Soup to Nuts

I first caught this movie at four a.m. one night and found it to be insane, pure insanity. The first half hour or so is pretty slow and not very funny, but full of shouting and sight gags. But things get going when the Stooges (with Shemp, of course) go to a restaurant and annoy the waiter. Then their peformance at a firemen's ball is a lot of fun and starts the movie with some good laughs that continue as the Stooges try to fight a blazing fire. A lot of the Stooge elements of later shorts can be found here (the fixed coin tosses, the slapping, the big fat lady) but the movie doesn't focus enough on the Stooges' personalities to create the hard laughs that the shorts have, and the lackluster performances by the supporting cast cause this movie to lag at times. But the slap fight between Shemp and Moe is hilarious.

Well, folks, I dunno' . . . maybe I'm just a little nutty myself, but I really like this film. For the record, I also like the movie "Meet the Baron" and a couple of the Fox Laurel & Hardy movies; on the other hand I think "Dancing Lady" is very BORING, and I think "Swing Parade" is BEYOND boring and a terrible waste of talent, especially in the finale. So that's where I stand...

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The story moves along briskly with one colorful character popping up after another, with the jokes doggedly marching along. If you don't like one gag, you'll laugh at the next—well, smile anyway... Happily enough, there are indeed a number of Rube Goldberg's "inventions" on display throughout the film.

The Three Stooges appear suddenly in the first instant of the first live-action shot of the movie, and the whole scene is very funny. They sing and do the sand-bag routine (later reprised in the 1950s on the Ed Wynn Show. Here it is more logically framed and much better timed with a stronger ending). I find Ted Healey very charming and funny, too. His girlfriend Queenie (Frances McCoy) is perfect: darling and hilarious, and remains one of the great mysteries of film--absolutely nobody seems to know whatever happened to her!

There is actually quite a lot of Stooges, and they have as merry madcap a fire department you could please. If you think of the movie being in 3 parts, they are in two-thirds of the film.

The quality of the Fox 2005 reprinting is GREAT, both image and sound. Imagine: a 1930 movie that no one cared about, saved at the last minute and looking so good. OK, it's just not a "great" film, so 7 stars out of 10; but the restoration is 9.99 stars. (One curiosity is that the end music is quite long, but there is no picture!)

We should be so lucky to see the Laurel & Hardy movies again in such pristine condition. Hallmark should be shot.

"Soup To Nuts" marks the debut of the legendary comedy team the Three Stooges. Here, the Stooges are comprised of Larry, Moe, and Shemp. Along for the ride is a fourth comic, a gentleman named Fred Sanborn, who's silent character is reminiscent of Harpo Marx. It suggests some Marxian thought may have gone into this, though I have no proof of this.

The plot is a bit of nonsense involving a costume shop that is swimming in red ink, and how Ted & the Stooges will save it. The Stooges are nominal firemen, while Healy works at the store. Everyone else, save for actor Charles Winniger, have been lost to time. Considering the year this is being done (1930), they're not too, too bad. Still, if you're looking for "Citizen Kane"-style performances, you've come to the wrong place.

Allow me to say something about Ted Healy. Most people have the impression that Healy was some kind of monster figure who the Stooges had to break free of. Yet something is wrong here. On one hand, the Stooges never spoke negatively of Healy after his passing, and they all worked in Hollywood for 40 more years. In addition, one can see little spots in their work with Healy that indicate some of the Stooges later routines were already in use during their Healy days. This seems to indicate that Healy had some sort of talent for at least devising comic material, if not for delivering it. This film may do little to redeem him as a comic, though you may see it different. However, if you are to believe some of the plaudits handed down to the man by others, then it is clear that we may be missing something regarding this man.

Hope you enjoy the film!

This curio represents the nuttiness of famed cartoonist of a century ago Rube Goldberg, who co-wrote the movie and has some of his zany inventions featured. Its early talkie era technique is static and dated, but there are so many gags included that some are bound to amuse.

Ted Healy is featured with his Three Stooges, numbering Shemp, Moe (his stage name is Harry at this point) and Larry, no Curly in the group. A fourth stooge is played silent (a la Harpo in the Marx clan) by Fred Sanborn, who has memorably bushy eyebrows, is very short and throw in effeminate moves in his pantomime routine Sanborn even has a featured shtick playing the xylophone while he dances.

. The other three stooges do physical shtick and also provide a harmonized (barbershop quartet style) singing that is well-done and I don't recall being exploited in their later films.

It's clearly not up to the standard of the Marx Brothers classics, or even those popular RKO vehicles for the team of Wheeler & Woolsey, but it's still fun to watch and intentionally makes very little sense.

Probably the only reason anyone watches this today is to see the first film appearance of The Three Stooges; and any viewer looking for Stoogic brilliance will necessarily be disappointed. But taken on its own terms, there's a good deal to appreciate in this bizarre little number. The attempt to translate Rube Goldberg's comics to a cinematic format results in some hilarious moments. There are also some big laughs from a comedian named Freddy Sanborne, who ludicrously overplays his role as a gay slapstick fireman (this movie was made prior to the Hayes Code, when the character's obvious homosexuality was permissible comedy fodder). The Stooges themselves are disappointing. Their number included Shemp at this time (this was PRE-Curly), and Larry gets more dialog than Moe. They generate a few nyuks, but if you're after great Stooge viewing, you've come to the wrong place. I give this one 6 stars out of 10.