Topic: Sweet and Hot (1958)

[metaldams]

Given that this short was written by the same guy who wrote "Woman Haters," I wonder if it wasn't an old script from the "Musical Novelty" days.

This is gonna sound crazy, but when I was in high school and college, I turned a few friends on to Laurel & Hardy when we rented some of their movies. We all loved "Way Out West" and I'm not sure what triggered this, but maybe one of them asked me if I had anything similar.

And I thought, here's a Stooge short with some singing and dancing in it...

The response: "I like Laurel & Hardy better. And I like CURLY better." Though he conceded that Joe Besser "seems to have some talent."

I think Moe is great as the psychiatrist.

SWEET AND HOT next to WAY OUT WEST is just plain unfair.  I will literally be reviewing WAY OUT WEST in this weekend, so check it out.

I agree Moe is good as the psychiatrist and would have been great as a character actor in someone else's short.

[shemps#1]

Perhaps I'm going soft in my old age but my opinion of this short has changed slightly. Is it good? No. It does have an Ed Wood quality that makes it funny in an unintentional way.  If I had to watch a Besser short it'd probably be this one.

[metaldams]

Perhaps I'm going soft in my old age but my opinion of this short has changed slightly. Is it good? No. It does have an Ed Wood quality that makes it funny in an unintentional way.  If I had to watch a Besser short it'd probably be this one.

Agree.  The animal musical montage has the feel of one of Ed Wood's random stock footage scenes.  I've softened on Besser too.  A few of these I actually like....but more than half are still shit.

[Dr. Mabuse]

A definite Stooge low point — like most of the Bessers.  The sheer awfulness of "Sweet and Hot" makes me appreciate the idiosyncrasies of "Cuckoo on a Choo Choo."

1/10

[stooge_o_phile]

...SIDE EFFECTS OF SWEET AND HOT MAY INCLUDE....diarehea, leprosy, impotence, demonic posession, indigestion, vomiting, sterilization, scholiosis, spontaneous combustion, loss of hair, blindness, suicidal tendencies, clinical depression, profuse sweating, difficulty in breathing, seizures, heart attacks, strokes, dry mouth, chicken pox, and finally, death."

I remember this review back in the day and it’s just as great now as it was then!

Only one positive thing I can say for this film is Larry’s violin playing. Other than that forget it.

[metaldams]

I just saw Muriel Landers in BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA playing opposite a 17 year old Jerry Lewis impersonator.  She may be queen of the turkeys.

[stooge_o_phile]

Perhaps you should do a review on that Metal.

I gave up on trying to do full reviews here after your original one for “Sweet and Hot.” No way I could top that!

[metaldams]

Perhaps you should do a review on that Metal.

I gave up on trying to do full reviews here after your original one for “Sweet and Hot.” No way I could top that!

I was actually thinking of reviewing it.  It’s public domain and viewable on YouTube, so people can watch it.  I’ll probably review that as well as a real Martin and Lewis film sometime soon.

[Daddy Dewdrop]

Coming in at #187 on my countdown we have the Muriel Landers show aka "Sweet And Hot."  Most of the short is actually quite tolerable, except for the dreaded flashback scene.  A couple of bright spots are Moe as "Dr. Hugo" and Larry's fiddle playing, along with Joe's dancing.  The main problem is that this is more like a Muriel Landers short with the boys as supporting players.

#187. Sweet And Hot

[Allen Champion]

At the risk of being universally reviled, mocked, and sent for therapy to Dr. Hugo Gensamacher, I have to admit that this is my favorite Besser short, and one of my favorite Stooge shorts period.   I love Tiny Lander's performance, Moe's hilarious turn as the wacky psychiatrist, the charming performances of Larry and Joe, and I really dig Tiny's performance of "The Heat is On," which I think was mostly lifted from another short.  Anyway, Lander's performance of the song is genuinely sweet and hot.   Sorry, but I couldn't come back to the boards after a long absence and not confess.   I love this short!   This, FIFI BLOWS HER TOP, and FLYING SAUCER DAFFY are pretty much the only Besser shorts I will look at.   

