Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)

 

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars has often been looked at as the nadir of the duo's career by many comedy fans. To be fair this film shows the major change in Abbott and Costello plots from the 1940's (when their most popular movies were made) to their later days and often less respected films. There are none of the verbal routines that played a major role in the duo's earlier movies but instead this movie relies more on physical slapstick and outlandish situations for its humor. While I fully understand why many Abbott and Costello fans may hate this movie, I admit to having a soft spot for it. Then again, I first saw it as a kid, when I would have loved anything with Abbott and Costello, so I have a bit of nostalgia for it. 

Despite the title Abbott and Costello never actually go to Mars in this movie. When Hideaway Orphans Home's oldest orphan, Orville (Lou Costello), hides away in a truck that is headed for a top-secret lab, he finds himself helping Lester (Bud Abbott), a lab worker load supplies on rocket ship. Naturally through being the lead characters in a slapstick comedy find themselves alone in the ship and cause it take off with them in it. This leads to them flying across the country in this ship and eventually landing in New Orleans. When they land there, they believe they are on Mars and with people being in costumes for Mardi Gras, they believe those people to be aliens. There they also have trouble when two crooks find the rocket ship and two space suits. This causes our heroes to be mistaken for the two crooks. Later in the film the duo as well as the crooks blast off in the rocket ship. They land in Venus, which is completely populated by beautiful women (played by contestants in the Miss Universe pageant). The queen there has a crush on Orville and he is safe with her as long as he stays true to her. 

Though this movie does not have a great reputation, I personally find it to be quite a bit of fun. The film moves at a fast pace and the time goes by really quick. Though this is a feature film, it feels like a short because of how quickly it goes by. Though there is no Who's on First level routine here there are some pretty good comedic set pieces here. I especially like the conversation between Orville and the professor, he is mistaken for and our heroes' mistaking people in costumes for aliens gets some pretty good laughs. This film is also one of the duo's silliest movies and I love that the storyline is so unabashedly corny and silly. There is a real charm to a movie that is proud of its own silliness and that is definitely the case here. 

I admit though that there are parts of this movie that don't reach the comedic heights they should. This is especially true of the scenes on Venus and our two heroes being in the runaway rocket. There is nothing bad about these scenes but they simply feel like they should funnier. I also admit that the two crooks are not as funny or memorable as they should be. 

This film was directed by Charles Lamont, who is too often overlooked by comedy fans. His career began in the silent era when he directed shorts for Mack Sennett and Educational Pictures. At Educational Pictures he directed many of the Juvenile Comedies, a comedy series starring Malcolm "Big Boy" Sebastian. This looks forward to probably his biggest claim to fame, he is often credited with being the one to discover Shirley Temple, and he directed here in some of the talkie Baby Burlesk comedies, a series of short films starring kids. At the same time he was making these he directed some of Buster Keaton's talkie shorts at Educational. After the closing of Educational Pictures, he briefly worked at Columbia studios where he directed Charley Chase in The Wrong Miss Wright (1937) and Calling All Doctors (1937) and The Three Stooges in Playing the Ponies (1937). For Universal Charles Lamount, would become one of the studios best comedy directors. There he directed some of the best Ma and Pa Kettle films and The Francis the Talking Mule movie, Francis in the Haunted House (1956, Lamount's last film). His work with Abbott and Costello marked some of their best later day efforts. Though he mostly directed Abbott and Costello's later films, he did direct one movie with them in their early years, Hit the Ice (1943). His 1950's work with Abbott and Costello including Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950), Comin' Round the Mountain (1951), Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952, for Warner Brothers), Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953), Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955, which featured a cameo by Lamount's former employer, Mack Sennett) and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). Lamount also did some TV work for Disney directed some episodes of Annette (1958), Zorro (1957-1959) and the original The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1958).

 


The following is from a 1952 issue of The Independent Film Journal.

"Denver. - A 'date party' contest at a local Air Force base and personal appearances of starlets from the film highlighted the promotional campaign accorded to the promotional campaign accorded the premiere engagement Universal-International's 'Abbott and Costello Go to Mars' at the Paramount Theatre. 

"Contest developed by Jack Wodell, Paramount manager, and Velma Bulkely, of Wolfberg Denver Theatres, tied in with a local paper to invite airmen to send in letters of 25 words or less on why they would like a date with a U-I star on Mars. 

"Winners were awarded dates with Mari Blanchard, featured in the film, and two of the 'Miss Universe' girls. Airmen met the girls at the airport. In addition, a specular rocket ship theme was provided the Paramount. A large model of a spaceship carrying the film's title was suspended above the marquee above a gala arrangement of flags."

The following is from a 1953 issue of the Motion Picture Herald, 

"Universal will send four of the winners in their 'Miss Universe' contest as exploitation for 'Abbott and Costello Go to Mars' - and not a bad tieup with a very reasonable association of ideas. These 'heavenly bodies' are Mari Blanchard, who is featured in the picture, plus Anita Eckberg (Miss Sweden); Judy Hatula (Miss Michigan) and Renate Hoy (Miss Germany). From advance reports, they will take separate trails, so if you see all four 'heavenly bodies' you'll have to hit the road yourself. Gala premiere at the Melba Theatre, Birmingham and the Paramount Theatre, Denver, will start the migration."

     

Classic Short Film: Dizzy Detectives (1943)

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963)

 

Naturally after the success of their previous feature films for Columbia Pictures, The Three Stooges would have to follow up with another feature length movie. The result is my personal favorite Stooge feature, The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze. 

With this film Norman Maurer (Moe's son in law) moved from being a producer and writer of Stooges films to being the director. This was not only his first time directing a Stooge film but it was his first time directing a movie of any kind. His career as a director would be very brief. He would direct the Stooges' next and last feature length film, The Outlaws is Coming (1965) as well as the Stooges TV pilot Kook's Tour (1970). He would as direct the short, Star Spangled Salesman (1968). This short would feature many TV stars (including the Stooges) essentially advertising United States Savings bonds. After his brief directorial career, he would become a writer for Hanna-Barbera cartoons. He would appropriately write the episodes of  The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972-1973) where the Mystery Inc. gang would meet the Stooges. He would also create the short lived TV series, The Robonic Stooges (1978) and would write episodes of Scooby's Laff-A Lympics (1977-1979), which would feature the voice of former Stooge Joe Besser. Maurer also co-wrote this movie with Elwood Ullman. Ullman had co-written the three Stooges feature films that directly preceded this one (Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961), The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962) and The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962)). He started writing for The Stooges in 1937 and had written many of the trio's best short films starting in the Curly era and ending in the Joe Besser era (his last Stooges short was Guns a Poppin! (1957)). The Stooges were not the only comedy team Ullman wrote for. He also wrote for Martin and Lewis (The Stooge (1951)), Abbott and Costello (Lost in Alaska (1952)), Ma and Pa Kettle (Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1953)) and The Bowery Boys (The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954), Jungle Gents (1954), Bowery to Bagdad (1955), High Society (1955), Jail Busters (1955), Spook Chasers (1957)). He had also been a writer on Elvis Presley's most slapstick movie, Tickle Me (1965). Also returning from the previous Stooge feature films of the 1960's were composer Paul Dunlap and editor Edwin H. Bryant. Cinematographer Irving Lippman had also been the cinematographer on some of the Stooges short films from the late 1950's.

