Rumpus in the Harem

1953 would mark the slow, but steady decent of Stooge films due to budget restrictions, an over-reliance on stock footage, and just the general waning popularity of the short-film medium. But this "film" reaches a whole new low, with Shemp having passed on to stooge heaven (I wonder if Uncle Mortimer let him in :]), Moe & Larry had to suffer through this first of four films with the immortal "Fake Shemp". Mix in a good batch of recycled footage & you end up with 16 minutes that will almost make you appreciate Joe Besser and talking horses (almost).

Grade: F

The first Three Stooges short after Shemp's death, and this is a remake of MALICE IN THE PALACE (1949) with Joe Palma doubling for Shemp (with his back faced toward the camera to hide his face) in the new footage. This remake was terrible. The new footage was weak and poorly written and acted. And Joe Palma doubling for Shemp was pathetic. It was so obvious that wasn't Shemp from the first moment the back of the double's head appeared on screen. Who's idea was this? I feel the Stooges should've just called it quits after Shemp died. The Palma/Shemp's are embarrasing, and the later shorts with Joe Besser are terrible. Plus, it wasn't worth it for Moe to go on with the pain after losing TWO of his brothers in just 3 years. That must've been sad.

The fact that Columbia Pictures and the bossman at the time, Harry Cohn, actually put Moe Howard and Larry Fine into a position where they had to make a film with Shemp's name and face in the opening credits, even though Shemp had passed on is incredible--and not in a good way.

I get that Moe & Larry were under contract & Cohn wanted to keep cranking out stooge shorts, no matter what--but could the guys get some damn time off to grieve. Apparently not.

And then there's Joe Palma as the immortal "Fake Shemp." An idea that was doomed from the very start, but somehow they still made this short and then made 3 more after this with the "Bogus Shemp." What's wrong with this film--just about everything to be honest. The original "Malice in the Palace" was great, but I find it hard to enjoy the reused footage from that short here in "Rumpus" given the circumstances.

Moe and Larry certainly deserved better.

Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard are in The Orient (The middle east). Their girlfriends rush into their room in need of money or else they could be sold by the Sultan. The boys run a restaurant, but don't have the money. Criminals have a map to a 100 carrot diamond. There is a curse for the person who touches the jewel first and they convince the Stooges to retrieve it. It turns out that the Emir of Shmow has already taken it. The Stooges go to steal it back dressed as three Santas.

I always prefer Curly Stooge to Shemp Stooge. There is a weird silliness to all the Arabian nights costumes. It only gets more random when they dress up as Santas. Are they trying to make a religious take with Christmas or is it a clash of cultures? Maybe they just had the Santa costumes handy. It's another weird nonsense turn that kinda works. The puppy is also kinda funny. I would like for the boys to have a dumpier restaurant which would be funnier. This is good for a Shemp Stooge short.

RUMPUS IN THE HAREM (1956) is an okay remake of MALICE IN THE PALACE (1949)but it still could've been better. Columbia didn't choose the best possible double for Shemp. The new footage at the beginning is okay, but it's hard to hear what their girlfriends are saying because of their weeping. And I didn't like the scene where the harem girls are beating up Moe and Larry. The only new scene I really liked was when the guard is chasing Shemp's double. They even dubbed in some scenes where Shemp is screaming. But it's obviously a double when Shemp is jumping out the window because they got lazy and didn't dub in Shemp screaming. The double screamed instead. But there's enough of the old footage to have a good laugh!

Grade: B-