Moronika
Film & Shorts Discussions => The Three Stooges - Curly Years => Topic started by: metaldams on November 09, 2013, 08:02:36 AM
-
http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/29
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030957/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Overall a very entertaining short. It's one of those shorts that I don't consider a classic simply because there's no extended gag sequence or theme that takes this short over the top for me, but what is here I find to be pleasant. I also laughed a lot, so surely that counts for something.
I love the "Lollipop" song intro very much. Larry on the piano, Moe on the chisel percussion, and Curly vocalizing the "woo woo's," definitely a great example of all Three Stooges working together in harmony. Lots of subtle little things with Curly in this one, like when he dusts the landlord off when he picks him up, and the look on his face when he tells Moe there'll be no presents because he hit Santa Claus. The scene where Larry watches the harem girl putting the grapes in her mouth only to attempt the same with a pineapple is fun. The close up of him with all the pineapple juice on his face, sour expression and hair matted down, is classic Larry. I also like that Etherelda Leopold is more than pretty scenery in this one and actually gets a fun part as the harem girl from Brooklyn.
8/10
-
Not exactly one of my favorites, this short loses a lot of steam for me once they flee from the landlord & sign up for the foreign legion. Not bad, but far from their best.
6 out of 10...
-
A very enjoyable short for me. Curly definitely shines. According to Jon Solomon's book 'The Complete Three Stooges' this short had many references to the culture/films going on in that time period.
As with metal a nice opening scene with the Stooges working in harmony. I like the 'Brooklyn Harem girl'. Actually many minor things I like about the short --- the story, the looks, the physical comedy.
There are no classic lines or scenes but it is solid. I am between rating it an 8 or 9. I think I will go with 8.
-
This one doesn't do much for me. A couple of the bright spots to me are the boys getting tricked to join the Foreign Legion and the ending with the lions. I'll call this short mediocre at best and rate it a 7.
-
By the number of replies on this one, I guess this one doesn't garner much of a reaction. Three replies not counting this one, and the next short we get 10!
Is this short just kind of there for the most of you, not warranting much a response? Just curious.
-
By the number of replies on this one, I guess this one doesn't garner much of a reaction. Three replies not counting this one, and the next short we get 10!
Is this short just kind of there for the most of you, not warranting much a response? Just curious.
I plan on replying on all of the shorts whether I like them or not. I think things might get a little more interesting when or if we get to some of the shitty ones. Right now they are all pretty decent but we all know what happens down the road. ( Remakes, Stock Footage, Cheaper Budgets, etc )
-
I posted a rather long couple of paragraphs that disappeared into the ether. Probably my fault, but maybe this happened to someone else as well?
-
I have mixed feelings about this short. The opening scene was excellent, but once the stooges escape from the landlord, it's all downhill from there. Didn't like the army scene nor did I care for the scene with the harem girls. The Santa Clause bit was good tho.
7/10
-
"Toity toid and toid avenue... I just got over" - just kills me every time.
-
A hysterical short that makes absolutely no sense. Somehow the Stooges go from poor artists, to being on the run from the police, to the French Foreign Legion, to fighting in the Middle East/Northern Africa, to dressing as Santa Clauses to rescue their captain from the medieval Arabic sultan. In that time, however, the Stooges showcase their incompetence. I will give this one an 8/10.
^bump
-
I've been watching some of the shorts that I missed during my time away from this forum, and, while I don't have something to say about every one of them, this one is special for me, as its first part, the part set in the Stooges' apartment and studio in Paris, is a pretty clear hommage to (or knock-off of) one of the most beloved of operas, Puccini's La bohème. (The latter was itself based on a play based on the stories of Henri Murger, collected in a book called Scènes de la vie de bohème--Scenes of Bohemian Life.) La bohème, for those of you who don't know opera at all (and I would wager that anyone who doesn't know La bohème doesn't know opera at all), opens in a garret in which four young men--a painter, a poet, a musician, and a classical scholar--lead a precarious hand-to-mouth existence. After one of them has brought in some much needed food, wine, and firewood, their revels are interrupted by a knock on the door by Benoit, the landlord, who has come to collect the overdue rent. They ply him with wine until he lets slip an incautious word about his preference for plump women over skinny ones like his wife, at which point the bohemians feign outrage at his moral laxity and indignantly throw him out. (I have sung in several productions of this opera, both as one of the bohemians and as the landlord. What happens in the opera after this point has no parallel with Wee Wee Monsieur.)
The parallel of Wee Wee Monsieur with La bohème is not tidy: Studio Stooge comprises only three men, of course, rather than four; and the three are a painter--Curly; a musician--Larry, of course; and, rather than a poet or a scholar (imagine a Stooge as a scholar!--wait, I suppose we saw that in Violent Is the Word for Curly), a sculptor--Moe. It was certainly worth breaking the parallel to give Moe something to do that involved the use of a hammer, as appears in his exchange with Curly. "The lollipop, the lollipop, the lollollollollipop (woo woo!)" is a long way from Puccini, but to anyone who knows the opera the parallel is impossible to miss, especially when the antics of the boys are interrupted by the knock on the door of the landlord.