Boxoffice, 1963

This movie's story is a semi-sequel to the classic adventure tale. In it The Stooges play servants to Phileas Fogg the 3rd (Jay Sheffield). A con artist (Peter Forester) decides to make some money off of Fogg's great grandfather's great accomplishment of going around the world in 80 days. He tells our hero that his grandfather only was able to make the trip because of his wealth. He then bets that our hero couldn't make it around the world and 80 days without paying for transportation. The Stooges join Fogg for this journey and they find much trouble along the way. Naturally as well, the con artist is not going to play fair and attempts to sabotage every chance our heroes having of winning this bet.  

Joe De Rita considered this his favorite of the Stooge films he worked on and I wholeheartedly agree. I absolutely love this movie. This has the best story of any of The Stooges features with the possible exception of Snow White and the Three Stooges. While it would still clearly be a B movie, one could see the storyline making for a fun serious adventure film. Our main non-stooge character is quite likable and easy to root for. The romance is surprisingly well handled even if it takes a back seat to the comedy and adventure. The film even does a good job building up a bit of suspense and creating the feeling of going on a big adventure. Unlike Snow White however this movie has a lot of more typical Stooge humor. The story does an excellent job of working in some great Stooge routines. These routines are reminiscent of their best work in short films. Many of them made me laugh out loud and the ones the didn't kept a smile firmly planted on my face. In these scenes you get to see The Stooges fully in their element and it is obvious that age took away none of their great comedic gifts. These set pieces are very well integrated into the story and as funny as they are the always move the story forward. This is part of the reason the story works so well and that the film moves by at a very fast speed.

There is a clever in-joke that I truly love. When a trio of "psychiatrists" try to brainwash the Stooges, the boys end up brainwashing them instead. The "psychiatrists" then turn into Stooges themselves. When one of them does an eye poke, Moe tells him, "We don't do that anymore." This is a reference to how due to The Stooges work being more aimed at children, they had taken this act of violence out of their act.   

Stooge fans know that the boys were never above reusing routines they had done in previous films and that is evident in this movie. Luckily this movie borrows one of my favorite Stooge routines the Maharaja routine. This skit always cracks me up whenever I watch it so I was delighted to see it here. The boys first performed the skit when they played a supporting role in the feature length musical Time Out For Rhythm (1941). Below is the boys performing this skit in their classic short film, Three Little Pirates (1946). 

A running gag in this movie is that when Joe DeRita hears Larry play Pop Goes the Weasel, he goes crazy and seems to gain extra strength. This gag was the premise of The Stooges second short film for Columbia, Punch Drunks (1934). In this movie the essentially rework the climax of that film except instead of having Curly in a boxing match, Joe is in a sumo wrestling match. While this scene is not as laugh out loud funny as the earlier short, it is still a fun scene and works well enough. 

   

This movie had more working titles than any other Stooge film. These titles include The Three Stooges Go Around the World on Eighty Cents, The Three Stooges Go Around the Globe on Eighty Cents, The Three Stooges Circle the Globe on Eighty Cents, Around the World on Eighty Cents, The Three Stooges Circle the World on Nighty-Nine Cents, The Three Stooges Go Around the World on Seventy-Nine Cents, The Three Stooges Go Around the World on $1.89, The Three Stooges Meet Phenious Fogg and Merry Go Round the World. The reason for this is quite simple. United Artists which made the 1956 movie version of Around the World in Eighty Days, objected to early titles because they were too close to their film's title. This is a bit strange because the book was in the public domain, but that is how the movie world works. Eventually all parties would agree to the title the film has today. This movie had 13 days of shooting. Shooting began on Thursday May 9, 1963, and Friday May 10. Shooting resumed Monday May 13 to Friday May 17. After another weekend off shooting would continue Monday May 20 to Friday May 24. The last day of shooting would be Monday May 27. It was shot at Stages 12, 12A and 14 at Columbia Studios and on the Columbia Ranch. The film would be released September of 1963. 

The Exhibitor, 1963

This was the feature film debut for Jay Sheffield (who played Phineus Fogg the 3rd). Like many actors who worked in the Stooges' feature films of the 1960's, he did most of his work on TV. He had played the character of Steven Brent on the TV show Tammy (1965-1966), a role he would also play in the feature length movie, Tammy and the Millionaire (1967). He also appeared on various episodes of Hogan's Heroes (1965–1971), where he would play different characters on his multiple appearances. Joan Freemon (who played his love interest) also did a lot of work of TV. She played waitress, Elma Gahrigner, in the show Bus Stop (1961–1962), Dr. Sue Lambert in the series, Lassie (1954-1974) and Barbara Robinson in Code R (1977). On the movie side of things, she had acted alongside Elvis Presley and Barbra Stanwyck in Roustabout (1964) and Don Knotts in The Reluctant Astronaut (1967). Peter Forster who played the villain had done most of his work playing uncredited roles in movies and one off apperances in various TV shows like The Loretta Young Show (1953–1961), The Untouchables (1959-1963), Hazel (1961-1966), The Rockford Files (1974–1980) and Little House on the Prairie (1974-1983). One of his rare credited movie roles was in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971).

After this movie, The Stooges would only star in one more feature film, The Outlaws is Coming (1965). However they would have cameo appearances in the feature films, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) and Four For Texas (1963).  

Resources Used

The Three Stooges Scrapbook by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer and Greg Lenburg.

https://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_home

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

 

The Three Stooges in Orbit (1962)

 

After the major success of The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962), it was only natural that Columbia Pictures would quickly follow with another feature film starring The Three Stooges. The film would be The Three Stooges in Orbit. This movie would have the boys facing off against aliens as they had previously done in their feature film Have Rocket Will Travel (1959) and their short film Outer Space Jitters (1957). To this movie's credit it never once feels like it is repeating anything from those previous pictures. 

With the desire to recapture the success of Hercules, this film would have many members of the behind-the-scenes crew return. Edward Bernds would return to the director's chair, Norman Maurer and Edwood Ullman would once again co-write the movie, Paul Dunlap would again do the music and Edwin H. Bryant would again be the editor. Edward Bernds, Norman Maurer and Edwood Ullman, all had history with The Stooges' characters, predating Hercules. His first time directing the trio was Micro-Phonies (1945), a film considered by most Stooge fans to be a real classic. Though he started directing the Stooges in the Curly-era most of the Stooges shorts he directed were during the Shemp era. In my opinion he was my favorite director of the Stooges during that time period and his Shemp films were often my favorite Shemp shorts.  However, working with the Stooges was only part of a long and varied career for Bernds. To quote Leonard Maltin, "He was never a household name, even in Hollywood, but I defy you to think of anyone else who worked with both Mary Pickford and Sam Peckinpah, wrote for Shemp Howard and Elvis Presley, and directed Hugh Hurbert and Zsa Zsa Gabor." Ellwood Ullman's first time writing a Stooges film was with Cash and Carry (1937) and he continued writing Stooges short films through 1957 ending with the Joe Besser short, Guns a Poppin (1957). He would continue to work with the Stooges on all their following starring feature films. Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds would cowrite such movies as The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954, which Bernds also directed), Bowery to Bagdad (1954, which Bernds also directed), Jail Busters (1955) and Tickle Me (1965). The two of them working on Tickle Me probably explains why it is Elvis' most slapstick movie. Norman Maurer was Moe's son in law and at this time The Stooges' manager. Before ever working on a Stooge film, he had written The Three Stooges comic books. He would work on all of The Stooge films following this one and would even write for The Stooge characters as a writer for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon studio. There he would write the episode of The New Scooby-Doo! Movies, where the Mystery Inc. Gang met The Stooges and create the series The Robotic Stooges.   

