Topic: Flying Saucer Daffy (1958)

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/186
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051623/?ref_=

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jFMHC1JbTOI

Watch FLYING SAUCER DAFFY in the link above


      We have come to the last Three Stooges film ever shot, but since we're reviewing these in release order, three more shorts to go, not to mention the Derita features after.  However, to me, this isn't really a Three Stooges film.  Very rarely in the sixteen shorts did Moe and Larry find team chemistry with Joe, and here, the writers didn't even try.  What we basically have is a Joe Besser solo short with Moe and Larry in strong supporting roles.  Viewed through that lens, I think FLYING SAUCER DAFFY is a good film.  If you hate Joe Besser, this film is not for you.  However, if you like Joe as I do and just never found him to be a good Stooge, this short is fine.  If you also happen to like cheesy 50's sci-fi, this also works.

      As mentioned below, Joe is basically a Cinderella type character who gets abused by his alcoholic aunt and his two cousins, played by Moe and Larry.  In this aunt's eyes, Moe and Larry can do no wrong, and I don't know about you guys, but I actually enjoy seeing Besser get his slapstick commupence against Moe and Larry.  This short also proves, without a shadow of a doubt, Joe takes hits.  Plenty of pokes, bonks, and pastry for Joe in this one.

      I'm also a sucker for this 50's sci-if stuff.  I love the outdoor settings, the fake flying saucer stuff, and yes, the space alien babes.  How can I not love the space alien babes?  They're cute, helpful, and full of celluloid cheese.  In other words, fun.  FLYING SAUCER DAFFY may not be a great example of the art of The Three Stooges, and I understand it's not for everyone.  However, as an interesting, of its time, distraction starring Joe Besser, I think FLYING SAUCER DAFFY works fine as a piece of entertainment.  If you guys can't tell, the space trilogy some of you guys don't like is the best of the Besser era for me.

8/10

[BeatleShemp]

First off, Happy Thanksgiving, Metaldams!!! Very thankful to you for taking time out of your life to do these reviews the past few years. Enjoy your time with your family!

I think that I really like this Stooge short because, Moe just finally lets loose and gives it to Joe in this one. A cake to the face, two double slaps, an eye gouge.  The premise itself isn't too terribly bad, though it kind of pits Moe and Larry against Joe and kind of makes them the bad guys. Maybe it's a metaphor on how Joe Besser really didn't fit in with the type of slapstick the Three Stooges were known for.  But on a whole, I really enjoyed this final outing from their near 24 year career at Columbia. It's not a solid note, but it is pretty close.

8 out of 10 pokes.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone--enjoy the food and the football (if you're into that sort of thing). 

As for this week's short, another celluloid turd. I'm not going to waste too much time with this. This short can go to blazes--I'm trying not to steal Paul Pain's material...


0 out of 10 pokes.... 

[QuinceHead]

How appropriate to discuss this turkey on Thanksgiving! 

For duty and humanity,
JohnH aka QuinceHead

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

This being the last one filmed, someone has mentioned that the last shot in the last short is Moe and Larry in straightjackets in the looney bin.  There's a lot of forced juxtapositions and convolutions and pre-and-post dated production and release dates involved with that observation, but it does indeed kind of work, and it is indeed kind of appropriate.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

The premise of Joe playing a male Cinderella to stepbrothers Moe and Larry, meekly suffering the abuse that they inflict on him, is about as good a use of his persona as could have been made out of the disaster of his being cast as a member of the Three Stooges in the first place.

I think that I really like this Stooge short because, Moe just finally lets loose and gives it to Joe in this one. A cake to the face, two double slaps, an eye gouge. 

I too was glad to see that finally happen, yet the result is disappointing. Moe is really old at this point, and he just can't dish it out with the finesse that he used to have.

[Paul Pain]

This short was a bit weird.  Everything on paper makes sense, except Moe and Larry are unusually rotten, spiteful, and devious.  Gail Bonney's character may be the single most vile character to ever appear in a Three Stooges short (even worse than Sergeant MacGillicuddy).  Billy Engle shows up for the first time since GRIPS, GRUNTS, AND GROANS 21 years prior and gets a lousy role.  Bek Nelson and Diana Darrin are, of course, smoking hot.  Old plots and old character splits kill this.

Overall, this would have been better as a Twilight Zone episode.

5/10

[Percy Pomeroy]

My, this is a dark episode compared to what we are used to. We are introduced to an cruel, layabout, alcoholic women and her two equally cruel, good for nothing, degenerate gambler sons. Joe as a needy, pathetic enabler is a pretty sad character as well. I do give this short credit for having mostly original material.

Gail Bonney is great in this short. I looked her up and she has nearly 200 credits. Looks like they were all supporting or bit parts, many in classic sitcoms. I liked when the camera paned to over to her and her diminutive beau.

Joe uses a Polaroid Land Camera. I didn't think they went back that far. Turns out that the first one was sold to the public in 1948.

"If you see a school of fish, let 'em have it." I don't know a lot about scuba diving. Did anyone else think it was an odd use of a spear gun to shoot at fish small enough to travel in schools?

Moe and Larry shuffling away with the wheelbarrow full of money before Emil Sitka gets a chance to finish his presentation was a good moment.

Even though the bit has been done before, I liked Joe packing up the campsite and then adding the extra comedic touch of not wanting to waste the coffee.

6/10. This edgy Stooge short reminded me of Cuckoo on the Choo Choo. Maybe it was the alcoholism element.

[Shemp_Diesel]

Yeah, if there's anything even close to "redeeming" about this stinker, it's definitely Diana and her alien friend. If only all martian life looked like that--insert wolf whistle here...


