Three Smart Saps (1942)

Lefty · **Reply #25 on:** December 07, 2014, 10:39:01 AM

Quote from: Signor Spumoni on December 06, 2014, 12:34:41 PM

Meet any college widows in those fifteen years??

In reference to occidental and oriental - - here's a piece I like very much. I only wish Robert Maxwell had titled it "Occidental Slip On an Oriental Rug."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B1qLMQfHmY

1. No, the vast majority of the gals were married or involved.

2. Tomorrow will be 24 years since I slipped (actually skidded) on an occidental rug that was not nailed down to the floor in the hallway of one's house, injuring my left (braking and bowling) knee.

Signor Spumoni · **Reply #26 on:** December 07, 2014, 03:11:29 PM

Quote from: Lefty on December 07, 2014, 10:39:01 AM

1. No, the vast majority of the gals were married or involved.

2. Tomorrow will be 24 years since I slipped (actually skidded) on an occidental rug that was not nailed down to the floor in the hallway of one's house, injuring my left (braking and bowling) knee.

I guess this means you don't care for that musical piece. Seriously, I'm sorry to hear about that injury. I hope it hasn't left you disabled or in pain. It sounds nasty.

Lefty · **Reply #27 on:** December 08, 2014, 03:06:04 PM

Quote from: Signor Spumoni on December 07, 2014, 03:11:29 PM

I guess this means you don't care for that musical piece. Seriously, I'm sorry to hear about that injury. I hope it hasn't left you disabled or in pain. It sounds nasty.

I prefer the rhumba song in this short much better.

Thanks for the concern. Actually, that was minor relative to what happened 13 years ago today, when my back started hurting and eventually led to paralysis from the waist down on 12/11, due to a spinal cord stroke, something rarer than a Stooges' victory (or a Philly team championship). It took me several months to get back on my feet, as fortunately it was not permanent paralysis. There was a neurologist who was so incompetent, not knowing what the problem was and telling me and my wife that I would never walk again, that he didn't get the joke when I told him that had I been standing on my head, the paralysis would have been from the waist up. Of course, his is from the neck up.

Larrys#1 · **Reply #28 on:** December 10, 2014, 08:17:11 AM

I like this one. Sadly I was one of the losers that ended up with a sloppy Screen Gems print during the VHS days. What was Columbia thinking when they released such a thing on home video?

This is a very funny episode to watch. Curly is pretty much the center of attention here. The stooges trying to get themselves arrested. The pinball machine bit was a another good part. Then we have Curly doing his rumba dance. This is the longest part of the episode, but it's a good one. Larry trying to sew Curly's suit is another very funny part. I've watched this episode repeatedly and always enjoy it.

10/10

Shemp_Diesel · **Reply #29 on:** December 10, 2014, 08:39:59 AM

Quote from: Larrys#1 on December 10, 2014, 08:17:11 AM

I like this one. Sadly I was one of the losers that ended up with a sloppy Screen Gems print during the VHS days. What was Columbia thinking when they released such a thing on home video?

I've heard the stories about some of those Columbia VHS tapes--I remember reading that quite a few of them had poor transfers which is why I stayed away from those certain tapes; Monkey Businessmen, I'm a Monkey's Uncle, and the print for Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb. Was it really that bad?

Dr. Hugo Gansamacher · **Reply #30 on:** December 25, 2014, 09:21:55 PM

Two of my favorite things in this short:

1. The business when the Stooges use the shave-and-a-haircut knock to get into the jail only to get a punch in the face. The swiftness with which the punch follows upon the knock and the fact that we never see the face or body of the owner of the fist (yes, we just saw Eddie Laughton in the doorway a moment before, but we don't see him now) makes it seem as if the punch in the face is a direct mechanical effect of the knock rather than the chosen action of a human being. Of course, Curly thinks he can do it better than Moe: "Let a fellow who knows how to knock, knock, nick, nack, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk—" (punch in the face). A similar gag will occur in Three Hams on Rye, when Shemp encounters a door with words on it that he deciphers as "Dangerooz, kippawah!" ("Dangerous—keep away"), opens it, and gets a boxing-glove-clad fist right in the face for no reason that is ever explained.

