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Space Ship Sappy (1957)

metaldams · 24 · 12431

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Offline metaldams

http://threestooges.net/filmography/episode/177
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051001/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jv3b9OdIWP4

Watch SPACE SHIP SAPPY in the link above

"Space Ship Sappy is mildly interesting in an Ed Wood, low budget way." - Percy Pomeroy

      Take out the word "mildly" and replace it with very and you have my sentiments about SPACE SHIP SAPPY.  A lot of you guys are roasting this one and you know what?  I completely understand.  Intellectually, this is crap, even as far as as Stooge films go.  There are no great Stooge interactions, no wit, no wonderful gags, but yet I find this fun....in an Ed Wood way.

      To those of you who don't know Ed Wood, he was one of those filmmakers who made films of the "so bad they're good" variety, and SPACE SHIP SAPPY falls into that category.  Look him up online and watch the Tim Burton bio pic about him if you're curious about this phenomenon. Most people roll their eyes at this type of thing, but for people like me who enjoy Ed Wood films, enjoy stuff like BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA, and even enjoys schlock Columbia was making at this time like THE GIANT CLAW, SPACE SHIP SAPPY is fun.

      The weakest part for me is the beginning where they attempt traditional Stooge stuff and again, Joe seems relatively distant in the slapstick compared to Moe and Larry.  However, once they're on the space ship, it's an Ed Woodian fever dream.  Highly cheap shot of toy rocket ship and lizard, three leggy ladies in loin clothes wearing 49 cent teeth posing as Amazonian vampires tying up sixty year old men and tickling their feet (yikes, there might be something to what Paul Payne is saying), a gratuitous marketing tie in to a Columbia feature, and hilariously wooden acting from Doreen Woodbury (though tragic what happened to her in real life).  Read that description above.  If you're the average person, you probably run to the hills.  However, if you're one of the chosen ones like me, if you have the Ed Wood Shlock funny bone, this is great.

As a Stooge film: 3/10
As a piece of Ed Woodian entertainment, for those inclined such as myself: 8/10
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Desmond Of The Outer Sanctorum

Now we're getting into the Besser-era "space trilogy." I used to think this was the best of the three, but now I lean more towards it being the "average" one.

It seems like some of the short titles were getting really lame by this time. All three of the "space" shorts serve as examples of this.

What was the point of Moe and Larry having their "gentleman" haircuts this time around? It made only a little sense in MUSCLE, and it makes no sense here.

As for Joe, the bad news is that he's not used as well here as he was in MERRY; thus, he leans a little toward doing what many Stooge fans criticize him for: being a warm body filling the "third Stooge" role but not really doing anything special with it -- kind of like Curly-Joe, but more interesting (and occasionally annoying).

The good news is that the Stooges still seem more like a team/trio than in HOOFS or MUSCLE. Joe does get several good bits in, my favorite being when Moe asks him if he's afraid: (shakes head "no" emphatically) "Yes."

And while Joe gets a little less slapstick than Larry, he still takes enough abuse to show that he's not really the "sheltered" Stooge. He gets hit with a sack, smacked on the head, and hit on the head with a gavel. He also gets water splashed on him, bonks heads with Moe, gets water spat on him by Moe, sits on a syringe, gets bitten by one of the girls, gets pulled by the neck with a rope, gets tickle-tortured, runs face-first into a pole, and gets hot steam in the rear.

Benny Rubin is amusing again ("But don't you tell somebody -- it's a zecret!"), while Doreen Woodbury plays things totally straight. The Sunevian girls come across as more weird and silly than anything else.

Question: What is the significance of "The Eddie Duchin Story" that it's a joke for Joe to be so sorry he wouldn't get to see it? I looked it up and apparently it's a tear-jerker movie based on true events.
"Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day." -- Samuel Goldwyn

The people who have your best interests at heart...
...are generally not the ones telling you whatever you want to hear.


