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MEN IN BLACK
THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS
d. Raymond McCarey, 1934
11 August 2009
Thank Hollywood for shorts and serials. On nights when there isn't much time for viewing, The Old Dark Arthouse can still screen a short or serial episode. And what better way to revisit the project, begun back in January, of screening all The Three Stooges shorts and films chronologically? (Plus, we must confess, all those European films recently purchased in the Deep Discount sale are tempting us away from the project of watching 1930s films exclusively. The Three Stooges are an effective remedy for this.)
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MEN IN BLACK is the third Stooges short, and one of the classics. MEN IN BLACK has the rapid pace and numerous props and sets of a well-financed 1930s comedy short. Dialogue is so fast that there is time for several running gags, including the oft-used "breaking the same glass door over and over" gag which would turn up in later Stooges shorts as well as many, many other comedies over the years.
The higher budgets are also evidenced by the number of other comic performers appearing in Stooges shorts during the mid-30s. They encounter a dizzy nurse, befuddled telegram messenger, and a lunatic, all performed by nameless comics no doubt with the same Vaudeville roots as the Stooges, possibly even friends of theirs. What a plum project it would be to identify and document all these comics.
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One of the more memorable non-human comics in a Stooges short.
"Calling Doctor Howard! Doctor Fine! Doctor Howard!"
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MEN IN BLACK is good Larry Watching, too. (We'll go into Larry Watching in a future post.)
Larry gets in a wonderful look in this shot. While Moe prepares to slap Curley for flirting with the nurse, Larry makes a move on her. Just look at the face he's making! It's like a more sinister Harpo leer.
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THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS has the distinction of providing an early role for the young Lucille Ball. She's the blonde on the left.
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