Loose Loot

When you get a law firm like that on your case, the Three Stooges have nothing to worry about in collecting their inheritance. But there's a scheme afoot to deprive them of an inheritance.

Their uncle has left them a tidy sum of money, but will executor, one Ichabod Slipp has flown the coop with their inheritance. But with Moe, Larry and Shemp on the case right will prevail, after a fashion. The culprit is played by character actor Kenneth MacDonald.

It's a chase on a train to get MacDonald and the boys get themselves tangled up with a zoo lion being shipped God knows where. And their final showdown with MacDonald is classic, all three of them eventually bring him down.

Love the Stooges, but I certainly do love the Dickensian names they give some the supporting characters in their shorts. Ichabad Slipp, indeed.

The only Shemp rehash from this period that's worth watching. Nearly as good as the original "Hold That Lion" which it borrows opening footage from. Great moments include the wild chase down the hallway as the slimey villian I. Slipp(Kenneth McDonald) along with henchmen Tom Kennedy pursue our boys. Then there is Shemp's hilarious carnival barker routine as the boys throw fruit at Slipp who's head has been jammed in a door with a chair. The rest of the remakes from this time period sucked but this is one definitely worth seeing.

This is the best of the remakes, a classic. Only the first five minutes are new footage and the next 10 minutes is stooge heaven! The new footage is hilarious and mayhem-filled. This is as good as the classic original "Hold That Lion!"(1947). From 1953-1956 many of the Shemp shorts were quite weak with some exceptions. This is one of the exceptions. I also find this to be the best of the remakes because in most of the remakes, only a 1/3 of the short was new footage.

Grade: A

LOOSE LOOT is a latter day Three Stooges short, and it's recommended as a satisfying never-ending assault of physical slapstick and insanity for all fans of the comedy trio! The first half begins with Moe, Larry and Shemp (in re-used older footage from 1947's HOLD THAT LION!) being conned out of their inheritance money by the shifty Ichabod Slip (Kenneth MacDonald), so the Stooges plot to confront the crook at a dance theater to get back their cash in the second half (which is all new 1950's footage matched to flow with the old). This is just nonstop and cartoonish madness from start to finish, as the Stooges mercilessly beat the tar out of MacDonald, who must have been paid well enough to endure such rough but comical abuse! I have always been impressed at the way Columbia managed to synchronize older and newer footage together, and in this case you could never tell unless you had already seen HOLD THAT LION!. *** out of ****

Ah yes, the old "Stooge Decline," where the new fangled television sets are killing off the 2-reeler business (if it wasn't dead already) and Jules White has to go "stock footage" crazy.

All that being said, there are a few of these recycled dogs that are average or above that; hell a few might improve on the original. "Loose Loot" comes close to being as classic as "Hold that Lion." It certainly is the best one coming from these waning years of the Shemp trio...