If a Body Meets a Body

Well, I'm sure very ardent stooge fan knows the story behind this particular short. The first one where it's painfully obvious Curly was not his old self--given that he suffered a stroke or possibly multiple strokes when this 2-reeler was filmed.

Whatever the case may be, anyone with eyes can see that Curly is definitely "off." And yet--in spite of that--I still like this one. One plus to the "Sick Curly" era is that this is when Larry's character started getting more development for the first time in years, and old "porcupine" really steps up his game during this time period.

Plus, even Curly at half-strength still beats most comedians in their prime & old Jerry was still capable of getting laughs--i.e. that hilarious backwards jump he does in reaction to poor Mr. Link being murdered on the very spot he was standing.

8 stars

Larry, Curly, and Moe are poor unemployed men. Larry reads in the newspaper that Curly Q. Link is being sought as the heir to a $3 million inheritance from his dead uncle's estate. They arrive at the mansion to attend the reading of the will. The police detective reveals that the uncle was murdered and his body has disappeared. Then the lawyer is killed and the will gets stolen.

This turns into a murder mystery type. With the Stooges, it's always going to be a Scooby Doo mystery. I would have liked more slapstick. The potential is there. It could have been more. It's also only a short which is nowhere long enough to do what this genre wants to do.

I always had a very low opinion of this one;it's been slightly softened by repeated viewings but t his is still an inferior remake of THE LAUREL&HARDY MURDER CASE(1930)----and that one was ruined by turning out to be a dream.

The Tex Avery cartoon WHO KILLED WHO?

No doubt re-activated interest in Fred Kelsey;whose casting here as the "house dick" is t he film's one stroke of genius.

Moe and Larry are reader to kick Curly out of their crummy flat for serving "horseshoe soup" until they find out he might be in line to collect millions. They arrive in t he middle of a driving thunderstorm(when don't they?) and find out they and other relatives are staying indefinitely until the Uncle's murder is solved/

Some funny scenes at the end where corpses keep turning in the hiding places the Stooges pick for themselves.

It isn't the creepy butler but the creepy housemaid(in drag) who is guilty.

And yes,somebody says "I hope you have a nice,LONG sleep". Sadly,Curly looks like he IS.

Jules White, the overall head of Columbia Pictures short film unit, never admitted Curly's condition to Bernds before he was given the Stooges assignment. In the Stooges previously released movie, August 1945's "If a Body Meets a Body," filmed in mid-March 1945, White directed the comedy where Curly stands to inherit money from his late uncle Bob O. Link. The script of Jack White's, brother of Jules, sees the Stooges attending the reading of the will at his late rich uncle's house, only to discover the lawyer was killed before he had a chance to unveil its contents. Forced to spend the night in the mansion by the detective investigating the murder, the Stooges experience several hair-raising incidents, including an escaped caged bird walking around with a skull over its body.

For the first time a slower version of the Stooges' 'Three Blind Mice' is heard in the opening credits of "If a Body Meets a Body."This would introduce the Stooges short films until 1948. The version is identified as the "ill Curly" arrangement, denoting the period when Shemp Howard-Moe and Curly's real brother-was a temporary replacement for Curly until the comic was healed, which never happened. Curly barely got any recuperation time after he left the hospital in January 1945. Realizing how profitable the Stooges short films were, Cohn insisted they resume filming shortly after Curly's hospital discharge. Finally seeing Curly's condition, the studio head gave them five months off between August 1945 until January 1946. But the Stooges decided to give a two-month live performance during the break, wearing out the ailing Curly even further.

Any Three Stooges fan will tell you that watching Curly Howard's last ten shorts is as painful as root canal. By 1945, Curly was in trouble. He was just getting involved with a young lady named Marion Buchsbaum, whom he married on October 17, 1945, after knowing her for only two weeks. This was Curly's third and most disastrous marriage. He was way overweight, and his blood pressure was too high. When Curly suffered a minor stroke in 1945, it knocked the energy out of him. He would never be the same after this stroke. His actions are rehearsed and nothing came natural to him anymore. IF A BODY MEETS A BODY was a `transitional' short. Curly had been slipping and sliding for a while, but IF A BODY MEETS A BODY is the first time that Curly truly could not hide his condition. The plot revolves around Curly, whose rich Uncle Bob O. Link has died and left Curly an inheritance. The Stooges must then go to the uncle's home to hear the reading of the will. Unfortunately, the will is stolen, and the boys must stay in the home until it is found. The short has some truly funny moments, but it does not take a rocket scientist to realize that Curly is not himself. His condition had crept to the surface occasionally during the previous two Stooge films, IDIOTS DELUXE and BOOBY DUPES. If you watch IDIOTS DELUXE and IF A BODY MEETS A BODY back to back, Curly's change is not as noticeable. Curly's voice is the first sure sign that he had had his stroke. Right from his first line, `the morbid, the merrier,' his accompanying `n'yuks' are strained, and we know there is something wrong. His actions were a little more sluggish, and it marks the start of his gradual downward spiral. What makes this short harder to watch is that much of the action is focused on Curly, except he could not carry the film. Just watch him in 1943's SPOOK LOUDER two years earlier, and the change stands out. Curly tries a few `woos woos' and `nyahs,' as if nothing was wrong. However, he had only begun to lose his grip in this short; here is still some of the old Curly left, but in spurts. For instance, when Ted Lorch says, `Poor Mr. Link, he was murdered in this room, on the very spot on which you're standing,' Curly is strung high over the set to perform a high jump. It is one of the few hysterical moments in the short. It is also the only post-stroke short where it is a true mix of up and down Curly. It looks as if certain scenes were shot during the same period as IDIOTS DELUXE, as Curly still sounds like his old self in certain scenes. However, every short after this would feature a down Curly: it was just a matter of how down he was.