Ants in the Pantry

Ants in the Pantry (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The Three Stooges are working as exterminators but when business is slow they decide to plant the insects themselves, which just leads to trouble. All the jokes here are rather hit and miss with most of them being misses but this short is still pretty entertaining. There's a "cut the hards" scenes, which was borrowed from the Marx Brothers but it's pretty funny here as is another scene where the boys start a dance after a guy gets a mouse down his back.

Now available on Columbia's 2-disc set, which features over 20 shorts, all remastered.

This pretty good Three Stooges short has them as pest exterminators under threat of losing their job if they do not "drum up" business; to this end, they infest a house in a posh quarter with mice and all kinds of bugs – so that they can then offer their services to rid the upper-class owners of the 'problem'! While the central idea could hardly fail to be entertaining (given also that the landlady's throwing a party and doesn't want her snobbish guests to become aware of the unhealthy environment inside her house), having watched a number of these Stooges shorts, it's becoming increasingly evident that not only the boys' routines are repeated from one film to the next but even the backdrops against which they're set! That said, it's a likable enough vehicle – with, thankfully, a restrained Curley…and an especially cute scene in which a bagful of kittens is hidden inside a piano, which starts playing 'by itself' when a celebrated performer sits down to give a recital! By the way, director White used the pseudonym Preston Black for this one (and a few more Stooges titles from the first Columbia set).

Larry, Curly, and Moe are the incompetent workers at the failing Lightning Pest Control Co. They plant pests in a mansion and get themselves hired. The mansion is holding a high class party and they have to work without being noticed. Of course, nothing goes right and the boys unleash chaos.

I'm surprised that Curly didn't get a concussion even if the hammer is rubber. The cats in the piano is a funny new bit although I wouldn't have the party goers laugh. It's always funnier if they're horrified. It does take the premise to a whole different place and that's some good hilarity. The fox hunt does feel like an add-on. It may be better to end the story at the mansion.

My wife has always said she hates the Three Stooges. However, one day I was watching "Ants in the Pantry" and I caught my wife laughing at the boys' antics. I don't think I'll ever let her forget this! So this means that even a non-Stooge fan will probably like this one.

The boys are working for a pest control company but business has been slow. So their boss tells them to drum up business or they're fired. So, they take a suitcase full of moths, mice, ants and other vermin and they being releasing it in some rich folks' home so they'll call for exterminators!

This is one of the funnier film by the trio...as it's quite original and filled with laughs. Seeing the Stooges putting mice on people and ants on cakes and the like is pretty funny on a visceral level. And, while it sounds pretty dumb, watching Larry smacking everything with a hammer is good for a few laughs...as well as Curly eating that 'poppy seed cake'. Great fun.

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 is one of My favorite Three Stooges shorts with Curly! All Appearing in this short are Clara Kimball Young, Douglas Gerrard, Lynton Brent, Bobby Burns, Phyllis Crane, Lew Davis, Charles Dorety, Idalyn Dupre, Harrison Greene, Althea Henley, Bud Jamison, Isabel La Mal, Eddie Laughton, Stella LeSaint, Helen Martinez, and James C. Morton! This one is so hilarious! Curly has a great performance here and in My opinion its one of his best. There are two others similar like this one called Pest Man Wins and Termites of 1938! I strongly recommend all three of these Three Stooges shorts!