The Stooges start off this movie down on their luck. Their landlady (Marjorie Eaton) has had enough of their antics and kicked them out. Meanwhile their TV show is in danger of being cancelled unless they can come up with a new gimmick. Having been kicked out of their apartment the boys rent a room with Professor Danforth (Emil Sitka) and his daughter Carol (Carol Christensen). The professor is an inventor who believes evil aliens are after his invention. He agrees that if the boys help him out with his alien problem, then he will help them out with trying to save their TV show with his new invention, electronic cartoons. 

While this may not be the best of The Stooges' later day feature films, it is still highly entertaining. Despite their ages, The Stooges prove to be just as great at delivering the slapstick goods as they were in their younger days. Each slapstick moment is delivered very well, and you can see that these old pros still knew how to make a joke work to its fullest advantage. It is true that this movie may not be as consistently hilarious as the best of their short films, there are quite a few good laughs to be found. This film even gives Curly Joe DeRita sone of his best moments with the Stooges as he gets a handful of pretty good lines. Also, while not every joke may be laugh out loud hilarious, none of them really fall flat either and they all help add to the joyful silliness of the movie. The fact that Stooge style silliness is the main goal of this film is also a great asset. While there is a romantic subplot (a sadly pretty bland one), it is fully kept in the background allowing The Stooges to fully be the stars of the picture. This is something that this Stooge fan loved. There are also some pretty clever gags in all this silliness. I loved The Stooges reading the Martians' subtitles to understand what they were saying, as well them saving Disneyland, Moe and Larry telling Curly-Joe how to make a hole in the wall and Joe practicing his TV speech.   

However, if I were to complain about this film, my biggest complaint would be the Martians themselves. These are rather bland and boring villains that neither feel that funny or frightening. They are just typical evil movie aliens with nothing to distinguish them. 

Boxoffice Magazine, 1962

This movie also benefits from a good supporting cast. This was the last feature film for Carol Christensen, who had begun her movie career only two years earlier with Freckles (1960). Edon Stroll, who played Prince Charming in Snow White and the Three Stooges (1961), returns to play Captain Tom Andrews here. TV fans will know him best for playing Virgil Edwards in McHale's Navy (1962-1966). George N. Neise who played the villain in The Three Stooges Meet Hercules again plays a villain in this film, as the alien Ogg. His partner Zogg is played by Rayford Barnes, like many of the costars of these 1960's Stooges movies, the majority of his career was spent on TV shows. His TV career began with a 1952 episode of Racket Squad (1950-1953) and ended with a 2000 episode of Touched By an Angel (1994-2003). Most of the time he played characters who only appeared in one episode of a show. In some shows, he would appear in multiple episodes as different characters in each episode. He appeared in two episodes of the show, The Invaders (1967-1968) and in both he plays aliens like he did in this film. One of the rare reoccurring roles he played on a TV show was as Ike Clanton in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-1961). Stooge fan favorite Emil Sitka has a large supporting role in this movie. He first worked with The Stooges in Curly's last short film Half Wits Holiday (1947). During the Shemp-era and the Joe Besser-era he would become a regular face in The Stooges' short films. He will be forever beloved by Stooge fans for his immortal role in the short film, Brideless Groom (1947) where he delivered the immortal line, "Hold hands you love birds." He is a rare supporting player who appeared in Stooge films with all six of The Three Stooges. 

The first day of shooting for this movie was April 6, 1962 and the last was April 27, 1962. However it is unknown what days the boy's were filming and what days no filming was being done. To save money on special effects some footage was reused from the sci-fi B-movie, Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers (1956). 

Comic book adaptions were made for most of The Stooges' feature films of the 1960's. However, The Three Stooges in Orbit's comic book adaption was especially interesting because it used live action frame blow ups from the movie for its pictures. 

With the Stooges' short films experiencing major popularity on TV in the late 1950's and early 60's, it was only natural that The Stooges would try to have their own half hour TV series at this time. One of the attempts for this was called The Three Stooges Scrapbook. The idea for this show was similar to the team's later TV series, The New Three Stooges (1965). It would feature the Stooges in both live action and animated segments and would be produced by The Stooges and Norman Maurer's Normandy Productions. TV Spots Inc. would agree to make 78 5-minute cartoons for the show. Each episode would feature two of these animated segments one with The Stooges as adults and one entitled Li'l Stooges, which would feature kid versions of the characters. Because the Stooges were becoming much more popular with children due to TV, parent groups were complaining about the violence of their films. However cartoons with equal amounts of violence were also popular with children and there were (at this time at least (by the 1970's this would have changed drastically) far less complaints about children watching these. So the plan was that the live action segments would feature much less violence while the cartoons would be more typically violent Stooges slapstick. Moe would speak about this in an interview for the show stating, "In the live portions of these films, we will cut out the deliberate physical horseplay and substitute unintentional violence - if you have to call it violence. In other words I won't purposely clunk Larry or Curly-Joe, but if I'm carrying a ladder, let's say and I make a quick turn, it could accidently clip Curly on the bean. The deliberate stuff will only be seen in the cartoon segments. That will make everybody happy." The TV series was never to be though. Though some sponsors were interested in the show, a good time slot could never be found. The only timeslots offered for the show would be after 10pm. Since The Stooges were hugely popular with children and had been aiming their act more at younger audiences at this time then they had been before, this slot would have alienated a huge portion of the show's audience. This was simply past kids' bedtimes and unacceptable for that reason. Because of this the sponsors that were interested in it all pulled out leaving the show to be shelved. However, this was not the end of the story. A pilot episode entitled Home Cooking (1960) had been shot. Much of the live action portions of that pilot appear in this movie. In fact, it is out of the pilot being unsold that this movie would be made. Norman Maurer would later state, "I approached the Columbia executives with the half-hour Scrapbook film (a $30,000 investment), and an expanded storyline, and they bought it." Though the pilot was shot in color and featured a laugh track, in this movie the footage appears in black and white and (thankfully) sans laugh track. 

Resources Used

The Three Stooges Scrapbook by Jeff Lenburg, Jean Howard Maurer and Greg Lenburg. 