Offline JWF

Question: What is the significance of "The Eddie Duchin Story" that it's a joke for Joe to be so sorry he wouldn't get to see it? I looked it up and apparently it's a tear-jerker movie based on true events.
[/quote]

I'm guessing it was a "must see" movie that year, with an inside joke that it's a Columbia feature..  much like Larry's similar comment about how he can't die..."I haven't seen The Jolson Story", from" Squareheads Of The Round Table".


Offline Shemp_Diesel

The Besser "Space Trilogy"--perhaps the worst trilogy of the stooges; if there are any other trilogy's by the boys. But--I will say--that the horribly named Space Ship Sappy is not as putrid as the 2 that are still to come. Here's another short I would put in the meh category, with other time wasters like last week's Merry Mix-Up or a few from the past like Dunked in the Deep or Saved By the Belle.

Even the usually welcome presence of Benny Rubin doing his "old, german man" routine doesn't generate as much laughs as it did for the 1st Besser short. Not a terrible short, but again, it's just kind of bland. But things can--and will--get much worse.

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


Offline Paul Pain

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I disagree firmly.  This is the worst of the "Lord of Drips" trilogy.  Doreen Woodbury is painful... another tragic actresss... but like Clyde Bruckman material like this will drive a person to suicide!

The opening scene is a pretty good take on the opener from IF A BODY MEETS A BODY.  Joe does well with the baked shoe gag.  He feels like a Stooge here, but the material just S-U-C-K-S!  Not even AN ACHE IN EVERY STAKE Curly could save this.

Benny Rubin is pretty good here... not at the level of other roles, but definitely not as bad as Mr. Cash.  What a lousy way for a decent actor to go out. 

It's not a bad short if you're idea of pleasure is getting mace sprayed in your eyes.  As the Big Chief says, this is what happens when you do crystal meth.

NSFW following

Does anyone else notice that the boys enjoy their Sunevian torture just a wee bit too much?  It's hard to say for certain. That scene belongs in a porn film.   BTW, that was the worst makeup job ever giving those girls their fake teeth and nails.  It looks like a kid drew it into the film...

And don't get me started on the damned monsters.

The ending was a nice twist, but I suppose it was necessary as well to reduce the number of maniacal suicides induced by the burning pile of garbage and steaming pile of manure leading up to it.

2/10 [poke] [poke]
#1 fire kibitzer


Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

Brutal.  I don't think Doreen was hired for her acting chops.


Offline Percy Pomeroy

Good title for this one as it is sappy. I agree an earlier poster who wrote that Joe is really not the problem here. The Stooges have just been played out. Imagine if the producers of Seinfeld were still trying to produce original, quality material after twenty years, I'm sure it would be just as lame. Oh and by the way, Michael Richards is no longer playing Kramer.

Space Ship Sappy is mildly interesting in an Ed Wood, low budget way. The woman are nice to look at. That's pretty much it. I think this short is fine for little kids of that era and maybe that's who they are targeting at this point. The subsequent movies seemed to be made for a young juvenile audience.

1/10. Hopefully there are some better ones coming up that I forgot about.

 


Offline Dr. Hugo Gansamacher

  • Birdbrain
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  • "Pleese! You zit!"
Three tired old guys wearily doing tired old gags. I agree that Joe is not the problem here---which is a concession that a Besser-despiser like me does not make lightly.


Offline Lefty

SSS, or SOS?  Not the brightest bulb in the drawer of Joe shows, but not the worst.  Benny Rubin did all right, but don't you tell somebody!  Marilyn Hanold is still alive at 78.  I would not be surprised if she frequently watches her appearance as one of the babes with Liberace (Chandell) on Batman, and ignores Space Ship Sappy.  And the Stooges winning the Liars' Club contest means that politicians were not permitted to enter.


Offline Big Chief Apumtagribonitz

I know a guy, even older than me if you can believe that, who got to see these and the end-time Shemps in a real movie theater, before the TV/DeRita comeback.  He would have been part of any kiddie target audience.  He said the kids didn't find these funny at all, the word he used was "grotesque".  I can believe it...if these seem stupid on a video screen, imagine these goings-on twenty feet tall.


