Topic: Love At First Bite (1950)

[metaldams]

http://threestooges.net/filmography/episode/123
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042690/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AHLuHdCXgDo

Watch LOVE AT FIRST BITE in the link above



      First off, are you guys sick?  Last week, the Laurel and Hardy short generated way more discussion than the Stooge short.  Glad the Laurel and Hardy short generated discussion, but also a bit shocked relative to the Stooge film.  One of these weeks, both shorts will get 50 replies.  But no matter where the discussion lies, thank you all, and happy birthday to Paul and Big Chief.  You guys who haven't checked out the Laurel and Hardy stuff or are not even familiar with them, I do post links to the shorts, so check them out if you're feeling adventurous and post a comment, you might enjoy it.

      Now, to the short at hand, LOVE AT FIRST BITE.  I like this short....the end.

9/10






       OK, OK, I'll say more, sheesh!  Put down the torches, guys.  The opening shot of the boys singing and partaking in interior decorating brings a smile to my face.  That shot captures the essence of how I envision early 50's domestic Shemp shorts, an era I for the most part, am fond of.  A small room, all Stooges in it, and the start of what you know is going to be a lot of slapstick.  The first four minutes is exactly that, slapstick.  Pure and simple Stooge essence.  Larry with the horseshoe over the door, tons of artistic slaps and bonks, (My favorite being the way Moe returns for a gouge after Shemp's block.  Moe has to get the last word), and gum...lots and lots of gum.  Gum on ears, gum on noses, gum sticking to faces, multiple sticks of gum being inserted into Shemp's mouth, just lots of gum.  Did I mention there's gum?  It makes a sticky slapstick comedy situation, and one I find quite enjoyable.

      After the slapstick barrage, we get an experimental bit that can be found in lots of these early 50's talking and moving picturefests, and in this case it's each Stooge getting a scene without the other Stooges but with their girl, in flashback.  More pretty girls, a definite cliche at this point in Stooge films, but one my biological make up does not allow me to tire of.  All three scenes are pleasant, lighter comedy bits which aren't quite as hardcore as the first four minutes.  A contrast, if you will.  Moe's scene is the best because his pretty girl is Christine McIntyre, doing a wonderful comedic German accent and singing routine, and the two show great chemistry together.  This whole flashback thing would be redone years later in the Besser era thriller, FIFI BLOWS HER TOP.

      After this, the boys get drunk, and this part is fantastic.  Best seltzer bottle fight in a Stooge short ever, and I want to give special props to those drunken close ups of Larry, making Harpo worthy faces.  Great stuff from all three.  The only part I'm not too crazy about is Shemp in the cement and the execution of how he's being bounced around in the cement tub.  The sped up quality and stunt double are obvious and cheapen the gag for me.  However, the ending is great, especially the football tackle poor Shemp gets into the water!  Fun short overall, and just because I like repeating myself...,.

9/10

Next week, should be interesting.  Very, VERY interesting.

[Shemp_Diesel]

First, happy B-day to Paul Pain...


Second, I have this pegged as a good short, not great. One of the better ones from this portion of the Shemp era when Jules White's short were a mixed bag--and next week may be an occasion to bring out the barf bag, but I'll refrain from commenting on that. 

My favorite part in this one might be early in the short when Shemp reminds Moe that the day was an occasion for celebrating, not beating each other up & of course, Shemp sneaks in a slap and eyepoke on Moe (remember pal-sie wal-sie, no slap-sies). And watch Larry's facial expressions during that scene...

7 out of 10....

[Paul Pain]

First, thanks for all the b-day wishes.

Second, it has been a while since I last saw this one, but on my Three Stooges profile I gave this one .  I was disappointed to see this review fall on my birthday.

I believe the reason for that is my low opinion of the 4 minutes of the Stooges trying to be sots.

First, happy B-day to Paul Pain...

Thank you!! 

Second, I have this pegged as a good short, not great. One of the better ones from this portion of the Shemp era when Jules White's short were a mixed bag--and next week may be an occasion to bring out the barf bag, but I'll refrain from commenting on that. 

This sounds about right.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Lucky thing that the boys keep some sticks of dynamite in their house or apartment, presumably for use in case one of them gets his feet sealed in a tub of cement. The business with the dynamite, in which the three get blown through the ceiling, fly across town, and come to earth, none the worse for wear, exactly in front of their sweethearts at the waterfront, is funny enough by itself to make the whole short worth while. The last bit, in which Shemp and Fifi fall in the water, gives me the creeps, though, because, even in the bizarre world of Stooge physics, a cement weight on your feet will drag you under (with a tow so heavy that you'll never float . . . ). After all, that is why Moe and Larry, when they were stupefied with Old Panther, put the feet of Shemp into the cement in the first place.