[Daddy Dewdrop]

I get it.  I'd never begrudge someone for liking any Stooges short.  Besides, I don't think you'll get nearly the number of pies in the face that I get for liking "Horsing Around" LOL!

[metaldams]

You’ll both take your pies in the face.    Just make sure to slap back - this is a Stooge board after all. 

Nah, it’s cool.  We all have different ways of seeing these shorts.

I’m pretty sure Allen is correct about “The Heat is On” performance being stock footage.  Muriel Landers did make a Columbia short, TRICKY CHICKS (1957).  I believe it’s lifted from there.

[Paul Pain]

As the resident expert on non-Stooge Columbias, I am fairly confident in agreeing about the song being lifted from TRICKY CHICKS.  Basically, SWEET AND HOT was Jules White's last-ditch effort at making a new comedy series that could save the shorts department from closing.  But, as we know from history, he didn't succeed.  As far as I know TRICKY CHICKS, like SWEET AND HOT, was just basically a sequence of fat people jokes.

[Mark The Shark]

Early on while Muriel Landers is singing "Let's Fall In Love" and they show the various farm animals' reactions, the duck looks very familiar as if it's old footage from "I'm A Monkey's Uncle."

Somehow this short got skipped in the filmography in the back of "Moe Howard And The 3 Stooges."

I do actually like this short.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Brave man.

[Curly Q Link]

This is far from my favorite Stooge short. I think the story itself is the problem. It wouldn't be much better with Curly or Shemp.

It's watchable, but I don't care for it much. Nothing against Muriel Landers, but I'm not sure this is the proper vehicle for her.

4/10

[Larrys#1]

This one is just really bad. I appreciate Moe trying a different role here, but it just doesn't work. And the musical numbers here don't help either. Not a single laugh from me here. Sorry if this offends anyone, but this one had no business being a three stooges short.

1/10

[I. Cheatam]

Let's see... there's a female co-star that gets heavily focused on, songs that have not aged well, and the Stooges aren't quite themselves. That may sound like WOMAN HATERS, but it's actually SWEET & HOT – the short that even Joe Besser said was a stinker!

What's bad about this short mainly comes down to the fact that the Stooges are mere co-stars to one Muriel "Tiny" Landers. The lame plot is all about her, and she brings hokey songs and a really annoying "little girl" act. Without these things, and in a smaller part, she could possibly have made a decent supporting player. As it stands... ugh. The pained reactions of the animals to "Let's Fall in Love" are appropriate, while "The Heat is On" is even worse; but her "little girl" act is worst of all.

It also doesn't help that the Stooges don't play a trio here, and Moe (who doesn't show up until over 5 minutes in) isn't even himself. He does a good job playing a different character, although I'm left feeling that Benny Rubin would have been better for the part.

Given all this, the Stooges actually do pretty well. Having not watched this in a long time, I was surprised how many funny bits they had (though maybe these just seemed better in contrast to the bad stuff?):
Larry: "Prettier than a spotted heifer."
Moe: "My time is liniment!" (It would have been better if he hadn't followed this line by correcting himself.)
Moe: "I don't want to walk in, I just want to look."
Moe: "Nothing, I just thought of something funny."
Joe: "Watch your language!"
Moe: "Sodium penta... truth serum."
Larry: "Artificial? For what you charge, you give him the real thing!"
Joe: "Mother! Oh, it's YOU."
Moe: "A mice!"

Even more surprisingly, Joe takes quite his share of abuse. He gets sprayed by the churn, has a bottle broken on his head (by accident), gets elbowed in the chest (by Larry), bonks heads with Moe (as does Larry), gets yanked by the ear (by Larry), and gets knocked over by Tiny (along with Larry).

While the flashback scene is mostly painful, Moe does a convincing job playing another different character – albeit one that doesn't even try to be funny. It actually kind of makes me wonder how Moe would have done in a dramatic part.

Things I wonder about:
What is it that Larry gets on his face from the bucket on his head?
Why does Larry's additional character in the flashback have a different name (Louie), while Joe's is still called Joe?
Is Tiny's screeching of "Three Blind Mice" meant as a tribute/reference to the song being used as the Three Stooges' theme music?

The scene with Muriel being forced to sing for her father and uncles was pretty funny.