Offline BeatleShemp

When I mentioned earlier about how the Joe Besser shorts kind of take a roller coaster approach, this is a short that starts the downhill slide. MERRY was the peak, and this one only gets about a quarter of the way down. I actually liked this short the more I had viewed it. Four shorts in, he finally gets his first slap from Moe (although it's on the head). Kind of neat how they kept current with the rock and roll talk and the sci-fi craze.  No it's not the best of the lot, bet definitely not the worst.  I give it a 7 out of 10.


Offline Shemp_Diesel

So Metal--if I'm reading your review right--you think this sucks, but in a fun short of way. I think I get what you're driving at.

I've actually watched Plan 9 From Outer Space, and for the first several minutes of it, I was actually amused by the acting--to say that the actors were "awful" would be a detriment to the word "Awful." But--as time went on--I just lost the humor of it & was actually getting irritated about how shitty that movie was & when it was finally over, I was like, damn, that's 75 minutes of my life I will never get back.

So, no more Ed Wood for me. Props to you Metal, for getting any enjoyment out of that shit, but for me, no more...

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


Offline metaldams

So Metal--if I'm reading your review right--you think this sucks, but in a fun short of way. I think I get what you're driving at.

I've actually watched Plan 9 From Outer Space, and for the first several minutes of it, I was actually amused by the acting--to say that the actors were "awful" would be a detriment to the word "Awful." But--as time went on--I just lost the humor of it & was actually getting irritated about how shitty that movie was & when it was finally over, I was like, damn, that's 75 minutes of my life I will never get back.

So, no more Ed Wood for me. Props to you Metal, for getting any enjoyment out of that shit, but for me, no more...

 :o

       Yeah, you pretty much have it right.  Since you don't get PLAN 9, like many other people, I can understand your differing opinion on this short.

       SPACE SHIP SAPPY is basically a different genre than most other Stooge films as well as a different era.  Most Stooge films I view through a lens of a continuation of Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy with different character types and pacing.  SPACE SHIP SAPPY, in addition to being more in line with 50's schlock than golden age slapstick comedy, also is of a very different time, hence rock 'n' roll and Elvis Presley references.  Through the proper lens, I find this to be a fascinating film as well as bizarrely fun.  However, I get it's not for everyone.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

Well, I'll say again, I don't think Sappy is necessarily terrible, it's just not good either--like the other shorts that I mentioned before in my initial post.

But on the other hand, the Besser era so far has made for much more interesting conversations--as opposed to the Shemp recycles phase we were stuck in....
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

Well, I'll say again, I don't think Sappy is necessarily terrible, it's just not good either--like the other shorts that I mentioned before in my initial post.

But on the other hand, the Besser era so far has made for much more interesting conversations--as opposed to the Shemp recycles phase we were stuck in....

Agreed on the second point!!!

For most fans, the Besser Era may be Hell, but it's better than the Purgatory/Limbo we've been in for ages...

For duty and humanity,
JohnH aka QuinceHead


Offline metaldams

Looking back, I should have done the solo shorts while doing the recycle era.  Yeah, I was bored doing this during the recycle era, for obvious reasons.  These Besser films all have something to discuss, be it the good, the bad, or the absolutely putrid.  A few fall into the latter, two weeks from now should be interesting.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Paul Pain

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Looking back, I should have done the solo shorts while doing the recycle era.  Yeah, I was bored doing this during the recycle era, for obvious reasons.  These Besser films all have something to discuss, be it the good, the bad, or the absolutely putrid.  A few fall into the latter, two weeks from now should be interesting.

When we do the sword dance??

Yes, it is full-blown Besser hell.  Yet the more I learn the more I realize the problem wasn't with the Stooges... Jules White really scraped things to poorly in some of these.  And the lack of real co-stars doesn't help.

God... one actor we'll discuss soon enough.. every time I see him it's like grinding glass into my eyes...
#1 fire kibitzer


Offline Shemp_Diesel

Random musings: This one still reeks of blandness--but I have to say--I didn't find Doreen to be as bad as others have commented about. I thought she was quite "bodacious," if I may use that term again. All the women in this one were quite appealing--insert drool smiley--if we have one.   ;D

I also liked how Moe's "Sugar Bowl Haircut" made a slight return during that insipid "tickling" scene....