[Shemp_Diesel]

I know most of the cases where we thought the stooges were adlibbing have been proven to be not the case, but it still feels like a bit of improv to me when Shemp goes "I don't know, a fly went in mine too."

 

[Lefty]

I say, good show!  (The Stooges' flashbacks were in France, Italy, and Austria, so let's add England for the description of the short, eh what?)

With the slapstick and the good-looking girls*, LAFB is fun from start to finish.  I think my favorite part, besides the Moe/Shemp seltzer fight, was Moe trying to get the gum off himself, moaning in a high-pitched voice.


* pronounced "garrels" to rhyme with "barrels" by Lippy the Lion, a bearded bonehead teacher of mine in the 1960s.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

To me, the Stooge action that precedes the reminiscences is not very satisfying, because of the dramatic weakness of the relationship between Moe and Shemp. The original setup of the group requires that Moe be the dominant Stooge, but Shemp, presumably because he was in real life Moe's elder brother, doesn't fit well into the role of subordinate Stooge. He has one fine moment as an insubordinate Stooge when he demonstrates to Moe what he proposes that they not do to each other ("No slapsies!"). And there is one point at which Moe gives him a good multiple-slapping and eye-poking. But otherwise, to my mind, the action between them fails to be funny because Moe too often ends up merely making angry noises and gestures rather than letting loose with the ritualized Stooge violence.  I also find the entire drunk act overdone and unfunny. That leaves as the better bits of the short the flashbacks, of which the scene of Moe and Christine seems to me clearly the best, and the business with the dynamite, on which I posted earlier.

[Signor Spumoni]

Aside from the flashbacks with the girlfriends, I don't care for this short.  It opens well; I enjoy hearing them sing that wedding song.  Not only is their home far nicer than any they had (to my recollection) in the '30s and '40s, but their clothing is much better than usual, too - - they aren't dressed like stooges.  It's funny to me how all their girlfriends happen to be arriving on the same boat. 

Shemp's blocking of Moe's eye-poke reminds me of a Bernie Mac Show episode.  Bernie was reading the riot act to Jordan.  He raised his hand to Jordan
who put his own hand up in the classic eye-poke block seen here and in other shorts.  I assume Bernie Mac had that in the script because he was a Stooges fan.

Dr. HG summed up well how the Shemp-Moe segments come across to me:  they are not very satisfying.  To me, they just feel off-kilter.  I love Dr. G.'s line about how the boys keep dynamite around the house (apparently in the kitchen, of all places) for, in my words, just such an occasion.  I also don't care for that whole part about Shemp in the tub of cement. The Joe Palma subsititution was obvious, and, overall, I don't find this part entertaining.

I like the girlfriend segments more than the others.   I like Larry's pun about how he met his girl ("garrel" to you, Lefty),  "I was sitting in a little restaurant eating bread and hot dogs and waiting to be mustered out."  But somehow the bread and hot dogs transform into spaghetti and meatballs when we see his recollection. 

The one with Christine is my favorite.   [Notice how her hair changes color part way down, where her own hair ended and the false hair was braided into it.]  Christine and Moe were made for one another, in this short - - note how neither of them thinks to up-end the vase to get the ring out, how she puts his ring on her left hand immediately, and how happy she is to crash onto the floor with Moe.  Christine McIntyre, the only girl who could make work boots look good. 

I like Shemp's "Rue De Schlemiel" in Paris.  I wish I could make out what Shemp's French girl says, though it probably isn't real French.

I dislike the drunken scene very much, but Shemp was funny saying, "Let's fight a drool."  The problem with this segment, for me, can be summarized with two words from my childhood:  hokey and bogus. 

Why are Moe and Larry sleeping against the wall?  I imagine it was to make it faster and cheaper to shoot instead of using a bedroom set, but it doesn't work for me.  Can anyone make out what the girls call the Stooges when they are reunited?

I enjoy reading every one's opinions on these shorts.  I see new things and new points of view.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Christine McIntyre, the only girl who could make work boots look good. 

Certainly the only one in the Stooge shorts!

I like Shemp's "Rue De Schlemiel" in Paris.  I wish I could make out what Shemp's French girl says, though it probably isn't real French.

