Topic: Saved by the Belle (1939)

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/40
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031897/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2


Well, it's been a few films now, but Charley Chase is back to direct his final Stooge film.  Not sure if his death, which was a year and a half after this was filmed, is the reason this was his last.  To my knowledge, he stayed at Columbia to the end and certainly released non Stooge Columbia shorts after this, but either way after this short, we get the run for the next few years where it's only Jules White and Del Lord directing Stooge shorts.  Charley Chase had his ups and downs as a Stooge director, but his overall body of work, based on what I've seen, is really good, and as a comic he, along with Harold Lloyd, really was the glue between slapstick comedy of the silent era and screwball comedy of the sound era.  He was a great talent who left us too soon.

As far as SAVED BY THE BELLE is concerned, this is to me the average Charley Chase Stooge short, the only of its kind as I found the first two to be excellent and the previous two to be below par.  There is little that stands out as far as extended gag sequences or classic scenes go, but the short moves along at a brisk pace and there is nothing in this short where you feel like you're watching something that doesn't belong in a Stooge short, unlike the last two Chase entries.  Still, considering the shorts surrounding this one, definitely a dip in quality.  Frankly, if it weren't for this short, my definition of the classic run would begin with WE WANT OUR MUMMY.

There are a few pleasant bits in this one.  I do enjoy the shock absorber gag very much, and it does contain one of my all-time favorite dialogue exchanges.

Seniorita Rita: "...but general, the fat one does not look like a spy, he looks very innocent."

Curly: "Oh, I don't know, I've been around."  (Moe stomps on Curly's foot, Curly makes noises)

Great exchange!

Also, there's the Curly line, "Hey wait a minute, don't you harm a feather on his bed....I mean head."

These kind of flubbed lines only show up in Chase shorts.  Intentional or not, but Chase did have a reputation for filming quickly.

Also, Carmen LaRoux, dead at age 32, and LeRoy Mason, dead at 44.  I'm telling ya, it's amazing how many of these actors in Stooge shorts die so young.

6/10

[Shemp_Diesel]

The end of the Charley Chase era, and this short doesn't really do much for me as did the entire Chase run. It's not really terrible, but it's not good either. I guess I would put it in the same category as something like Dunked in the Deep or Space Ship Sappy in that it's just kind of meh.

One part of this short I really do like is Moe explaining to the guard he was giving him soup not soap and calling him an ignoramus. I try to find a highlight in every stooge short & that was the one for me....

4 out of 10....

[Lefty]

For some reason I've never really cared for this short, probably a bottom-5 in the Curly group.  The later scenes, from the firing squad on, were okay, but that's about it.

And as snow falls outside my humble abode, I realize that we have longer winters in the Philly area than they do in Valeska, as Singapore Joe decided to close his little motel as winter was coming -- yet the telegram about no passage money was dated January 2nd.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

This one's no masterpiece, but it does contain a human moment for Curly and Moe that, as I've been harping on, only happens in Charley Chase films.  The rapport between Curly and Senorita Rita seems especially genuine all through the film, if that's acting it's real good acting.  And Moe seems genuinely hurt when he realizes that he's been intercepting Rita's goo-goo eyes which are actually meant for Curly.  This is a very brief but I think very nice bit, which ends of course back in Stoogeland with an elbow to the jaw.  This is a big contrast to Jules White's ham-handed direction of their interactions with pretty women,  which is to make them act like orangutans.
     One thing I don't like, which happens quite a bit is, goddamnit, you can't lock somebody INSIDE a room.  Unless it's a cell, ALL rooms open from the inside.  Lazy scriptwriting.
     One thing I love is the jail guard, who, when he's being mean, talks in a guttural, indefinable accent, but when Moe taps his friendly side, sounds SWEDISH.  In Central America.  Who came up with that?
     And, of course, just when you think that Charley might be getting too cutesy, out comes the dynamite.

[metaldams]

One part of this short I really do like is Moe explaining to the guard he was giving him soup not soap and calling him an ignoramus. I try to find a highlight in every stooge short & that was the one for me....

I did not mention it in my post, but you're right, this is a great bit of business.  The funniest part is the way Moe just casually opens the unlocked cell door, walks out, and the guard doesn't even register alarm.  That's the thing with this short, you'll get the occasional great moment like that, but it never stays consistent or builds into anything. 

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

There are many shorts coming up where you'll sit through the normal stooge shtick ( of which I would grant that even the routine stuff is funny as hell ) to get to one spot that is so killing that you're happy to sit through the whole thing, even if you've seen it 100 times before.  ( Which in fact I used to do, and which used to drive my mother absolutely bat shit. )  In your own words, Metaldams, "the occasional great moment", though I would call it the reliable great moment.  This one doesn't have a killer spot like we're talking about, but they're coming up pretty soon, and I think that they're a big ingredient of what Metaldams calls the Golden Years.  I'll point them out, though I'm certainly not telling you anything you don't know, as we come to them.  Again, I'm so goddamn old that I really have seen a lot of these things 100 times.  Metaldams, I'm not certain but I gather you're from the Boston area...I may be wrong, but if any of you are from the Boston area, if I tell you that I remember the very first Stooges show with Major Mudd, the very first, you'll know how far back I go.