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


Offline Kopfy2013

 I give it a three however the short  has some merits  and I am not only talking about the eye candy.

 For the time it was sort of on the cutting edge. It parodies futuristic space travel and the giant monster B movie films. Elvis and IBM reference.

Tickling scene does go on too long.  I like the smog reference- "the air on Sunev  is like the air on earth "

Woodbury died before this was released.
Niagara Falls


Offline Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80

I don't understand why people dislike this short, I've thought it was one of the better Stooge films w/Besser and I enjoyed the scenes where they were in a rocket and the liars convention scene, I also liked seeing the Eddy Duchin and Elvis Presley references, fortunately Besser does take a decent amount of abuse in this short, it's a shame Doreen Woodbury tragically took her life not long after this short was filmed, I give this short a 7/10


Offline MJ

What a great site this is! My real love of film comedy is Laurel & Hardy, but I recently made it a point to watch every Stooge short (and most of the features) while reading the entries on each one here.

This film holds a special spot for me. I'm just about 100% sure that it's the first one I ever saw. My parents used to take me to a movie on the weekend quite often. I was about 3 1/2 years old when this film came out. I had never seen the Stooges before this, as the TV rights hadn't yet kicked in. I have no clue what the feature film was, yet I remember a few specifics in this film. In retrospect, it wasn't very good, but for a VERY tiny kid, it was incredible! I begged them to take me to the next one that comes out, and they did, but it wasn't the next film, actually. Apparently, the local theater didn't get them all.

I do recall that seeing the earlier shorts on TV was a little weird. I wondered what happened to Joe. He was apparently replaced with a guy called Curly! I have a comment and question about Besser, but I'll save it for tomorrow. It involves a conversation I had with Moe around 1970. See ya' then!
Using the five known senses to create the illusion of a sixth is my life.


Offline metaldams

What a great site this is! My real love of film comedy is Laurel & Hardy, but I recently made it a point to watch every Stooge short (and most of the features) while reading the entries on each one here.

This film holds a special spot for me. I'm just about 100% sure that it's the first one I ever saw. My parents used to take me to a movie on the weekend quite often. I was about 3 1/2 years old when this film came out. I had never seen the Stooges before this, as the TV rights hadn't yet kicked in. I have no clue what the feature film was, yet I remember a few specifics in this film. In retrospect, it wasn't very good, but for a VERY tiny kid, it was incredible! I begged them to take me to the next one that comes out, and they did, but it wasn't the next film, actually. Apparently, the local theater didn't get them all.

I do recall that seeing the earlier shorts on TV was a little weird. I wondered what happened to Joe. He was apparently replaced with a guy called Curly! I have a comment and question about Besser, but I'll save it for tomorrow. It involves a conversation I had with Moe around 1970. See ya' then!

That first paragraph made my day.  Reading the posts as you watch the films - thanks man.

There was a brief time you thought of Besser as the definitive third Stooge because of your first experience, that’s fascinating to hear.  I think I maybe saw one or two Besser shorts as a kid (TV in the 80’s) and didn’t really watch them in depth until I was in my 20’s.

Curious about that Moe conversation and I just watched SONS OF THE DESERT last night, never gets old.  Welcome aboard.

- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Daddy Dewdrop

Coming in at #173 on my countdown we have "Space Ship Sappy."  A slightly above average Besser, with a few good lines and some fun slapstick.  I enjoy the women and their "rock and roll" dialogue.  I agree with the others that the tickling scene goes on WAY too long and is just plain weird.  The not-so-special effects are cheesy, but kinda fun.

#173. Space Ship Sappy


Offline Woe-ee-Woe-Woe80

Also during the scene where Larry cries out "MOE! JOE!" doesn't it sound forced and unnatural when Larry was crying out "JOE!"? It sounded a lot less natural than the times when Larry was crying out for Moe, Curly and Shemp.