http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/63http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035047/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1Man, what an interesting short for me. In the past I have stated personal experiences and points of view can have a big impact on how one views comedy. I go through life loving redheads. I also love taller women, so the next short has a gag for me as well! Octopus Grabus would have to be my favorite Vernon Dent character in a Stooge short. I am definitely not the tyrannical type, but if I was a monarch, I'd not take your money, I'd not send your son off to some foreign land, but I may go after your redheaded daughter. But why stop where Octopus Grabus does? 18 - 22? That's where I take issue. I'd go for 18 - 45, nyuk nyuk nyuk.
. Only kidding, of course, but I do love redheads, and I also can't see a darn thing without my glasses. Vernon Dent does a wonderful job, being a tyrant in the right spots and a playful oaf in other spots. The man's a comic god as far as I'm concerned.
The boys themselves are pretty high energy in this one. We get an early version of Curly doing the "ras ban as ya ti benafucci..." bit that is later perfected in TIME OUT FOR RHYTHM and THREE LITTLE PIRATES. I also love the wine tasting bit, thinking it's clever the way they pour the wine into the sleeping homeless guy's mouth from a story above.
This would be one of two Stooge shorts Harry Edwards directs. He also has some writing credits as well and my theory as to why he works at Columbia is that Harry Langdon, who was starring in his own comedy shorts at Columbia, got him a job. Harry Edwards wrote and directed some of Langdon's best silent work, and I don't think it's coincidence that as soon as Langdon passed away in December of 1944, Edwards Columbia short career ended. Both The Three Stooges and Vera Vague, according to the highly recommended book linked below, specifically requested never to work with Edwards again. According to the threestooges.net page listed above, this short was shot on and off for three weeks, and it is believed Del Lord finished off the short, not Edwards.
One beef I do have with this short is some bits of realism where it's not called for. A more minor offense is that Larry sells the clay in the ear a bit too well. A more major offense is the poor red head being dragged off to the king sells her plight extremely well and for an extended period, making it feel more like a rape than a light comedy. The overselling of pain in a Stooge short, like in HALF SHOT SHOOTERS, does not work well for me. I wonder if this is due to Harry Edwards direction, because this has not been a problem for a while. Also, the ending just flat out sucks. We're in the middle of a chase scene, the boys jump out a window, and it suddenly ends as they're stuck on the spears of the royal guards.
1942 is a definite drop overall from previous years, though next week is one of the better shorts of the year. Also, this short marks the one third point, so we're through the beginning, and onward to the middle of our quest to discuss all 190.
http://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Comedy-Shorts-Hollywood-1933-1958/dp/0786405775/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404482064&sr=1-1&keywords=columbia+comedy+shorts8/10