Topic: Money Squawks (1940) - Andy Clyde and Shemp Howard

[Paul Pain]

https://threestooges.net/filmography/episode/271
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166715/



Andy Clyde biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Clyde

Our second subject of review is the 1940 short MONEY SQUAWKS, starring Andy Clyde and co-starring Shemp Howard.  It's another solid effort from the Clyde-Howard pairing. The best thing about this short is that it's clearly the kind of quality output we expect from Columbia, and it has several jokes not seen in Three Stooges shorts.

It's a basic premise: Andy and Shemp are fools who must guard a $10000 mine payroll.  All hell breaks loose as a result, and we even get treated to a car chase and some cheesy horse effects.

The good: some original jokes (at least within what has been reviewed here), particularly shooting the phone off the wall.
The bad: many cheap effects and obvious stunt doubles hiding their faces

The plot is overall pretty strong and doesn't lose interest.  There are some slow spots; specifically, I think they could have trimmed a loop off the first portion of the car chase.  However, the chase is recycled footage from Clyde's 1935 short OLD SAWBONES.  The horse riding scene is a bit different and dotted with cheesy effects and stunt doubles galore. 

It's amazing to say that Jules White didn't beat a joke to death!  The author of this short, Ewart Adamson, also authored SLIPPERY SILKS, THE SITTER DOWNERS, THREE LITTLE SEW AND SEWS, COOKOO CAVALIERS, IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE, and BACK FROM THE FRONT.

The acting is exactly what we expect.  Andy and Shemp are both at their best (though Shemp had a rebirth in the late 1940s when he became Stooge 3), and the supporting cast is excellent.  A particular shoutout goes to Bud Jamison and Cy Schindell for their respective performances with what little we saw of them.

9/10

[Umbrella Sam]

Although the obvious recycled footage that leaves out Shemp at the end is a disappointment, I think this short shows that Shemp and Andy could have made a pretty good pairing in even more shorts.

The idea of having to guard the payroll allows for lots of great overreactions from Shemp and Andy, my favorite probably being when Andy is told by Shemp that the phone has been disconnected. There’s also a really good bit towards the beginning with Shemp and Andy mistaking what’s being played on the radio as a threat. Sure, there are gags we see in shorts with the Stooges (the frog croaking while they’re eating comes to mind) but they’re still funny here regardless, and there’s even a fun, fast-paced chase involving Shemp, Andy, and the people they mistake for bandits. Of course, it also benefits from a supporting cast that includes the likes of Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent, and Cy Schindell.

Oh, if only the other Andy Clyde-Shemp pairings were like this one.

9 out of 10

[metaldams]

I never did get around to commenting on this one.

      A high quality Columbia short, to be expected in 1940.  Shemp and Andy Clyde do make a good team here and Shemp is in fine form.  He is a riot when he takes out the gun to show Andy he’s for protection, getting fidgety like only Shemp can.  Another great firearm moment would be Shemp pointing a rifle at his chin while he’s asleep. The burping frog gag is done better here than in A HIT WITH A MISS, probably because Shemp has Clyde to play off of and he’s in more hyperactive, less gentlemanly form.  Clyde himself is also fun to watch, matching Shemp well for hyper and scared reactions and he gets great mileage stepping on the rake.

      I guess you guys are saying a lot of the chase is stock footage, I’ll take your word for it without doing the research myself.  Either way, while disappointing Shemp is not to be seen once that great shot of him being stuck in the tree is done, it is a fun prime  Columbia chase scene with Clyde.  That slow motion crash is a bit surreal, the cars chasing around the building are a fun sight gag, and it’s nice watching close ups of Clyde reacting to all the danger.  He does get the crooks in the end and smacks them on the butt with a board once their heads are stuck in a window,  this, along with mistaking one’s foot for someone’s head because a hat is on it, qualify as comfort food gag these good Columbia shorts give me.  Throw in all the familiar supporting players on top of all this and MONEY SQUAWKS is right up my alley.

[I. Cheatam]

This short was funny, but I don't understand why Shemp was left out of the final chase scene.