That would be la rue de Chlémille.

It is definitely real French. I can't make out every word, but my best effort to reconstruct her first utterance is "Est-ce que vous [something] ici longtemps?", which means, "Have you [something] here for long?" (to which Shemp replies, "I don't know. A fly went in mine too, but don't mind!"). Her second utterance is "Fichez-moi la paix avec mon pied! Autrement, je vais manger chez moi!", which means, "Leave my leg alone! Otherwise, I'll go eat at home!"

The actress who appears as Larry's Italian girl has a French name. Her Italian sounds like the real thing to me, as far as accent goes, but her choice of words is rather odd: she seems to say, "Ma che cosa fa questo pazzo davver?", which means, "What is this madman doing, really?" The "davver" at the end does not sound to me like something that an Italian would say, so I suspect that she is a French woman speaking Italian as a foreign language.

I dislike the drunken scene very much, but Shemp was funny saying, "Let's fight a drool."  The problem with this segment, for me, can be summarized with two words from my childhood:  hokey and bogus. 

I would have used the word "corny," but the point is the same. (By the way, all three words remain in my active vocabulary.)

Can anyone make out what the girls call the Stooges when they are reunited?

Larry: Maria!

Moe: Katrina!

Shemp: Fifi!

Maria: Tesoro! [Treasure!]

Katrina: Liebchen! [Darling!]

Fifi: Chéri! [Darling!]

Though Christine does a very good German accent in English, she does a very bad one in German—which is strange, in view of her training as a classical singer, but not unprecedented.

[Shemp_Diesel]

I always wondered how they got the spaghetti to fly right into Al Thompson's mouth--I assume a stagehand off-camera was the one who made that shot, and if so, it was one hell of a shot.

I also think this was the first time the gag about Moe betting a paltry sum on a horse race was used--5, 5, and 25, 35 cents altogether. That gag would come back much later in Income Tax Sappy. I'm enjoying reading the diverse opinions about this particular short. It's only wetting my appetite for what should be some fun discussion next week...


 

[Paul Pain]

Certainly the only one in the Stooge shorts!

That would be la rue de Chlémille.

It is definitely real French. I can't make out every word, but my best effort to reconstruct her first utterance is "Est-ce que vous [something] ici longtemps?", which means, "Have you [something] here for long?" (to which Shemp replies, "I don't know. A fly went in mine too, but don't mind!"). Her second utterance is "Fichez-moi la paix avec mon pied! Autrement, je vais manger chez moi!", which means, "Leave my leg alone! Otherwise, I'll go eat at home!"

The actress who appears as Larry's Italian girl has a French name. Her Italian sounds like the real thing to me, as far as accent goes, but her choice of words is rather odd: she seems to say, "Ma che cosa fa questo pazzo davver?", which means, "What is this madman doing, really?" The "davver" at the end does not sound to me like something that an Italian would say, so I suspect that she is a French woman speaking Italian as a foreign language.

I would have used the word "corny," but the point is the same. (By the way, all three words remain in my active vocabulary.)

Larry: Maria!

Moe: Katrina!

Shemp: Fifi!

Maria: Tesoro! [Treasure!]

Katrina: Liebchen! [Darling!]

Fifi: Chéri! [Darling!]

Though Christine does a very good German accent in English, she does a very bad one in German—which is strange, in view of her training as a classical singer, but not unprecedented.

"Davver" is as far from Italian as language gets!  Trust me!

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

"Davver" is as far from Italian as language gets!  Trust me!

How so? It's just "davvero" (which is in common use) with the final vowel elided. Dropping a final vowel after an "r" or an "n" is, I believe, common in some northern Italian accents.

[GreenCanaries]

I also don't care for that whole part about Shemp in the tub of cement. The Joe Palma subsititution was obvious, and, overall, I don't find this part entertaining.

Actually, that was Johnny Kascier, usually Moe's double during that period. Though I think Hurley Breen or someone else did the final shot of "Fifi" jumping into "Shemp's" arms.

[VaudevilleFan]

I may get flamed for this but I think this short represents the first "Joe-flavored" Stooge short. I don't really care for it that much. The stooges' performances are great but the short almost seems like a Joe-era short in its style.

[Signor Spumoni]

I always wondered how they got the spaghetti to fly right into Al Thompson's mouth--I assume a stagehand off-camera was the one who made that shot, and if so, it was one hell of a shot.