[Paul Pain]

Call a spade a spade.  This one is pretty darned lacking... the script is full of so many logical fallacies that it makes me cringe.  The only highlight of this one for me are the name puns, like President Ward Robey.

[metaldams]

Metaldams, I'm not certain but I gather you're from the Boston area...I may be wrong, but if any of you are from the Boston area, if I tell you that I remember the very first Stooges show with Major Mudd, the very first, you'll know how far back I go.

I just turned 35 about a month ago, so my Stooge experience is of a child of the 80's.  We didn't have hosts like Major Mudd back then.  I live in Delaware now, but grew up in an area in CT where we got both TV38 in Boston and WPIX in New York, not to mention TBS in its early days nationally.  So yeah, plenty of stations and if memory serves I think they all aired the Stooges.

[JazzBill]

I just turned 35 about a month ago, so my Stooge experience is of a child of the 80's.  We didn't have hosts like Major Mudd back then.  I live in Delaware now, but grew up in an area in CT where we got both TV38 in Boston and WPIX in New York, not to mention TBS in its early days nationally.  So yeah, plenty of stations and if memory serves I think they all aired the Stooges.

I remember going home from school in the late 50's and watching the Stooges on WGN TV in Chicago. It was hosted by Bob Bell who later become more famous as Bozo the clown on WGN.

[JazzBill]

I seem to be in the minority here, I like the this short a lot. I think it's loaded with plenty of gags. It has my favorite Curly line of all time. It's a line that I have used many times myself. If anyone asks me, what kind of fool do you think I am? I will ask them, why is there more than one kind? I give this short a solid 8.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

To JazzBill, who admits to being my vintage, Major Mudd in Boston was a clueless astronaut stranded on the moon, which was a happening concept at the time, and was played by Ed T. McDonnell, who played Bat Masterson in The Outlaws Is Coming.  I don't know how comical the other local hosts tried to be, but Major Mudd was pretty damn funny.

[TiskaTaskaBaska]

I think Saved by the Belle is poor. Of our entire (almost complete) Curly collection, we only jump this one, Flat Footed Stooges and So Long, Mr. Chumps. I don't have much else to add about this short.

[Larrys#1]

This one is ok. I particularly liked the part where Moe asks the guard if he likes soup and the guard replies, "No, I don't like soap." That cracked me up when I was a kid. The stooges breaking out of the jail was pretty funny. Though the beginning and ending was just ok; not very memorable.

8/10

[Kopfy2013]

Probably the weakest of the Chase collection but still watchable.  I would give it a 7. 

There are some nice one-liners I remember using when I was younger ---  'I am temperamental, 95 percent temper, 5 percent mental!'

'What type of fool do you think I am', 'What other types of fools are there?' ....

Small part for General Casino, who was also in Gone With the Wind, Casablanca and Citizen Kane.... buried in North Hollywood and grave stone bought by 3 Stooges Fan Club.

Charley Chase dies less than a year later of a heart attack --- he was in his low 40's ... too young....  I like that he tries gizmos - this one an earthquake shock absorber.

Many of Moe's slaps in this short is from jealousy of Curly.

[BeatleShemp]

Not one of the best shorts, and I would put it among the weakest of the Curly shorts made.  I always find something good in each Stooge short.  I love the bit where they are trying to break out of their cell, and the earthquake puts a big hole in the wall, but they continue trying to saw through the bars anyway.

[GreenCanaries]

At Another Nice Mess, Dave Lord Heath just reviewed the Snub Pollard one-reeler SHAKE 'EM UP (1921), directed by Charles "Charley Chase" Parrott.

It would seem that, nearly a score later, Charley would find some nice re-use for a situation set in a "south of the border" town involving both spies and frequent comic earthquakes which help our protagonists to escape from a jail cell, a firing squad, et al...

[metaldams]

At Another Nice Mess, Dave Lord Heath just reviewed the Snub Pollard one-reeler SHAKE 'EM UP (1921), directed by Charles "Charley Chase" Parrott.

It would seem that, nearly a score later, Charley would find some nice re-use for a situation set in a "south of the border" town involving both spies and frequent comic earthquakes which help our protagonists to escape from a jail cell, a firing squad, et al...

Oh wow, thanks for the tidbit there!

[Dr. Mabuse]

No classic, but a lot better than Charley Chase's disappointing "Flat Foot Stooges." Though it lacks any standout visual gags, "Saved by the Belle" moves at a breezy pace with a steady stream of laughs. Carmen LaRoux and LeRoy Mason deliver memorable performances in their only Stooge outing.  For the most part, I enjoyed the Chase-directed shorts and appreciated his offbeat approach to Stooge madness. 

7/10

[Daddy Dewdrop]

One of the weaker 1930s Curly shorts.  I really don't have much to say about this one.  It's just dull, with very few laughs, a big no-no for this Curly fan.

#168. Saved By The Belle