2. Barbara Slater. Hubba hubba. She looks as if she really likes Curly!

ThumpTheShoes · **Reply #31 on:** December 26, 2014, 04:14:30 PM

Quote from: Shemp_Diesel on December 10, 2014, 08:39:59 AM

I've heard the stories about some of those Columbia VHS tapes--I remember reading that quite a few of them had poor transfers which is why I stayed away from those certain tapes; Monkey Businessmen, I'm a Monkey's Uncle, and the print for Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb. Was it really that bad?

Worse.

TiskaTaskaBaska · **Reply #32 on:** January 16, 2015, 11:46:58 AM

(Looking at a cop bent over) "We're practically in the clink now!" The little precise movements, Curly and Moe nose to nose, at a fadeout... "Must've been the garlic you ate last night!" "Hey Pelican; I got static in the left eye." And we didn't even get to the good stuff yet...the rumba scene. There she is; all 6 feet of her in THAT DRESS. I would pay for that dress; I would kill for that dress. I would have a dressmaker custom-make that dress for me!!! I love most of the women's dresses in this scene (except for Moe's dance partner and one woman in a black dress has weird epaulets on the shoulders), but Barbara Slater's dress is beyond comprehension; perfect long beautiful Forties fashion on a beautiful Forties woman; my favorite generation of fashion! Curly's dance with her makes life worth living. Some of the background folks are pretty bad dancers; one woman has her butt sticking way out; weird. But Curly is awesome; so energetic, so natural. He was a ballroom dancing champion, right? It shows. Then the immortal, "Thank you for the dance or whatever you might call it." That line alone make the short worth watching. When they're back home and getting ready for their wedding, I love when Curly bonks into the wall and stuff falls off the bookcase at fadeout...... This one I'd say is a 9!! But based on purely Female Stooge Fan reasons.

metaldams · **Reply #33 on:** January 16, 2015, 10:37:25 PM

Quote from: TiskaTaskaBaska on January 16, 2015, 11:46:58 AM

(Looking at a cop bent over) "We're practically in the clink now!" The little precise movements, Curly and Moe nose to nose, at a fadeout... "Must've been the garlic you ate last night!" "Hey Pelican; I got static in the left eye." And we didn't even get to the good stuff yet...the rumba scene. There she is; all 6 feet of her in THAT DRESS. I would pay for that dress; I would kill for that dress. I would have a dressmaker custom-make that dress for me!!! I love most of the women's dresses in this scene (except for Moe's dance partner and one woman in a black dress has weird epaulets on the shoulders), but Barbara Slater's dress is beyond comprehension; perfect long beautiful Forties fashion on a beautiful Forties woman; my favorite generation of fashion! Curly's dance with her makes life worth living. Some of the background folks are pretty bad dancers; one woman has her butt sticking way out; weird. But Curly is awesome; so energetic, so natural. He was a ballroom dancing champion, right? It shows. Then the immortal, "Thank you for the dance or whatever you might call it." That line alone make the short worth watching. When they're back home and getting ready for their wedding, I love when Curly bonks into the wall and stuff falls off the bookcase at fadeout...... This one I'd say is a 9!! But based on purely Female Stooge Fan reasons.

I love this review because I could never have had these thoughts in a million years. Analyzing the dresses of random people, noticing the dancing, picking out which random dresses are good and which ones are not and who can dance and who can't, totally beyond me. I'm a typical guy, I just think, "Me like 'em Curly, he funny. Me like Barbara Slater, make a whoopee." Great review, Tiska.

TiskaTaskaBaska · **Reply #34 on:** January 19, 2015, 07:48:21 AM

Quote from: metaldams on January 16, 2015, 10:37:25 PM

I love this review because I could never have had these thoughts in a million years.

Metal, this is what happens when you have a female Stooge fan. I look at everything; furniture; the interior decorating; the way kitchens are laid out; tablecloths (I've noticed one they've recycled several times; the one that's in Cash and Carry). I look at the women's clothes because Forties fashion is my favorite! Just another way for me to make my Stooge time even more fun.

metaldams · **Reply #35 on:** January 19, 2015, 10:07:05 AM

Quote from: TiskaTaskaBaska on January 19, 2015, 07:48:21 AM

Metal, this is what happens when you have a female Stooge fan. I look at everything; furniture; the interior decorating; the way kitchens are laid out; tablecloths (I've noticed one they've recycled several times; the one that's in Cash and Carry). I look at the women's clothes because Forties fashion is my favorite! Just another way for me to make my Stooge time even more fun.

