Three Pests in a Mess

THREE PESTS IN A MESS could've match up it's plot line better. The first half of the short is great, but the second half is bad because it may be inappropriate to general audiences. Secondly, the second half of the short wanders away from the plot of the first half. Don't even bother to watch.

Grade: D+

In the Stooges' previous film, January 1945's "Three Pests in a Mess," their 83rd short in the Columbia studio's series, Del Lord was once again in the director's chair with his script in hand. It's apparent Lord loved early Laurel and Hardy comedies since many of the gags in "Three Pests in a Mess" are adapted from Stan and Oliver films, including their 1928 silent 'Habeas Corpus.' Lord copies the pair's skit when he placed Curly in the cemetery carrying what he thinks is a corpse (it's really a mannequin). Inside the bag was actor Gene Sheldon, whose arm is slapping Curly in the face and on his shoulder. Sheldon later became famous for appearing in the late-1950s Disney series 'Zorro.' Stooges regular Christine McIntyre plays a crook who tries to seduce Curly to extort what her gang of thieves mistakenly think is his bankroll. She finally realizes after stripping several shirts off him he doesn't have the the thousands of dollars her colleagues thought he had. Chased by the crooks, the Stooges barricade themselves behind a locked door, only to shoot whom they think is a person, leading them to their attempts to bury it in a local cemetery. This film is known for the audio technicians' amping up the sound effects every time one of the Stooges is hit or dishes out punishment. And the short is famous for Curly's pronouncement of "CAAALLL FOORRR PHILIIPP BLAAAACK!" a parody on the Philip Morris radio commercial heard repeatedly on the aireaves at the time.

By 1944, the studio budgets for Columbia's short-subjects department were skyrocketing and most of the shorts were made rather cheaply and some were remakes of previous entries. Despite being directed by the great Del Lord, you can tell that he really tried to inject a lot of visual gags in the short. As for the plot, it's very silly, but it flows along nicely with great supporting performances by Christine McIntyre, Vernon Dent, and Snub Pollard.

The three stooges made part of my youth time, my friends used watched it everyday as was the first time, in this episode Moe, Curly and Larry are trying to get a patent to a groundbreaking invention the fly trap, rejected by once until they get a thousand flies, they are mistaken of the lottery winner by nearby company self-called Cheatham's secretary played by the regular guest star Christina McIntyire, after they discovery all mistakes starts a chase, they killed a mannequin and trying to rid off when the police office appears, they running to a cemetery to hide, another fabulous episode from my heroes until now!!!

Resume:

First watch: 1973 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD-R / Rating: 7

Having been wanting to review this short for quite some time, I really must say that, similar to "Uncivil Warriors", there was a slight plot hole that I can't help but be unable to overlook.

The plot hole is this:

After the Stooges try to stuff the "body" into a barrel, a cop approaches them and, thinking that it's trash, tells them to take it somewhere else, only to later discover the dummy and think that it's an actual body.

The prime problem was that it never showed how the Stooges got away from the cop after he started chasing them. That, and it was easy to tell that Curly dubbed a piece of dialogue at the last minute in the moment he was taking the body out.

Other than that, though, this short was another that I found to be nonstop fun!

Taking the chairs of both writer and director, Del Lord definitely didn't stop making himself known as one of the best Three Stooges filmmakers around. The comedy throughout the short was literally nonstop hilarious and fun, and the way Lord was able to make a ridiculous concept so entertaining was astounding. Despite how unbelievable a person mistaking a dummy for an actual body would obviously seem, the premise worked perfectly as a Stooges short.

The performances of the cast were great as well. Despite Curly not maintaining the same kind of splendor he had before, he still gave quite an energetic and funny performance. Plus, it was nice to see Moe and Larry have equal time to shine, and the trio's commitment to their material and their ability to deeply be into what they're doing hardly ceased itself from amazing me.

In the end, "Three Pests in a Mess" was another fun-filled member of the Three Stooges filmography that was absolutely hilarious and entertaining. Additionally, it's one of the very best shorts of the fourth volume set, even with the slight flaw in the plot being clear as day.