I always assumed this was a shot run backward, that is, the spaghetti was in his mouth and was then yanked out.  But upon several viewings just now, I think I am wrong.  Someone was a good shot.

[Signor Spumoni]

I may get flamed for this but I think this short represents the first "Joe-flavored" Stooge short. I don't really care for it that much. The stooges' performances are great but the short almost seems like a Joe-era short in its style.

I'd like to know more about what you consider a Joe-era short.  I am no fan of the Joe era, although I like him in one or two other things e.g., (Abbott and Costello's show).  But tell us more about a Joe-era short, if you will.

[Signor Spumoni]

Actually, that was Johnny Kascier, usually Moe's double during that period. Though I think Hurley Breen or someone else did the final shot of "Fifi" jumping into "Shemp's" arms.

Thank you for the correction, GC.  I could see it wasn't Shemp and I assumed it was Joe Palma.  I had no idea who doubled for Fifi, and I could see that a dummy was used when Shemp landed on the pier, still in his cement overshoes.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

I could see that a dummy was used when Shemp landed on the pier, still in his cement overshoes.

I neglected to mention that when naming the things that I like in the short. The actions with dummies always make me laugh.

[Signor Spumoni]

Dr. HG - - Although I left "hokey" behind in childhood, I still use bogus as a fast, single syllable way to call out something I think is fake or untrue, etc.  I changed from "corny" to "cornball," but I don't know when or why.

Thank you for telling us what the women said when they saw their sweethearts again.  This might be the second short where Moe and Christine end up together, the other one which comes to mind being "Hugs And Mugs." 

I would have preferred Nanette Bordeaux to Yvette Reynard in this short.  Nanette just had an extra sparkle.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

This might be the second short where Moe and Christine end up together, the other one which comes to mind being "Hugs And Mugs." 

I would have preferred Nanette Bordeaux to Yvette Reynard in this short.  Nanette just had an extra sparkle.

The only premise in the short more ridiculous than that of these three old guys doing military service is that of three beautiful young women--well, two of them are young, anyway--falling in love with them. At least Maria (Larry's girl) and Katrina (Moe's) seem to match the boys in social class. By contrast, Shemp's girl looks as though she would never be seen in public with a common sailor, let alone consort with one played by "the ugliest man in Hollywood," as Shemp was called. The three boys being blown through the air by a blast of dynamite and landing unharmed on the pier strains credulity less!

[GreenCanaries]

Thank you for the correction, GC.  I could see it wasn't Shemp and I assumed it was Joe Palma.  I had no idea who doubled for Fifi, and I could see that a dummy was used when Shemp landed on the pier, still in his cement overshoes.

I always have to wonder about someone of the stuntmen who donned drag to double women in these shorts. One of those things I am bizarrely curious about...

[metaldams]

I may get flamed for this but I think this short represents the first "Joe-flavored" Stooge short. I don't really care for it that much. The stooges' performances are great but the short almost seems like a Joe-era short in its style.

Perhaps watching FIFI BLOWS HER TOP, with a few similar lines and reused footage, gives this impression?  Nah, to me, way more slapstick here than the average Joe short, and also a decided lack of Joe himself.

To you guys who consider the drunk scene hokey, to each their own, but I always enjoyed it as light hearted fun.

[metaldams]

The only premise in the short more ridiculous than that of these three old guys doing military service is that of three beautiful young women--well, two of them are young, anyway--falling in love with them. At least Maria (Larry's girl) and Katrina (Moe's) seem to match the boys in social class. By contrast, Shemp's girl looks as though she would never be seen in public with a common sailor, let alone consort with one played by "the ugliest man in Hollywood," as Shemp was called. The three boys being blown through the air by a blast of dynamite and landing unharmed on the pier strains credulity less!

Yikes! Christine, the oldest of the three women and presumably the non young one, was about the same age back then as I am now.  Nurse, where's my Metamucil?   

[Signor Spumoni]

Yikes! Christine, the oldest of the three women and presumably the non young one, was about the same age back then as I am now.  Nurse, where's my Metamucil?   

You're mid-30s; she was 39.  I think that's different enough for you to postpone your old age blues.  But if not, get some of that rejuvenation formula the Stooges created and you'll become young again....or else you'll become a gorilla.  It's worth the gamble. 

As an aside, she was a great looking 39.

[Signor Spumoni]

To you guys who consider the drunk scene hokey, to each their own, but I always enjoyed it as light hearted fun.

I think you liked us better when we didn't comment.