Moronika
The community forum of ThreeStooges.net

Commotion on the Ocean (1956)

metaldams · 16 · 10913

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline metaldams

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/173
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049090/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7BZfZ54ssj0

Watch COMMOTION ON THE OCEAN in the link above



      The very last Shemp Three Stooges short!  Like most of these recycles, not really much to say.  Fortunately, next week we start the Joe Besser era, where there will be plenty to say.  OK, the fourth and final Palma as Shemp double epic, and like last week and unlike the first two, everybody came to their sense and gave Palma nothing to do.  All he does is cover his face for a brief moment and gives us a few shots of shoulder.

      A remake of DUNKED IN THE DEEP with bits of CRIME ON THEIR HANDS thrown in.  The old footage is good, just better seen in its original context.  The one new scene of note is Moe, Larry, and Gene Roth eating the wooden fish.  I actually like the set up of how they got Harriette Tarler away from her meal and through a few circumstances, the wooden fish replaced the real fish.  Somewhat creative, surprisingly for this late in the game.  However, once they get the wooden fish and eat it, it turns into a variation of the cushion in the cake gag we've seen a million times, but instead of spitting out feathers, they spit out sawdust.  Other than this one bit, every other comic scene of note is stock footage.

      ....and as far as Shemp Three Stooges shorts, this is it, my friends.  They manage to go out on a whimper.  Let's be honest, the last real Shemp short was BLUNDER BOYS, and due to stock footage, very few truly new films were being made these past few years.  Overall, Shemp was more than a worthy successor to his  younger brother Curly, and when we had a run of original shorts, lots of great comedy was made.  Shemp was his own unique comic who gelled well with Moe and Larry, and it's a shame he couldn't live longer to make features with them.

     Next week, the Joe Besser era is finally upon us.  Really looking forward to discussing those sixteen shorts!

5/10

- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

Don't know if I have much to add this week. This one is almost as bad as Rumpus and Hot Stuff. Nothing noteworthy at all to mention, bring on Joe Besser already. As bad as most of those Besser shorts are, they should make for more interesting discussion than this Shemp A.D. junk...

1 out of 10....
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline QuinceHead

Giff me dat fillum!!!

For duty and humanity,
JohnH aka QuinceHead


Offline QuinceHead

Never thought I'd see the day when I'd be looking forward to a Joe Besser Stooge short!  ;)

For duty and humanity,
JohnH aka QuinceHead


Offline Paul Pain

  • Moronika's resident meteorologist
  • Bunionhead
  • ******
  • The heartthrob of millions!
For the 3rd time, we say goodbye Shemp.  We see more Harriette Tarler and Gene Roth, and once again they suck horribly!  Get used to it, folks, as Gene Roth's sucky acting is going to be the difference between a 4 and a 6 on more than one Besser short!  Holy crap... Using Gene as the 3rd Stooge was really dumb, but it begs a thought...

I know every record out there (except for that one shady book) indicates Besser was the primary choice to replace Shemp, but is there any possibility this was maybe a covert attempt to audition Gene as a potential 3rd Stooge?  BeAStooge?

Bring on Besser.  At least there'll be variety from great to awful to just plain weird... It'll be a change from this year's almost non-stop flavor of Bleh.

1/10 [poke]
#1 fire kibitzer


Offline BeatleShemp

I do mildly like the new scenes on the ship, but other than that this is a reminder of how much Shemp was missed. The sawdust scene definitely would have been funnier if Shemp were alive and in his rightful place as third Stooge. Looking forward to the start of the Besser topics.


Offline Lefty

As for "Commotion on the Ocean,"  the new scenes are all right, with Larry's quote being one of the all-time best:  "On fish, I'm a common sewer!"  The original, "Dunked in the Deep," was one of my favorite Shemp shorts, so the stock footage is bearable.  One thing that doesn't make sense due to cutouts is when Bortch/Borch/Bawrtsh/Gospodin Mal'chik/Borscht/Whatever wipes his face after we don't see Shemp foot-flipping the watermelon onto him.  Anyway, farewell, Shemp, hello, Joe!   Oh, no!  LOL


Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

If he's named after the Russian beet-soup, which I think is likely, I believe it's spelled borscht.  I have no way at all to confirm this one way or the other.


Offline Paul Pain

  • Moronika's resident meteorologist
  • Bunionhead
  • ******
  • The heartthrob of millions!
What a sucky short to get on this weekend of all of them! X(
#1 fire kibitzer


Offline Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum

I just wanted to comment that when Shemp (in the old footage) is getting "sick" (from the salami) we actually see him from the back for a second... and he does look kind of like Palma-as-Shemp!
"Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day." -- Samuel Goldwyn


Offline Dr. Hugo Gansamacher

  • Birdbrain
  • ****
  • "Pleese! You zit!"
Well, this is a sad piece of work.

If he's named after the Russian beet-soup, which I think is likely, I believe it's spelled borscht.  I have no way at all to confirm this one way or the other.

In Yiddish-speaking and Yiddish-influenced circles, there is a "t" at the end, but the Russian word for the soup in question is "borshch" [Edited: I had pasted the Cyrillic characters here, but the site turned them into an emoticon!]. I think it's clear that the Stooges are saying "Borch" (however one chooses to spell it), which does not quite match either the Russian or the Yiddish form of the word.


Offline Kopfy2013

Taken on it's own, if I knew nothing of the circumstances of the Stooges and their shorts I give this a 6.  I like this one.  White face Shemp while sick ... water thru the 'peep' hole .. then mud ... film in the watermelon ... good short in my mind ..

However, knowing it is a remake and 97% of it is a remake I would give it a one.
Niagara Falls


Offline Tony Bensley

I found the repetitive "new-old-new" footage shift during the second scene rather jarring.  Ditto for the "Shemp's disappeared" device.

Still, I found COMMOTION ON THE OCEAN at least a bit better than RUMPUS IN THE HAREM (1956), though definitely not up to SCHEMING SCHEMERS (1956) standard.

I give Shemp Howard's stock footage swansong 5/10.  He deserved a better sendoff, though!

CHEERS!  [3stooges]


Offline Dr. Mabuse

As Groucho Marx would say, "That's what I call a waste of film."

Easily the worst Shemp two-reeler and the worst "Fake Shemp" two-reeler — a lethal combination. Since I was never a fan of "Dunked in the Deep," this stock-footage rehash only makes matters worse. Painful to sit through.

Shemp, forgive them, for they did not know what they were doing.

1/10


Offline Daddy Dewdrop

I'm a little more forgiving than most on this recycle job.  It's an okay time filler, nothing more, nothing less.  Just a hair less fun than the original, which wasn't the greatest to begin with.

#145. Commotion On The Ocean


Offline Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80

4/10, not as bad as "Rumpus In The Harem" and "Hot Stuff" but a mediocre remake of the great "Dunked In The Deep", the new footage where they were eating the fish was mildly enjoyable, I just wish this short had more new footage.