Topic: Salt Water Daffy (1933) - Jack Haley, Shemp Howard, and Lionel Stander

[Paul Pain]

https://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/196
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185658/



I have watched this short and am ready to review, but I haven't yet the time for this.  I shall post my thoughts on this one tomorrow.  Enjoy!

[metaldams]

I will give this film a fresh view tomorrow.  I haven’t seen it in years but remember it being good.  Jack Haley fell into obscurity after this film. 

[Paul Pain]

SALT WATER DAFFY isn't the best short I have reviewed from the pre-Stooges Shemp collection, but it's definitely a short well worth the time to watch.  This is billed as starring Jack Haley and co-starring Shemp and Lionel Stander, but in reality Shemp is as integral to this as Jack.  These two make an effective comedy duo, and it's a shame this is their only work together.

It's a bit of a silly navy plot with the usual shenanigans, training drill routines, and, of course, evil spies posing as foreign dignitaries!  Every scene is well-done though. If I had to pick a favorite moment [SPOILER ALERT], it would be when Jack and Shemp dive at the coin.  Pay too much attention to Shemp when he's pretending to be blind, and you'll miss Jack Haley's Larry Fine type of background as he watches Shemp.  I hate diving into detail, so I will stop there.

It's worth your time folks.

9/10

[Paul Pain]

The local forum based C3 spies moved in swiftly and already had that account pulled from YouTube.  Sorry, everyone

[metaldams]

The local forum based C3 spies moved in swiftly and already had that account pulled from YouTube.  Sorry, everyone

I own it on DVD.  Meant to get around to it, I’ll review tonight.

[metaldams]

A fine comedy short.  Officially a Jack Haley short but he is a comedy team with Shemp.  I will say Haley is the dominant one as far as comedy goes, especially in the drill sgt. scene, but Shemp is in the short the whole time.  He’s as lovable as a kleptomaniac can be in the opening watch stealing scene, but Shemp’s great moment is when he acts blind while trying to dodge joining the navy.  Great pantomime from Shemp, love the way he non chalantly drinks pen ink pretending it’s water.  One of the earliest roles to show Shemp’s talent - he was wasted in so many other pre Stooge roles but gets a strong supporting role here.

Jack Haley is also a lot of fun - love the smooth Bah-ston accent delivery and yeah, he does the standard  army drill routine just fine.  Just about every comedian did that at some point.  His corresponding deaf scene to Shemp’s blind act is also well done.  Haley of course is still known to this day as being The Tin Man in THE WIZARD OF OZ, so he’ll always be known to the public in some capacity.

[Umbrella Sam]

Great short. Haley and Shemp end up working very well off of each other and, even though it’s got standard bits that you’d expect in an army or navy comedy like them messing up practice, there actually is a great deal of variety to it (Shemp and Haley trying to trick the doctor, Shemp and Haley shaving people who aren’t actually recruits). The supporting cast is good too, and I swear this is the only time I’ve ever seen Lionel Stander not play a gangster (I’m sure he’s done non-gangster roles, but every film I’ve seen him in has him as a gangster). Not a dull moment in this.

10 out of 10