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

https://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_home


  

Stop! Look! and Laugh! (1960)

 

After the box office success of Have Rocket Will Travel (1959), that movie's producer Harry Romm quickly wanted to make another feature film starring The Three Stooges. However, since The Stooges were experiencing a major resurgence in popularity, they felt comfortable in asking for 75% of the profits. While Romm wanted to make a new Stooge feature film, he still wanted his usual 50% of the profits. Stop! Look! and Laugh! was his way of having his cake and eating it too. By going directly to Columbia, Romm took footage from old Stooge short films and connected them together with new footage that didn't feature the Stooges. 

The new footage would star ventriloquist Paul Winchell and his dummies, Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff. Paul Winchell had briefly had a radio show in 1943, but the show did not last long, and its popularity was clearly overshadowed by Edgar Bergan's show. However by the time this film was made, Winchell was best known for his children's TV show, The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (1950-1956). This show would feature a lot of corny comedy with him and Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff, as well as a lot of advertising for the show's sponsor, Tootsie Roll. This show has an important place in TV history as it featured the TV debut of Carol Burnett. Today however Paul Winchell will mainly be remembered by animation buffs for his voice work on Hanna-Barbera's TV cartoons. He voiced the villainous Dick Dastardly (Wacky Races (1968-1970) and Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines (1969-1970)) and the evil Gargamel (The Smurfs (1981-1989)). Disney fans will best know him as the original voice of Tigger for the Disney Winnie the Pooh films. Stop! Look! and Laugh! was not Winchell's only Three Stooges connection. He had voiced Moe in The Three Stooges episodes of The New Scooby-Doo! Movies (1972-1973) and the TV cartoon, The Robotic Stooges (1978). 

TV Guide, 1954

This movie also features The Marquis Chimps, these were a trio of comedic chimps owned and trained by Gene Detroy. Detroy was born into a family of circus performers. In the late 1940's he began raising and training chimps, which he would do for 30 years. In the early years of him raising chimps, one of his chimps was named Marquis. Because of this someone suggested he call the act, The Marquis Chimps. Detroy liked this idea and the name stuck. Starting in the mid-1950's, the chimps started appearing on TV shows. Over their career the chimps made appearances on such shows as The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950-1955), The Ed Sullivan Show (1948-1971), The Jack Benny Program (1950-1965) and The Lucy Show (1962-1968). The Marquis Chimps also starred in their own TV show, The Hathaways (1961-1962). This was a typical sitcom about the typical American family, a husband, a wife and their three chimps. Stop! Look! and Laugh! is one of the only two feature films that The Marquis Chimps appeared in. The other is a delightful live action Disney movie, Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus (1960). In Stop! Look! and Laugh!, the chimps perform their own version of the classic fairytale Cinderella. Since chimps don't talk, the voices were provided by real life people. One voice in this section of the film will sound quite familiar to many cartoon fans. This voice is the one and only June Foray. June Foray is a voice acting legend and is best remembered today for providing many female voices for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies (including Granny), as well as being the voice of TV's Rocky the flying squirrel.  

Radio TV Mirror, 1961.  

This movie doesn't have much in the way of an actual story. This is just an average day in the life of Paul Winchell and his dummies, mostly told through a series of brief comedy skits that are designed to transition to the next clip of The Stooges. 

I must say the clips of The Three Stooges used here are fantastic. This may at first seem like an obvious e statement, but it really isn't. Too many of these feature length compilations of a comedian's or group of comedians' work fail to show them at their best and instead just show random clips from their career instead. This movie though actual shows The Stooges at their best and therefore there will be plenty of real laughs for any Stooge fans who watch this film. The clips all come from the Curly era of the Stooges output. Though many Stooge fans have divisive feelings about some eras in The Stooges' history (especially the Joe and Curly Joe eras), pretty much every Stooge fan agrees that the Curly era is where some of the boy's best work came from. Not only does this movie show clips of the Stooges in their prime, but it shows some of the funniest moments from this era. The shorts used here include How High is Up (1940, directed by Del Lord), Violent is the Word for Curly (1938, directed by Charley Chase), Sock a Bye Baby (1942, directed by Jules White), Higher Than a Kite (1943, directed by Del Lord), What's the Matador? (1942, directed by Jules White), Calling All Curs (1939, directed by Jules White), Goofs and Saddles (1937, directed by Del Lord), Micro-Phonies (1945, directed by Edward Bernds), A Pluming We Will Go (1940, directed by Del Lord) and Half Wits Holiday (1947, directed by Jules White and featuring Curly's last starring appearance with The Stooges). As a Stooge fan, I certainly can't argue with a line up like that. It even includes Curly's personal favorite Stooge short, A Plumbing We Will Go. While I would recommend anyone new to the Stooges starts with the classic Stooge shorts in their entirety, I can see someone new to the Stooges becoming a fan after seeing this movie with how good the clips are. 

The Paul Winchell skits may not be masterpieces, but they work well enough. While the original Stooge shorts were aimed at all ages, these Paul Winchell shorts are clearly aimed at kids. Because of this adult movie fans will probably not laugh at these skits as much as the clips from the Stooges shorts. Still there is nothing truly bad about these skits and taken as children's entertainment they are pretty good actually. I will admit I even got a few chuckles from a couple of these skits. So, while I understand why some Stooge fans will find the inclusion of these skits, I personally find them charming for what they are. 

Now the Marquis Chimps version of Cinderella on the other hand is quite bad. I can't even see myself as a little kid enjoying this. And you know a skit is bad when even June Foray can't save it. The main problem is that this scene doesn't have any real jokes. The filmmakers just simply think the idea that we are seeing Cinderella performed by monkeys is funny enough on its own. In reality it isn't even slightly amusing. I really wish that instead of this sequence the movie including more Three Stooges clips, but this skit is the price you will have to face for watching an otherwise fun movie. 

James B. Meyers Jr. of the Bluebird Theatre in Petersburg, Virgina went all out when this movie played at his theater. 

"Playing the double bill of Columbia's 'My Dog Buddy' and 'Stop! Look! and Laugh!' recently in our 473-seat house we tried our hand at some selling that was well within our small budget.

"An idea occurred to me that might help the sales of concessions while at the same time tying in with one of the features. Accordingly I made up three octagon shapes for each left hand door entering the orchestra. The top sign was lettered STOP. This was on red cardboard. The second sign was lettered LOOK and this was on white cardboard, while the third sign was lettered AND LAUGH and was on blue cardboard. On the right hand doors, another sign was lettered 'DO NOT ENTER.' This was opposite the red sign. Another read 'UNTIL YOU HAVE LOOKED OVER OUR FINE ASSORTMANT OF CANDIES AND TASTED OUR DELICIOUS HOT BUTTERED POPCORN.' Opposite the blue sign another was lettered 'NOW ENTER! AND LAUGH TO YOUR HEARTS CONTENT WITH THE THREE STOOGES IN STOP, LOOK AND LAUGH.'

"Being mindful of the fact that nearly every person will observe a stop sign, it was no surprise to me that everyone DID stop and read this display from top to bottom before entering the orchestra. I might add that our concession stand is located exactly in the center of the two sets of lobby doors.

