Oil's Well That Ends Well

This is the third Joe Besser short I've seen. I'm starting to get familiar with Joe's much-maligned "big baby" character, and actually I find it fairly amusing. The main thing I DON'T like about this short is the very stiff, unnatural dialog -- mostly from Joe -- that's used to explain what's going on. You never saw Curly or Shemp saddled with this kind of crap. It's especially prominent at the beginning of the opening scene and the uranium-hunting scene. The boys do what they can with it, which isn't much. In my opinion it's this tendency, rather than Joe's character, that's the real problem with the Besser shorts.

This is somewhat of a remake of "Oily To Bed, Oily To Rise" (1939). What it mainly takes from that short is the "wishing" ability (originally Curly's, now given to Joe) and the scene where the oil is discovered. The original short was funnier primarily because it was written better, not so much because it was a Curly short. Curly did have his usual funny physical humor in that one, but I think the lines "I'm a successful cork!" and "I'm an unsuccessful cork!" are actually funnier in Joe's hands. Another favorite line: "Good night, mother. Wind up the cat and put out the clock." The close-ups of Joe, sitting PERFECTLY STILL while supposedly bouncing on top of a "geezer" (!) of oil, are a problem though!

This short is a somewhat remake from the Classic Curly short Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise, which was released in 1939 when the boys were hitting their prime, the stooges father is in need of a serious operation and like what happened to Curly in the aforementioned 'Rise' Joe makes a wish and it comes true, Moe tells Joe that he thinks that he's haunted and Joe says 'I'm SCAAARREEEEDDDD'.

Then the boys begin looking for uranium and there's a memorable scene when Larry and Moe get into a struggle and Moe bossing Joe around, there's a memorable line when Moe tells Joe that everytime that he thinks, he's a weak in the nation and then Joe comes to the camera and mouths some words about Moe.

Then the boys are ready to go to bed but it takes a while for them to get up there, Moe wanted both Larry and Joe to sleep on the top bunk so Moe can sleep at the bottom.

Then the boys find some oil and there's a couple a shots that had some old footage and at the end of the has Joe saying the title for the short.

Overall this short is pretty decent by Besser standards, especially compared to Hoofs and Goofs, Outer Space Jitters, Sweet and Hot and Sappy Bullfighters but still very weak compared to the below average Curly/Shemp shorts, not totally exciting but not a total waste of time.

I believe that this remake short is far better than the original short, which featured Curly. The original Curly short has a dragging opening scene in a barn, and a terrible joke in which Curly says, as the Stooges are about to drive off a cliff, "Don't look now, but I think we're about to be killed." And the battle with the bad guys is overly repetitive and unfunny. This remake, however, has a funny scene in which the Stooges search for uranium in the desert (especially funny due to Moe and Larry's scuffle), and the scene in which they try to figure out who sleeps on what bunk-bed is hilarious. This is a must-see short.

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

This one with Joe is a remake of the one with Curly called Oily To Bed, Oily to Rise. Though this one to some people isn't as good but I think it is and it definitely has its moments! Its funny and Joe does a good job here in a role very similar like Curly's in the earlier short. This one is a good one to watch!

i agree to the person that said joe was haunted.the funniest thing in that one was the bunkbed scene and i was expecting them to have a bunk accident like curly always did like in sweet pie and pie,g.i wanna go home and i can hardly wait.but it didn't and i was dissapointed.but it still has it's laughs.