Harry Semels is in fine form: "Mas-ter-piece? Phooey!" "It'll be worth a fortune when I'm dead!" "I should kill you now and find out!" The unfortunate gendarme who gets his trousers torn off by Curly's fishhook is played, I find, by native Parisian Jean de Briac (http://www.threestooges.net/cast/actor/2253), who also plays Homais or Omay in Tassels in the Air. Another native of Paris, Eugene Borden (http://www.threestooges.net/cast/actor/2848), appears as the smooth little Foreign Legion officer who cannot speak or understand English until after he has hoodwinked the boys into signing enlistment contracts, at which point he becomes unexpectedly fluent.
One odd little motif that runs through this short is the sound of a high-pitched bulb horn being honked twice. The sound accompanies the opening shot of the Eiffel Tower with the droll title: "PARIS, somewhere in France," and recurs later in the short--though I didn't write down where it does so and right now I can't recollect.
-
There is much to like here, particularly the Santa Claus (I love the "Give me your hand" and "Oh, you hit Santie Claus" lines....) scene. I like the standing guard scene as well. The marching is as funny as any similar ones in any other short. The dancing harem scenes are an argument for celibacy.
Billy Gilbert, the mental patient in "Men in Black" must have written this - as noted elsewhere, the storylines/locations are so disjointed, you wonder how sane person could have thought they would work.
But they do - very solid short.
-
There is much to like here, particularly the Santa Claus (I love the "Give me your hand" and "Oh, you hit Santie Claus" lines....) scene.
Curly's shocked and indignant reaction to being slapped by Moe--"Oh, you hit Santy Claus! Just for that, no toys!"--is indeed a great moment.
-
Dr. G, about that high-pitched bulb horn. Funny, but it always registered with me only subliminally, as a taxi horn. But that can't be. If it were a whistle, I'd think it was a traffic policeman. Hmm, perhaps it is a bicycle horn.
-
I've been watching some of the shorts that I missed during my time away from this forum, and, while I don't have something to say about every one of them, this one is special for me, as its first part, the part set in the Stooges' apartment and studio in Paris, is a pretty clear hommage to (or knock-off of) one of the most beloved of operas, Puccini's La bohème. (The latter was itself based on a play based on the stories of Henri Murger, collected in a book called Scènes de la vie de bohème--Scenes of Bohemian Life.) La bohème, for those of you who don't know opera at all (and I would wager that anyone who doesn't know La bohème doesn't know opera at all), opens in a garret in which four young men--a painter, a poet, a musician, and a classical scholar--lead a precarious hand-to-mouth existence. After one of them has brought in some much needed food, wine, and firewood, their revels are interrupted by a knock on the door by Benoit, the landlord, who has come to collect the overdue rent. They ply him with wine until he lets slip an incautious word about his preference for plump women over skinny ones like his wife, at which point the bohemians feign outrage at his moral laxity and indignantly throw him out. (I have sung in several productions of this opera, both as one of the bohemians and as the landlord. What happens in the opera after this point has no parallel with Wee Wee Monsieur.)
The parallel of Wee Wee Monsieur with La bohème is not tidy: Studio Stooge comprises only three men, of course, rather than four; and the three are a painter--Curly; a musician--Larry, of course; and, rather than a poet or a scholar (imagine a Stooge as a scholar!--wait, I suppose we saw that in Violent Is the Word for Curly), a sculptor--Moe. It was certainly worth breaking the parallel to give Moe something to do that involved the use of a hammer, as appears in his exchange with Curly. "The lollipop, the lollipop, the lollollollollipop (woo woo!)" is a long way from Puccini, but to anyone who knows the opera the parallel is impossible to miss, especially when the antics of the boys are interrupted by the knock on the door of the landlord.
Harry Semels is in fine form: "Mas-ter-piece? Phooey!" "It'll be worth a fortune when I'm dead!" "I should kill you now and find out!" The unfortunate gendarme who gets his trousers torn off by Curly's fishhook is played, I find, by native Parisian Jean de Briac (http://www.threestooges.net/cast/actor/2253), who also plays Homais or Omay in Tassels in the Air. Another native of Paris, Eugene Borden (http://www.threestooges.net/cast/actor/2848), appears as the smooth little Foreign Legion officer who cannot speak or understand English until after he has hoodwinked the boys into signing enlistment contracts, at which point he becomes unexpectedly fluent.
One odd little motif that runs through this short is the sound of a high-pitched bulb horn being honked twice. The sound accompanies the opening shot of the Eiffel Tower with the droll title: "PARIS, somewhere in France," and recurs later in the short--though I didn't write down where it does so and right now I can't recollect.
