Moronika
Film & Shorts Discussions => The Three Stooges - Shemp Years => Topic started by: metaldams on May 27, 2016, 02:54:55 PM
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http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/160
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048141/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
http://www.veoh.com/m/watch.php?v=v63137908qHwx7PY
Watch GYPPED IN THE PENTHOUSE in the link above
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b3/Gyppedinthepenthouse_1sht.jpg/220px-Gyppedinthepenthouse_1sht.jpg)
As they said in 1955, good golly Miss Molly, I watched a Three Stooges short this week and got original footage! Holy shittake mushrooms, can you believe it? Yes folks, savor it, the second to last Howard, Fine, Howard original. This one took three days to film. Seems skimpy, right? Bare in mind with a lot of these recycles, two shorts take one day to film on back to back days, so essentially, GYPPED IN THE PENTHOUSE took a day longer to film than two remakes!
OK, the thrill of having an original out of the way, how is this thing? It's good. In the tradition of HE COOKED HIS GOOSE, it's an experimental film where the boys are separated as a team, all vying for the same girl. In this case, the girl is Jean Willes, looking very stunning AND taking some slapstick. She takes bumps, she's takes egg and powder on the head, and she's a gold digging whore. An adult sentence for one of the more adult oriented Stooge films, at least for it's time. Shemp wondering how he's get that ring out of her bosom without offending the censors, Moe revealing that he too crawls under beds when hiding from husbands, an all around sense of infidelity, just again, adult oriented by 1955 standards. Another great line is when Larry takes the ring from Jean Willes and when she informs him it's the wrong ring, he doesn't care, sue him! Funny stuff.
My only beef is the actual Stoogian slapstick. The boys are older and slower at this point, and the comic situation doesn't call for much of this type of humor. Stooge slapstick works better when the boys are a team, and even better when done in an inappropriate situation like a high society party. OK, Shemp being buried in all that piano wire makes for a fun sight.
I'm glad we have experimental films like this, but also am glad the boys for the most part stick to their usual formula. Still, a fun film overall is GYPPED IN THE PENTHOUSE, and a breath of fresh air in this dreadful mid 50's era. Notice I can still observe and have opinions when given a film that's worth observing. Glad to see I still have it.
8.5/10
PS: Does anyone know if the cat is still living? No info listed in the casting section. [pie]
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Yes, it does feel a bit refreshing to have some new material to discuss. I don't rate this one as highly as Metal, but it is a good, "experimental" short.
I think Metal also pointed out most of the good bits--I'll just say that I enjoyed Shemp's "oh, a tiger" when the cat licked him. Also, Shemp and Larry's reactions after taking a swig of the venerable "Old Panther" whiskey.
A good, albeit brief respite from Recycle Hell...
7 out of 10...
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At this point, it is a treat to see any original short at all as one plods through the succession of recycled oldies. But Gypped in the Penthouse, in my estimate, stands high among the shorts of the Shemp era in any case. I would put its merits under three headings.
First, it has a coherent and, as plots go in the Stooge universe, compelling plot. The setting of the Woman Haters' Club is an effective frame for the respective narratives of Larry and Shemp, and then for the double confrontation that ends the short. Also, there is a progression of violence and complexity from Larry's narrative to Shemp's.
Second, the Stooge violence is top-quality stuff. No face slaps here at all (I have always found them inane and perfunctory, except when a third party gives the boys an iterated smack across their three faces in one movement). Instead, a lot of great head conks, punches in the face, belly blows, shattering projectiles, and so forth. Larry's confrontation with Moe in Jane's apartment is not only funny from the outset but builds toward one of the great forms of Stooge violence, the assault by transfer of motion (in this case, Larry's back-kicking Moe into the belly of Jane). Shemp's tangle with the unlucky piano is even funnier than his earlier one in Brideless Groom (Emil Sitka: "My poor piano!" Larry: "Shut up!")—and that's saying something. Shemp impersonating Liberace—okay; Shemp tearing out the strings of a piano—funnier; Shemp climbing into the piano and having the lid fall on him—funnier still; Shemp trying to push the lid away, causing it to bounce back and slam him straight through the bottom of the piano—priceless. My only disappointment, setting aside for the moment the confrontation with Jane at the very end of the short (on which something in a moment), occurs when Moe gets a fishbowl on his head and shouts unintelligibly, "Gubba gubba blubba!" (or syllables to that effect), but we don't get the characteristic exchange between the remaining two: "What did he say?" "'Gubba gubba blubba!'" Also recollecting Brideless Groom here is Emil Sitka's presence as a hapless comic victim of violence directed toward others.
Third, the short has her hotness Jean Willes in what seems to me her best role in all the shorts, as a sexy but cold-hearted and duplicitous gold digger. ("How dare you call my tomater a gold digger!")
I have to admit that the final confrontation with this character causes me at least as much uneasiness as it does amusement. Of course, Jane has certainly earned some sort of comeuppance. But I can't help feeling that Stooge violence is for inflicting only on other men—or perhaps on women when the latter are able to return it with interest, as in Hugs and Mugs; but not when the female victim is helpless, as here. Oh, well. Perfection eludes us. At least the ending rounds off the plot.
