when I'm seeing all the low ratings. I always thought this was one of their better episodes from the early Curly years.

A lot of funny parts here, Larry chasing the mouse and it ends up inside the guy's shirt, Moe and Larry planting mice, moths and ants in the apartments, Curly eating "poppy seed" cake and the guy playing the piano with the cats inside.

As for Mouser not sitting on the bear trap, I wonder if that did occur and just ended up in the cutting room floor....

Overall, a great episode that I enjoy. After reading the comments here, I'm probably in the minority tho.

9/10


Offline Paul Pain

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I never realized I hadn't reviewed this short.  I must rectify this soon...
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Offline Dr. Mabuse

A good start for director Jack White/Preston Black, but the tacked-on "fox hunt" simply fizzles — the film should have ended at the 16:27 mark. "Termites of 1938" is a definite improvement with a more satisfying conclusion.

8/10