"The art work was done by myself with the cost of the signs $1.97 for the cardboard and 35 cents for a magic marker. 

"To promote interest in the other feature, 'My Dog Buddy' and also to get some outside advertising away from the theatre I enlisted the services of a young lad who owned a German shepherd dog, with his parents' permission to walk around town in the main business section. A small sign was placed on either side of the small dog, lettered 'Don't miss 'My Dog Buddy,' Now Showing Bluebird.' The local boy and his dog resembled the boy and the dog starring in the picture. This little stunt attracted a lot of street attention. This cost me a trifle over $5."

The Stooges themselves were not very amused with the idea of this movie and sued Harry Romm and Columbia over the picture feeling that it was illegal to use their comedies without their permission. This ended up being settled out of court. The Stooges received a cash settlement and a contract to make another feature film for $50,000. Though they would receive 50 percent of the profits, Moe's son in law and the team's manager (as well as writer of The Three Stooges comic books) Norman Maurer would become the film's producer. 

Resources Used

The Three Stooges Scrapbook by Jeff Lenburg, Jean Howard Maurer and Greg Lenburg. 

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

https://www.paulwinchell.com/bio.html

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VKS1-aBvXawC&pg=PT170&lpg=PT170&dq=The+Marquis+Chimps+were+owned+and+shown+by+Gene+Detroy&source=bl&ots=0jV-nXjXW7&sig=ACfU3U3eZ2E6E-iwLoqE-0vENMDYd3RgoA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwim2OjXkv7sAhXAQUEAHYj8CeI4FBDoATADegQIAhAC#v=onepage&q=Marquis%20Chimps&f=false

https://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_home

Have Rocket Will Travel (1959)

 

Have Rocket Will Travel is a movie I have had a fondness for since I first saw it as a teenager. Unlike with Laurel and Hardy (who I was introduced to through their Fox films), I was introduced to The Three Stooge through what is considered to be their best work and that is the Curly and Shemp short films. I had read some books on the Stooges before seeing the later Curly Joe features, so I knew they were not held in the best regard among Three Stooges fans. Yet when I saw Have Rocket Will Travel I was amazed at how completely delightful it was. Maybe this isn't up there with their best shorts but there is a lot to enjoy about this movie. 

Even with being so late in their careers this movie represents a turning point in stooge history. In 1957 their long running series of comedy shorts came to an end. At this point it looked like their movie career had come to an end. But then something unexcepted happened. Just as many classic cartoon shorts had found a new life thanks to children's shows on TV, the same thing was happening with The Three Stooges shorts. Soon this exposure to many kids through TV made the Stooges major TV stars and their films would make for some of the highest rated programs on TV. Naturally Columbia Pictures, who made their shorts wanted the Stooges back so they could make more films with them. This time instead of making short films, the studio would make a series of feature length movies. Have Rocket Will Travel was the first of these movies. 

This movie also marked the first Stooges film with Joe DeRita (or Curly Joe) in the role of the third stooge. When their career as short subject stars ended, Joe Besser was the third stooge. However, after the shorts had ended the boys decided to make some personal appearances throughout the country. Joe Besser's wife had suffered a heart attack and he did not want to leave her side. They departed on great terms, but the group still needed three members to be The Three Stooges. For a while the group had contemplated retiring. Larry said about this, "Moe and I thought of retiring after Columbia let us go. Moe was thinking of quitting show business altogether since he was pretty well off. I was thinking of managing apartments." However this idea was abandoned when the shorts reached a new popularity on TV. The search for a new stooge was on. Larry found the answer when he saw a show in Las Vegas called Minskey's Follies of 1958. Joe DeRita was in that show and after seeing him, Larry felt he would be a great choice. Many stories have surfaced over the years of Joe DeRita having been considered for this role as far back as when Curly suffered a stroke in 1946. Joe denied these stories stating, "It sounds good. It adds a lot of romance to the story. Around 1958, Moe and Larry wanted to do some personal appearances and they contacted me for the very first time about working with them. We meet at an agent's office and I agreed to work with them." 

This film features our heroes as janitors at a space center. When a scientist friend of theirs (Anna-Lisa) finds her job in trouble, the boys do everything they can to help. Moe being a bit of an amateur scientist devices a plan. Unfortunately, this doesn't turn out too well and the boys find themselves on Venus. Here they befriend a talking unicorn and try to save the planet from an evil alien computer. 

This movie features plenty of the classic Stooge comedy we have all grown to love. Many of the slapstick bits here are truly funny and remind Stooge fans of why they fell in love with the boys' comedy in the first place. Like many of the best Stooges films the storyline simply exists to give us an excuse for various comic set pieces. There is the boy's digging and exploring the rocket, the boys trying to make rocket fuel, the boys losing and trying to find some keys (reminiscent of a skit the boys did as supporting characters in the musical feature, Swing Parade of 1946 (1946)), the robot chase and the big party at the finish (similar to the one in the Stooges short, Hoi Polloi (1935)). Each of these set pieces is perfectly set up for gag possibilities and each takes full advantage of these possibilities. While not always as laugh out loud funny as the short films with Curly and Shemp, each of these set pieces kept a smile on my face all the way through. None of the jokes miss and most of them are quite delightful. There are even a few laugh out loud moments in this picture. The slapstick energy keeps the movie moving at a fast pace and even though this is a feature film, it doesn't feel any longer than one of the boys' shorts.

 The sci-fi elements are as corny as possible but there is something quite charming about this corniness. The movie never takes itself seriously and never demands that we take it seriously either. Because of this we enjoy these sci-fi elements in the same way we enjoy say the 1966 Batman show and movie or the Superfriends cartoon and that is that there is something simply charming about unabashed corniness that can't really be explained. 

The title song (written by veteran film composer and former member of Kay Kyser's band, George Duning along with Stanley Styne) is also ridiculously catchy and I can never count the number of times this song has been stuck in my head. Not surprisingly because of this sing the soundtrack was a surprise hit.  This would be the first of many record releases by the boys, who would not only make soundtrack albums, but also novelty and children's records. 

 Like many of the feature films starring classic comedy teams, there was felt the need to be a romantic subplot. Unfortunately, the one here is very weak. Both of the characters are very bland and there is little chemistry between them. Most of the dialogue in these scenes feels too mushy and forced. It is hard to imagine anyone actually caring about these two getting together. When it comes to romantic subplots this certainly is no A Night at the Opera (1935). Luckily this does not take up too much screen time and never feels too intrusive. 

This movie marked the feature film debut for Anna-Lisa. Still most of her career would be spent playing supporting roles in various TV show episodes. She appeared on such shows as Maverick, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Death Valley Days. Her romantic interest is played by Robert Colbert, whose film career was just beginning at this time. Like Anna-Lisa, the majority of his career was spent on TV. One of his most interesting TV roles was as the forgotten Maverick brother Brent Maverick. After James Garner left the show, Brent Maverick was created as a replacement for Garner's character Bret Maverick. Not only was the name of the character only different by one letter but this new character had the same personality and dressed the same. Colbert understandably not wanting to be compared with Garner was unhappy with this role and the character only appeared in two episodes. Colbert worked with another Maverick brother in the feature film A Fever in the Blood (1961) which also featured Jack Kelly (Bart Maverick). 