As somebody who knows nothing about opera, that was fascinating to read. Thanks Hugo.
-
The following comments are just me showing off:
1.) The same bulb-horn motif appears in the opening of Gershwin's An American in Paris. Different melodies, same type of horn.
2.) Della Reese had a big hit record in the fifties with a song called Don't You Know, based on Musetta's Waltz from La Boheme. It's a great record.
-
The following comments are just me showing off:
1.) The same bulb-horn motif appears in the opening of Gershwin's An American in Paris. Different melodies, same type of horn.
2.) Della Reese had a big hit record in the fifties with a song called Don't You Know, based on Mimi's Song from La Boheme. It's a great record.
Thanks for the references, Chief. I had forgotten about the honking in An American in Paris. The sound in Wee Wee could indeed be an allusion to it.
I looked up Don't You Know on YouTube, and found it sung by Della Reese (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N86nxxZW6UY): the melody is not from Mimi's aria but from Musetta's waltz. Still, it is from La bohème.
-
See there? We've both been refreshed in our knowledge of classical music. Don't tell me this website isn't pretty fucking erudite.
-
See there? We've both been refreshed in our knowledge of classical music. Don't tell me this website isn't pretty fucking erudite.
I too believe in great musical culture. This man speaks for me.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp7MamMiOpw
In all seriousness, though, my great grandfather did play oboe for a living. I played bass in jazz bands in high school and college, yet my idea of musical heaven in stil KISS ALIVE! Go figure.
-
....here's another one worth posting for musical "culture" that speaks for me. Very funny, and warning, offensive language.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkR87msW3XI
....and you guys knowing opera, I expect you front and center when we get to some of the Laurel and Hardy operettas later on.
-
"Wee Wee Monsieur" was one of the first Stooge two-reelers I remember seeing . . . and it still holds up. Worth the price of admission for the enduring image of Moe, Larry and Curly as the Three Santas. Placing the boys in a foreign setting makes this short stand out more than other Stooge comedies. Great fun in the classic Del Lord tradition.
9/10
-
Something I want to add on this one I don’t think I’ve mentioned - or I probably did and just forgot. Ethelreda Leopold to me is almost the First Lady of Stoogedom when it comes to very attractive women who usually appeared for just decoration. The fact I see her pop up in a lot of other non Stooge films as an extra lends credence to this idea. However, in WEE WEE MONSIEUR, as the Brooklyn harem girl, she is fantastic. The best acting job I’ve ever seen from her, by far. Makes me wonder if it was a fluke or if she had more in her and was never given the chance.
-
I watched WEE WEE MONSIEUR for the first time in ages today. Overall, a fun short from start to finish.
Vernon Dent and Bud Jamison don't get enough credit for their performances in this one. Bud is perfect as the irate army officer, and Vernon does well as the Sultan of Simmitz. The joke of Simmitz, I believe, is that it's an Eastern European Jewish name for an Arab place, hence why the boys react as they do to the name. Overall, this one has a lot of clever types of jokes but no one extended sequence beyond the opening scene.
I think my favorite moment might be when Curly says "Give me a hand" to Larry and grabs him by the hair. The face Larry makes when Curly grabs him is absolutely priceless.
-
I feel this one is a tad under-rated by most fans. I found it fun from start to finish. I rank it at #73.
-
This one is a favorite of mine. Only the Stooges would mistake the French Foreign Legion as an extension of the American Legion all the while missing the fact that the officer sitting behind the desk was clearly wearing a military uniform. Kind of like what happens in Half Shot Shooters where the accidentally rejoin the United States Army (missing the obvious Captain’s bars that Burke was wearing on his collar). I find it especially funny that their commanding officer is named Captain Gorgonzola rather than being named after a French cheese like Munster or Beaufort because Gorgonzola is an Italian blue cheese (though Gorgonzola does make for a funnier sounding name and you can make the argument that because this is the French Foreign Legion, he very well could be Italian).[3stooges]
-
Something I want to add on this one I don’t think I’ve mentioned - or I probably did and just forgot. Ethelreda Leopold to me is almost the First Lady of Stoogedom when it comes to very attractive women who usually appeared for just decoration. The fact I see her pop up in a lot of other non Stooge films as an extra lends credence to this idea. However, in WEE WEE MONSIEUR, as the Brooklyn harem girl, she is fantastic. The best acting job I’ve ever seen from her, by far. Makes me wonder if it was a fluke or if she had more in her and was never given the chance.
For a Chicago girl, her NYC accent is pretty good...right up until her next line "catch me and I'll give you a kiss"... where it totally disappears. :P That said, she did deliver that line quite nicely. Much, much better than her attempt at placating the pie-faced Senator.
Back to Wee-Wee land. I love both the studio scene and the palace/harem scenes. The way Larrry gets into the palace...hair first...always makes me loff (and wince). My absolute favorite line comes from Moe:
'What are you eatin' stenchy?...'