 

[Lefty]

Back when the Stooges were on our local UHF channel, "Flying Saucer Daffy" would start out with several seconds of the scene in which Joe punches Moe and Larry before returning to the beginning of the short, eventually showing that scene again.  For a Joe show, it's all right.  I wonder if he got paid extra to take so many bumps.  "Auntie Dear" getting conked with the bottle was great.  Of course, the best part of the entire short was having "Tyrin" and "Electra".  Of course, they cannot be from outer space, as they would have to have three hooters (the one on the back is for dancing).  A rather devilish thought on my part, as this is my 666th post. 

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Lefty has just confirmed my memory of a quick teaser at the beginning of the Joe shorts.  I remembered it as being all of them, but I guess it's just this one, and this is the Worm Turns teaser that I was trying to remember.  In the '50's and '60's, many TV shows started that way, with a 10-second preview of the upcoming show.  Now with the bland humor, the gentlemanly haircombs, and the teaser, I'm convinced that they were imitating that era's TV shows.  Not that this is a huge discovery, but it might also mean that it wasn't particularly Besser's idea for the gentlemanly haircombs, either - he was the newbie, why would such a radical suggestion be implemented without higher-echelon approval?  Be grateful, at least, that there's no laugh track.
     Now the question is,who excised the teaser from the reissue?

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Of course, they cannot be from outer space, as they would have to have three hooters (the one on the back is for dancing).  A rather devilish thought on my part

That's from Al Bundy.

[GreenCanaries]

Gail Bonney is great in this short. I looked her up and she has nearly 200 credits. Looks like they were all supporting or bit parts, many in classic sitcoms. I liked when the camera paned to over to her and her diminutive beau.

Played by comedy veteran Billy Engle, in his first appearance with the boys in over two decades. He is perhaps best remembered by Stooge fans as the shopkeeper who accuses the boys of stealing his brooms in POP GOES THE EASEL (1935).

Man, these shorts get quite bizarre in the Besser "tail" of the run. Rather sad that we only have three more to go.

Diana Darrin is lovely is always, as are Bek Nelson and "Miss August 1954" Arline Hunter (the magazine girl and a party guest). Gail Bonney was good in this one as well. Nice of Emil and Palma to show up for the boys' (production) finale, too.

Here is a rather melancholy photo of Moe, Larry, Joe and Jules White gathered together for the camera on the last day of filming:
https://books.google.com/books?id=VY_j1vzWnasC&pg=PA96

[Paul Pain]

Here is a rather melancholy photo of Moe, Larry, Joe and Jules White gathered together for the camera on the last day of filming:
https://books.google.com/books?id=VY_j1vzWnasC&pg=PA96

None of them look very happy.  No surprise... 

[metaldams]

and "Miss August 1954" Arline Hunter (the magazine girl and a party guest).

Wow, you ain't kidding!  Let's just say I found the underwater shots.

In my day, Playmates used to appear on Baywatch.  These days, probably reality television.  The original Playmates?  Stooge shorts.   

My review will be up tomorrow morning, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

[GreenCanaries]

Wow, you ain't kidding!  Let's just say I found the underwater shots.

In my day, Playmates used to appear on Baywatch.  These days, probably reality television.  The original Playmates?  Stooge shorts.   

My review will be up tomorrow morning, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

Another one, for your "interest," was future "Miss June 1959" Marilyn Hanold (SPACE SHIP SAPPY).

I did have a very Happy Thanksgiving, metaldams. Very melancholy that we are approaching a close...

[metaldams]

Another one, for your "interest," was future "Miss June 1959" Marilyn Hanold (SPACE SHIP SAPPY).

I did have a very Happy Thanksgiving, metaldams. Very melancholy that we are approaching a close...

Thanks for the tip.

We've got a few more shorts and then the Derita features, and then I'm handing the reins to Paul Pain.  Curious to see what he will do, and I hope you guys will participate, I know I will. Yes, I too am bummed about the shorts ending, it's been quite a ride.

[Percy Pomeroy]

I did have a very Happy Thanksgiving, metaldams. Very melancholy that we are approaching a close...

Imagine how I feel. I didn't discover the forum until you all were on the fake Shemps.

[metaldams]

Imagine how I feel. I didn't discover the forum until you all were on the fake Shemps.

To you and anyone else new, please feel free to comment on the older threads/shorts.

[Paul Pain]

If you guys can't tell, the space trilogy some of you guys don't like is the best of the Besser era for me.

I like the sci-fi stuff, myself, as well.

[Percy Pomeroy]

However, to me, this isn't really a Three Stooges film...What we basically have is a Joe Besser solo short with Moe and Larry in strong supporting roles. 

Good take. Before I found this forum I didn't even know that Besser, DeRita and Shemp had starring roles in shorts. Then, I suppose, it's not a stretch to say that Cuckoo on the Choo Choo is more like a Shemp solo short than a Three Stooges feature. I'll throw this open to my fellow morons; are there any other Stooges shorts that you feel are more like solo shorts because they lack the group dynamic?

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Woman Haters for Larry.

[Kopfy2013]

Well we have hit rock bottom ... what a morose film... the only redeeming qualities are the space girls .....

This gets a 1 ....

[stoogerascalfan62]

I recall seeing this on TV in the circa 1980 and seeing a scene with Moe and Larry beating up Joe just before the opening titles. I've always wondered if when it was first released to theaters it was shown that way.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

It was the other way around, it was Joe beating up Moe and Larry.  This is the Worm Turns teaser scene that Lefty and I are talking about.