This movie's director was David Lowell Rich and this marked the only time he directed the boys. He too would spend much of his career working on TV shows. These once again included an episode of Maverick. Other shows he worked on included, The Barbera Stanwyck Show, Wagon Train, Route 66 and The Twilight Zone. He ended his career with a long strecth of made for TV movies in the 1970's and 80's.

Resources Used

The Three Stooges Scrapbook by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer and Greg Lanburg

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/4819/have-rocket-will-travel#articles-reviews?articleId=241245

       

Saps at Sea (1940)

 

Saps at Sea was the last film Laurel and Hardy made at the Hal Roach Studios and the last one with Harry Langdon (who was one of the great silent movie comedians and worked as a writer on the Laurel and Hardy features The Flying Deuces (1939), A Chump at Oxford (1939) and Blockheads (1938)  as one of the writers and the last one where they would appear with frequent co-stars Charlie Hall and James Finlayson. With this was also the last film from the duo in which the supporting cast would be providing the laughs just as much as our two stars. In the post-Hal Roach films, Stan and Babe would provide the laughs while all the other actors played it very straight. Almost as if the filmmakers knew this was ending, this movie has some of the nuttiest supporting characters in the history of Laurel and Hardy. This is especially true of Eddie Conrad as Stan’s music teacher. The very way he looks in this film is over the top and silly. 

 This movie begins with our boys working in a horn factory. However, the constant noise stresses Ollie to the point where he has a mental break down (“Horns to the right of me. Horns to the left of me”). Ollie is then diagnosed with “hornaphobia” and is sent home. A doctor (James Finlayson) tells Ollie the only cure is sea air. Ollie is afraid of sailing, but Stan has an answer, they can rent a boat and sit out in it without sailing. However, one day while the boys are sleeping on the boat an escaped murderer named Nick (Richard Cramer) stows away on the boat and the boat accidently sets sail. 

 This is an excellent film that resembles the duo’s best shorts. The gags come fast and furious and all of them are very funny. This film goes by so fast that it seems to end before you know it, leaving the audience wanting more.

 One delightful sequence involves a cameo from Ben Turpin. During the silent era, many comedians were known for looking unusual. Often this was done through a fake mustache. However, Ben Turpin had probably the most unique physical trait of the silent comedians. He had very crossed eyes. This was obviously used as joke material in plenty of silent comedies. Though he was much less prolific in the sound era, he could sometimes make gag appearances in sound comedies, such as Wheeler and Woolsey's Cracked Nuts (1931). However, Saps at Seas uses these crossed eyes for one of the cleverest jokes the trait was ever given. The legendary director D.W. Griffith was working as a techincal advisor on One Million B.C., which was made at Hal Roach studios. One day he visited the set of Saps at Sea. As soon as he got there he called out, "Where is the great Ben Turpin." D.W. Griffith and Ben Turpin spent quite a while just talking. Griffith then watched the boys film and told them, "You two are greater pantomime artists than Charlie Chaplin." Director Gordon Douglas would later state about this remark, "I think he genuinely believed that too." 

Gordon Douglas had just recently directed Oliver Hardy (without Stan Laurel) in Zenobia (1939). That film also featured Harry Langdon in the cast by the way. About making Saps at Sea Douglas said, "After Zenobia which was an expensive picture with some big names in it, the Saps at Sea film was done a lot faster, but that's because Stan was pretty much determined to show Roach, we could do a film efficiently and on schedule. Yes, I directed the film, but Stan was very much in charge. He knew what he wanted, and I had enough sense not to interfere with him. He was giving me an education in directing."

A review in the Hollywood Motion Picture Review stated “Here is one that will drag them in, and they will really enjoy the slapstick. Why doesn’t Universal or Warners grab this pair and give them some decent stories ad a little dough to work with.”

The following is an exhibitor’s review in the Motion Picture Herald dated March 8, 1941. 

“Saps at Sea: Laurel and Hardy – I for one regret that these comedy stars comedy stars stopped making pictures. At least there are none in sight and none announced in the trade press. All their pictures have done well at this theater and ‘Saps at Sea’ is no exception to this rule. This picture was filled with the usual L. and H. funnyisms, which brings out gales of laughter. This was doubled with ‘Marines Fly High’ RKO – J. E. Stocker, Myrtle Theatre, Detroit, Mich. Neighborhood patronage.”    

The Independent Film Journal had an article about Cleone Cloe Baker the manager of The Raleigh N. C. Varsity Theater, this article stated “Somehow or another she manages to turn a stinkeroo into something less than a complete flop and often times into an overwhelming success. Her recent handling of ‘Saps at Sea’ a Laurel and Hardy comedy- a success by the way that brought her a letter of congratulations from the president of her chain- is one of the best examples of Mrs. Baker in action. When informed that the Varsity must run ‘Saps at Sea’ Mrs. Baker was in despair – She knew it was the kind of show her customers would stay away from in droves. Putting on her thinking cap, she hit upon an ‘All Comedy Night.’ At once she went to work putting out lots and lots of strategic advertising and getting some comedy shorts to fill out the bill. Result: A capacity house that broke the all-time record.” This shows that by this time Laurel and Hardy films where no longer the guaranteed box office successes they had been during the 1920’s and 30’s.       

Resources Used

https://mediahistoryproject.org/

Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies by Randy Skretvedt

Laurel and Hardy in Foreign Languages

 The following is an article from a 1930 issue of The New Movie Magazine. If you have trouble reading, click on the pages and use your touch screen to zoom in. If that still doesn't work, click here.

Way Out West (1937)

 

If Sons of the Desert (1933) is Laurel and Hardy’s most popular feature than Way Out West is a close second. Its popularity is well founded as this is one of the funniest films the boys ever appeared in. This classic was directed by James W. Horne. This was Horne’s last picture for Hal Roach studios. After this he would move to Republic Pictures. His first picture for Republic was the Oslen and Johnson comedy, All Over Town (1937). For that movie he brought some regulars at the Hal Roach studio. That film would feature regular Roach actors James Finlayson Stanley Fields, Fred Kelsey and Jack Egan. Roach writer James Parrott was said to have worked on that film as well, though that is unconfirmed. 

 The simple plot of Way Out West is little more than excuse to fit in some great comedy and musical numbers. Mickey Finn (James Finlayson) and Lola (Sharon Lynn) are the caretakers of Mary Roberts (Rosia Lawrence). Unfortunately, they are crooked people who couldn’t care less about poor Mary. Stan and Ollie meanwhile are traveling to the town of Brushwood Gulch (where Mickey, Lola and Mary live). They are hitchhiking (this includes a clever reference to Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night with Stan showing a little leg). They eventually get a ride on a stagecoach, where they annoy a woman (Vivian Oakland) also riding. When they get to the town, the woman’s husband (Stanley Fields) turns out to be the sheriff and gives the boys until the next coach comes to get out of town. Luckily, they have a quick and simple job to deliver a deed to a goldmine to Mary Roberts. However, they are fooled into thinking that Lola is Mary (“This is the first mistake we made since we bought the Brooklyn Bridge” says Ollie). When they find out they have to get the deed back which proves to be an extremely difficult task, especially since they were supposed to be out of town by now.    

