http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/40http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031897/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2Well, 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