My only beef is the actual Stoogian slapstick. The boys are older and slower at this point, and the comic situation doesn't call for much of this type of humor. Stooge slapstick works better when the boys are a team, and even better when done in an inappropriate situation like a high society party.
Well, okay, but I still think Larry's subduing of Moe is pretty impressive, and the absence of face slaps is a big plus for me.
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Several funny lines in the Larry–Moe scene:
"Who is this spotted raccoon?"
"How dare you call my tomato a gold digger!"
"That's the wrong ring!"—"So sue me!"
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Great to get new material.
What stands out to me is Shemps timing is off on a few occasions.
1. When he is putting on the pajamas and asked whose pajamas they were ... there was an uncomfortable pause
2. When Moe is knocking on the door and he states I thought you were separated .. again there was a pause like he did not know what to do/say next
3. Finally when he threw the phone and it bounced back ...he sort of swerves, then reacts to the hit late
Jean Willies does a good job.
I give this a 6.
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I just looked up Jean Willes on the main site--I have to say I'm a bit surprised she only appeared in 5 stooge shorts. I thought the number would be a lot higher--and, of course, she was always quite the looker.
I also remember seeing Jean in an episode of the Twilight Zone, but I can't recall the name of that episode at the moment...
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Shemp's line about getting the ring back without getting in trouble with the censor is great too. This is a pretty complex, adult oriented short if you will. I do like the experimental nature of this, though I like He Cooked His Goose much better. I agree with everyone though, this is a much welcome break from the remakes. Not quite a classic, but pretty darn close to one.
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We've already got more comments on this than OF CASH AND HASH. Go figure.
Remember I had said there was one and only one exception to my golddigger rule? This is it.
GYPPED IN THE PENTHOUSE is a pleasant diversion from the stock footage hell we are wading through. In fact, when I first saw, I was amazed because it took me several minutes to find it in the middle of the remakes. It's not the greatest short ever. Larry gets a bit underused in his scenes with Jeannie-Weannie. Moe is absolutely fantastic though, especially mentioning that he hides under the bed. Shemp puts on a fine performance as well
It is very adult here with jokes about getting past censors, hiding from husbands, getting drunk, etc. This is a nice treat, and I can't help but feel if it was made in 1949 this short would have closer to 8.5 or 8.75 on the ratings over on the episode page. We have the boys as separate units, but it works. Moe somehow always makes a good jealous husband.
9/10
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3. Finally when he threw the phone and it bounced back ...he sort of swerves, then reacts to the hit late
I just wish that the makers had used a stronger sound effect for the impact of the phone against Shemp's head. The one they used is disappointingly feeble. The sound effects play a major role in making Stooge violence funny (in this case, less funny that it could have been).
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In the desert of 1955's remakes, we are in the oasis with "Gypped in the Penthouse" (and "Blunder Boys" later).* What surprised me about this short, besides all of the "adult-themed" activities, was that there was no stock footage at all that I can recall, y'all.
The plot was excellent, the slapstick was pretty good, and Diamond Jane was a great villainess. Being an owner of five cats, I definitely enjoyed the cat chasing the mouse right through the pant leg of the pajamas Shemp had on.
There is a valuable lesson to be learned: Never open a dishwasher while it's running. At least I've never done that, unlike Shemp. Dishwashers in 1955?
While Jean Willes is not as attractive in this short as she was in her 20s, she is still a sight for sore eyes (or is that psoriasis?). And if you've seen her in her two appearances in McHale's Navy, well ... Either way, even if she had looked like "Miss Shapely" here, she deserved everything she got from Larry and Shemp at the end for being a gold digger and using them.
* "I've been to the oasis twice!
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While watching this short, I discovered a "Goof". When I tried to add it on the ThreeStooges.net episode page, the box would open, but it wouldn't let me submit the goof. Anyone else experiencing this?
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An excellent short for any Stooge era, especially 1955.
The only part that doesn't work for me is Shemp's song at the piano. It's too dumb to be funny.
Larry's work in this short makes me wish there was at least one Larry solo short.
JANE: Moe, there's nobody here. Why are you looking under the bed?
MOE: Because that's where I hide when I... what am I saying?
;D
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The only part that doesn't work for me is Shemp's song at the piano. It's too dumb to be funny.
Oh, a music lover!
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Home, home on the farm--In Georgia, our farm has such charm...
;D
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While I'm not a big fan of seeing the stooges as separate characters I've thought it worked well in this short and each stooge gives out great performances and this is coming from someone who didn't like "He Cooked His Goose", I've thought this was Jean Willes's best performance with the stooges, I loved Larry's mirror scene and Shemp's "How do I get the ring back without getting in trouble with the censors", the ending scene where Shemp and Larry runs into Jean Willes's character was hilarious and I love what they do to her!
Overall I give this short a 8/10, this short does get better with age.
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... I definitely enjoyed the cat chasing the mouse right through the pant leg of the pajamas Shemp had on.
I agree and his reaction to this is priceless!
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One of the better "experimental" latter-day Shemp shorts.
#91. Gypped In The Penthouse