In 1936, it was announced that the next film for another Hal Roach comedy team Pasty Kelly and Reba Roberta was to be called Girls Go West. This film never happened but it was not too long afterward that Stan and Babe would start work on Way Out West. Stan’s wife at the time (Virginia Ruth Rodgers) would later claim that she played a huge part in this movie being made. She would say that her instance that the duo appeared in a western resulted in this film. Whether this is true or not is lost to history.   

Shooting for the movie started on Monday August 31, 1936 and finished Wednesday November 11 of the same year. This was a long time for shooting for a Hal Roach film. Most Hal Roach features only took about 40 days to shoot. 

The film starts off in a way that might at first scare some Laurel and Hardy fans. At the beginning of the movie Laurel and Hardy do not appear on screen for a few minutes. However once Stan and Ollie show up our fears are quickly clamed. The focus after this is always on the boys. The movie is pure Laurel and Hardy slapstick at its best and this fairly short feature film (just 64 minutes) has more laugh out loud moments than most two-hour slapstick comedies. Still with this in mind the film still manages to have a leisurely relaxing pace. This pace never takes away from the comedy but rather enhances it. It never moves too slowly that it might kill a joke, but it moves slow enough for the film to have an atmospheric feel that makes this one of the most charming and endearing Laurel and Hardy films. 

One scene in that is definitely a highlight in this movie is when Stan and Ollie sing Trail of the Lonesome Pine. The scene starts with the boys singing it straight, giving us a great chance to hear Ollie’s fantastic voice. Then Stan’s voice goes into a deep bass (that is obviously not Stan’s voice). Ollie is confused then annoyed. He asks the bartender for a mallet. With this mallet Ollie clunks Stan on the head. Stan’s voice than turns into a woman’s voice. The woman’s voice was supplied by one of the co-stars in this movie, Rosina Lawrence. Chill Wills provides the deep bass voice. In 1975, the audio recording of this song (straight from the movie’s soundtrack) would be released as a single. Shockingly the recording shot up British pop charts and it would land at #2, beating out such huge names as Paul McCartney and Elton John.  

Another delightful scene featured Stan eating Ollie’s hat. Earlier in the film Stan has stated that they would get the deed back or he would eat Ollie’s hat. Ollie makes him follow through on this, to teach Stan not to make rash statements. Stan at first eats it reluctantly, then he begins to enjoy it and eats it happily until Ollie pulls it back. The hat was actually made of licorice for the scene. One brilliant touch in this movie is that after this scene happens, Ollie’s hat actually has the bite marks in it and that lasts for the rest of the movie.  

Way Out West was not the original title of the film. Some earlier titles were Tonight’s the Night, You’d Be Surprised, In the Money and They Done it Wrong. This movie however was not the first to be called Way Out West. With this title there had already been a two-reel comedy with Hank Man, a 1930 William Haines feature and an Educational short staring the Cabin Kids. The title is perhaps a play on the 

In the scene where Stan is relating the story of what had happened so far, a piece of music created by Marvin Hatley called Gossip played. This piece of music originally ran much longer than it does here but needed to be cut in order to fit the movie better. Another piece of music was called Get the Deed and was surprisingly in the scene where everybody is trying to get the deed. This music for Get the Deed moved so fast, that many takes had to be done to finally get it right. The music in this film as a whole is excellent, and it received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. This was a very rare thing for a slapstick comedy. After all there were two types of films that the Academy Awards frowned on. These were slapstick comedies and B westerns. So, for a slapstick comedy parodying B westerns to be nominated was quite a feat.

This film originally ran 4 minutes longer, but Hal Roach felt it should be cut to make the film play better. It is believed most of what had been cut had come from the scene with Stan and Ollie hitchhiking. Supposedly originally the sign saying how far away the town was is blowing around. Similarly, there were some scenes in the original script featuring American Indians (natural for a parody of 1930’s B westerns), but they were never filmed. In the original script there was also an ongoing joke, before Stan and Ollie figure out, they have been tricked, where Mickey Finn would get extremely excited every time either Stan or Ollie would mention the goldmine, then have to calm himself down so our heroes don’t get wise.     

Some of the musical numbers were performed by the Avalon Brothers, who also appeared alongside W.C. Fields in the classic It’s a Gift (1934). One of the members of the Avalon Brothers was Chill Wills. Supposedly Hal Roach had to remind Chill Wills to calm down his language. Rosina Lawrence’s role in this film was originally intended for Julie Bishop. According to many people who have met her she was just like Mary Roberts in real life. She had the same type of sweet innocence her character here does. Her best remembered role today is as the schoolteacher in many Our Gang shorts. Similarly, Stanley Fields’ role was originally going to go to Tiny Sanford (best known for being the tall man coming up through the elevator in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights (1931)). This is may have caused a controversy between Stan and Hal Roach as Stan was good friends with Sanford and wanted him in the picture. Some believe this to have caused a strong rift between the two and maybe even caused Stan to think about leaving. Another co-star in this movie was Dinah the mule, who is best known for her many appearances in Our Gang shorts.   

World Film News, 1938

World Film News, 1937

Resources Used

DVD commentary by Richard W. Bann and Randy Skretvedt 

Laurel and Hardy the Magic Behind the Movies by Randy Skretvedt

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/614595/way-out-west#articles-reviews?articleId=92511

 

The Devil's Brother (1933)

 

Producer Hal Roach had loved Daniel Aurber’s comic operetta, Fra Diavolo since he had seen the play live as a kid. When Laurel and Hardy had appeared in supporting roles in The Rogue Song, audiences and critics accepted the boys easily in a period movie. This led Hal Roach to begin considering Fra Diavolo as a Laurel and Hardy feature. The original play featured two characters named Beppo and Giacomo. These were two comedic characters, who had very childlike personalities. Hal Roach felt Laurel and Hardy would fit perfectly into these roles and expanded them for the movie. The characters were also renamed Stanlio and Ollio to further complete this transformation.  This film ended up being The Devil’s Brother (1933). The title was originally going to be Fra Diavlo, but MGM (the film’s distributor) did not feel they could sell a movie under that title, and it was changed. The movie was released as Fra Divalo overseas, however. 

Not only was this a dream come true for Hal Roach, but it ended up being what Stan Laurel would call one of his favorite Laurel and Hardy features. Stan would also later state that one of the reasons he loved this film so much is that it was a period piece. These type of films (mixing comedy with costumes and sets resembling the olden days) reminded Stan of his work in the English Pantomimes as a child. However at first Stan did have his worries that audiences might not accept them in these period films. 