You know, now that I'm thinking about it, I do the same thing with certain other types of films, but not Stooge films so much. For example, if it's a black and white horror film, I will be checking out the scenery of any haunted castle or graveyard in great detail, and when it comes to silent comedy location filming, I'm fascinated by the way city streets, neighborhoods, and old dirt roads looked back in those days! That's one of the great things about film, it preserves history, the camera doesn't lie. I suppose the same can be said for interior design and fashion of different eras as well, the camera captures it all.

GreenCanaries · **Reply #36 on:** April 29, 2015, 04:27:17 PM

Is it possible the window installer is Stanley Brown? Could he affect a voice like that?

Also, Bert Young appears quite a bit throughout the party: he's Sally Cairns' first dance partner, he appears in the BG when Moe snaps the picture of Lew Davis, and he is the first to laugh of Sally's dress being ripped off (at right of screen).

Curly Van Dyke · **Reply #37 on:** November 19, 2016, 02:27:06 PM

Moe's Blonde Dancing partner is quite cute with great legs.
Anyone know her identity?

Curly Van Dyke · **Reply #38 on:** November 19, 2016, 02:28:38 PM

I got it -Sally Cains. She was cute and popped up in a few other 40s Stooge shorts.

metaldams · **Reply #39 on:** December 03, 2019, 07:08:30 PM

As a Bela Lugosi and Three Stooges fan, so cool this pairing happened.

Shemp_Diesel · **Reply #40 on:** December 04, 2019, 10:41:28 AM

"Bowery at Midnight," is that one of the "Monogram Classics" I've read about or is that another pot-boiler with the Dead End Kids? I'm still trying to find time to sit down & watch "Voodoo Man" with Zucco and Bela; it smells like a winner just reading about it...

metaldams · **Reply #41 on:** December 04, 2019, 11:10:47 AM

Quote from: Shemp_Diesel on December 04, 2019, 10:41:28 AM

"Bowery at Midnight," is that one of the "Monogram Classics" I've read about or is that another pot-boiler with the Dead End Kids? I'm still trying to find time to sit down & watch "Voodoo Man" with Zucco and Bela; it smells like a winner just reading about it...

BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT, in spite of the title, is not one of the films he did with the East Side Kids. It’s a cool little film where Bela plays a double role. VOODOO MAN is one of the great so bad it’s good movies. Bela is very good in it, but the zombie girls, plot and John Carradine as the imbecile sidekick (and if memory serves, I think this is the George Zucco fuzzy sweater film) are pure camp.

All the Bela Monograms are worth a look.

Dr. Mabuse · **Reply #42 on:** April 04, 2020, 02:41:29 PM

"The wedding bells will start to ring . . ."

Easily the best short of 1942 and one of Jules White's finest directorial efforts. Curly's brilliant dance with Barbara Slater is among the great Stooge moments. Larry also gets an opportunity to shine behind the curtain. In terms of plot structure, "Three Smart Saps" features an inspired cyclical ending — a rarity in Stooge history.

9/10

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz · **Reply #43 on:** September 09, 2021, 05:39:22 PM

I watched this the other night for the first time in forever, which led me to Metaldam's post of the photo of Chaplin and Barbara Slater in Monsieur Verdoux. Barbara is certainly a lot more happening in the stooge flicks than she is in the Chaplin photo. It might just be the camera angle. I hope so.

Dr. Mabuse · **Reply #44 on:** November 18, 2021, 02:02:09 AM

Motion Picture Herald: "What the Picture Did for Me" (July 3, 1943)

Big Chief Apumtagribonitz · **Reply #45 on:** February 09, 2023, 08:07:29 PM

Dr Mabuse, thanks again for these capsule exhibitor reviews. Most of them certainly seem to be from out in the sticks, and I love the one that says "prison audience".

Daddy Dewdrop · **Reply #46 on:** November 05, 2023, 03:33:44 PM

A very energetic Curly outing. I rank it at #44 overall.

Three Smart Saps (1942)

ThumpTheShoes

TiskaTaskaBaska

TiskaTaskaBaska