http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/34http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030868/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Our discussion of the greatest body of work in the history of western civilization continues with THREE MISSING LINKS. We're thirty three shorts in now, so it's a bit hard to believe it took this long for Jules White to get his first on screen directing credit for The Three Stooges. He would go on to direct more shorts than anybody else, and in the Shemp era, often the same short twice! Ah, but we're getting ahead of ourselves now. Jules White has a reputation amongst the intelligentsia of film comedy to be an unsubtle hack who directed dog shorts and Buster Keaton's worst MGM feature (SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK), and if you have the Buster Keaton Columbia DVD set and listen to the commentaries, you'll catch a few disparaging remarks about how something is a "typical Jules White gag." You know what, that's fine, because in the world of Buster Keaton, perhaps subtlety is a virtue and there are directors better suited than Jules White, but for The Three Stooges, Jules White is the man.
What's great about watching these in chronological order is that we get to see how Jules directs his first short in the Charley Chase era, an era where we get to pause long enough for alphabet songs, pig Latin explanations, Our Gang like pet washing machines, and actually caring that some old dude would rather see horses than fire engines. No time for any of that in a Jules short. The second the boys enter the screen, there's janitorial slapstick all over the place, and when they are no longer janitors, there's still slapstick all over the place. There's plenty of sped up camerawork, profiles of Monte Collins funny nose (a favorite actor of White's), a crazy medicine doctor, and not one, but two gorillas, one who happens to act like Curly Howard because, well, it is Curly Howard. This short is a bit childish and cartoonish, but it in a good way.
As far as the boys themselves, they're all in good form. Curly doing the chicken with its head cut off routine may be one of his most impressive feats of physical comedy ever. Check out the way he squirms on the ground, it's fantastic. I also have fond childhood memories of the tent scene, Larry sleeping while standing and Curly having a childish temper tantrum. I also love the part when Larry says he knows he doesn't snore because he stayed awake all night and didn't snore. Great stuff.
8/10