As the movie begins, we see the famous bandit Fra Diavolo (Dennis King) telling his followers about how he, disguised as Marquis de San Marco met with Lord Rocburg (James Finlayson) and Lady Pamela (Thelma Todd). During this ride he has convinced Lady Pamela to tell him where her jewels are hidden. While this is happening Stanlio and Ollio (Guess who?) are robbed by bandits. This is when Stanlio comes up with the brilliant idea that they should become bandits themselves (“Well, if we became rich and we robbed the poor and gave them to the bandits and... we could start at the top, and we'd get to the bottom without working hard anymore. We can't go wrong. It's the law of conversation.”). Naturally they prove to be completely inept at being bandits. They decide to impersonate Fra Diavolo by having Ollio sing the song the famous bandit always sings. Unfortunately, the next man they try to rob is Fra Diavolo. Ollio forgets the words and Fra Diavolo finishes it for them. The boys know they are in trouble. The bandit however makes a deal with them. They are to pose as his servants as he once again disguises as Marquis de San Marco to rob Lady Pamela. Of course, the boys don’t seem to be much help.  

Some of the most delightful scenes in the movie revolve around Stanlio playing two games, “Kneesy-Earsy-Nosey” and "Finger Wiggle". The first game consists of Stanlio slapping his knees then brining his hands up and putting one hand on his nose and the other on his knee, then repeating this but switching hands. Ollio would try to repeat this but would constantly fail. The innkeeper (Henry Armetta) even gets involved in the fun as he stays up all night trying to do this. “Finger Wiggle” on the other hand (pun intended) involves Stanlio mashing his hands together and wiggling one finger on each hand. These games would end up being referenced in Babes in Toyland (1934). In that film Ollie says anything Stan can do he can do. Stan disagrees and plays both games to Ollie’s annoyance. 

After criticism of the two previous Laurel and Hardy features called the films too episodic, Hal Roach wanted to make sure that this movie did justice its source material in that regard and so he had hired an experienced screenwriter, Jeanie Macpherson. Macpherson had begun her screenwriting career back in 1908 on the D.W. Griffith short, The Fatal Hour. She is best known by film buffs today for her work with Cecil B. DeMille during the silent era. For DeMille she would write such films as The Cheat (1915), Male and Female (1919), The Ten Commandments (1923) and The King of Kings (1927). As she was not a writer of the type of comedy Laurel and Hardy did, she did not write any comedy scenes. Instead, she wrote a straight screenplay, that Laurel and Hardy's usual team of writers would then build gags around. 

The Film Daily, 1933

 The Devil’s Brother would be directed by Charlie Rogers and Hal Roach. Rogers directed most of the comedic scenes while Roach directed most of the serious ones. It was very rare for Roach to direct a film at this time, but because of his love of the source material this was natural. Besides Laurel and Hardy this film also stared stage great Dennis King in his third film appearance (and last for elven years). Dennis King felt Laurel and Hardy were a joy to work with, but he also found it a bit difficult to get used to how much they improvised. Dennis King would later comment on Hal Roach, "I could see the way he talked to Stan Laurel in the screening room or to other actors on the set, this man had one of the quickest minds if anyone I'd ever seen under pressure. He was always right even when he wasn't, he reacted so far and with such assurance that no one would ever challenge him. It was one-two-three and on to the next thing with no hesitation. There was no time for it anyway; he was running this whole studio in addition to this particular set, and his schedule wouldn't allow for debate or mistakes. He was actually quite a charming guy, but you could see everyone recognized his authority. He really tried to stay out of everyone's way in the background, but he had this dominant personality and there was no question he was totally in charge of any area he wished to run and deserved to be in charge." When asked whether there was a lot of friction between Stan Laurel and Hal Roach, King responded, "No, insofar as I could see. Comedy is not an art I profess to know anything about. All I can tell you is that Laurel and Roach were always conferring, and Laurel wanted his opinion on a lot of things."    

Music from the operetta was both sung as big musical numbers and used as background music during scenes of visual slapstick. 

This movie ranks among Laurel and Hardy’s best. It has many funny moments. The casing couldn’t be better. The film looks great (despite some backgrounds that look very fake). Though this movie had a mixture of slapstick comedy and more serious scenes (both musical and romantic), the story and comedy never get in the way of each other, but instead complement the other. Also because of the source material this has some of the best musical numbers to ever appear in a Laurel and Hardy film. This movie was not only a box office success, but it also fared well with critics. In fact, this would become the boy’s biggest box office hit. Due to this the duo would appear in more comic operettas in the future.

Critic Mordant Hall wrote about this film in The New York Times, “Without being unkind to the apprehensive Stan Laurel or his companion, the ponderous Oliver Hardy; one is apt to conclude after witnessing this production that much less of their antics and more of Mr. King's fine baritone voice would have made this shadow version of an opera far more entertaining."   

The following are three exhibitors’ reviews for this film written for the Motion Picture Herald (dated October 21, 1933). 

“Devil’s Brother, The: Laurel and Hardy – Dennis King shares the limelight with his pleasing singing in this picture but that does not take anything away from the work of these two comedians. They are as good as ever and have some real good laugh producing gags in this one. Business better than average. Running time, 92 minutes. Played October 2-3. – W. M. A. Crute, Victoria Theater, Vancouver, B. C. Neighborhood patronage.”

“Devil’s Brother, The: Laurel and Hardy, Dennis King - This production brought more laughs from patrons than any picture this year. There were minutes at a time when nothing could be heard but the laughter of the audience. I have read criticisms in this column that there was too much singing. My patrons did not seem to think so. In my personal opinion the singing of King was equaling pleasing as the comedy antics of Laurel and Hardy. I was however, somewhat disappointed in the drawing power of this picture. Running time 92 minutes. Played October 3-4. – W.J. Powell, Lonet Theater, Wellington, Ohio. Small Town and Rural Patronage.”    

“Devil’s Brother, The: Laurel and Hardy – I liked this picture very much, especially the singing of Dennis King. The real comedy was in Henry Armetta as the waiter trying to imitate Stan Laurel. All in all it was good and pleased almost 100 per cent. Played October 4-5. Emmerson Theater, Hartford Ark. Small town patronage.”    

It may seem odd to many Laurel and Hardy fans that these reviews praise the musical numbers more than Laurel and Hardy themselves. Today many movie lovers fast forward through these music numbers to get to the Laurel and Hardy comedy. They find such songs as unneeded interruptions, and these musical numbers make films like The Devil Brother less popular than the duo's short films with some movie fans. This is all a matter of changing tastes. There are simply less people today who want to watch an operetta film, than those who want to watch a slapstick comedy. This does not mean there is anything wrong with these musical numbers. The songs are lovely and Dennis King’s voice is beautiful and I will admit to loving the musical numbers in this movie. The original cut however contained much more music and plot that didn't have Laurel and Hardy in it. This led the movie to being 27 minutes longer. Editor Bert Jordan later commented on this saying, "The original cut was good, but it was very long - very long. We had to cut a lot out of that one." This movie at 90 minutes is still longer than most of the Laurel and Hardy feature films. 

Resources Used

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/72983/the-devils-brother/#articles-reviews?articleId=78423

DVD Commentary by Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann. 

Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies by Randy Skretvedt