Three Arabian Nuts

Granted, the 3 Stooges without Curly are, for the most part, not worth watching. However, Three Arabian Nuts manages quite well. If you are a Shemp fan (you sick person!) then you must get this one.

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!

One of the most different Three Stooges shorts is Three Arabian Nuts. In this short are Vernon Dent, Philip Van Zandt, Dick Curtis, and Wesley Bly. The acting by these actors are good especially by Zandt and Curtis. There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts. I strongly recommend this one!

The most pronounced feature in this Three Stooges short might be the sound effects. They are everywhere, especially with broken china noise. Clanks, bonks, yeoows, poofs, glass breaking, heads breaking....probably a hundred different sounds. Don't watch this one if you have a headache because it's loud.

The humor highlight is the last five minutes in which we have a Stooges favorite - a chase scene through a hall and several rooms. Innocent people like "Mr. Bradley" (Vernon Dent, who was on a million of these shows), along with the Stooges and two Arabian thieves all take their lumps - big-time.

The key part of the story is a genie appearing from a magic lamp. The Stooges call him "genius" instead of "genie." Shemp later calls him "Amos," which sounds a bit racial. Shemp accidentally rubs the lamp and gets the first wish. Not being too bright, Shemp asks for a new suit. Larry proves to be even dumber when he gets a free wish and Moe looks even dumber than the other two guys.

Anyway, without going into all the details, this Stooges effort started a bit weak but finished very strong. The line that made me laugh out loud was Shemp saying, "I suppose you think I'm scared" after we see his heart literally bouncing around inside his shirt. (It's better seen than described). Also, only in the Stooges can a guy (Moe) deliberately pour scalding coffee on a person's hand (Larry) and make it funny.

Stupid? Yes, but these guys are still funny and probably will make people laugh 100 years from now.

I think this short sets the record for number of uses of the broken glass sound effect. A classic 1951 effort by Edward Bernds--but then again, with one big exception (Merry Mavericks), Mr. Bernds didn't direct a bad short during his tenure with Moe, Larry and Shemp.

And I'll state that I don't mind Shemp calling the Genius of the Lamp "Amos." Believe me, when it comes to portrayals of African-Americans in old movies, I've seen much worse.

That image of Shemp in his zoot suit also ranks as one of Shemp's greatest stooge moments. And, the short is aided by the always welcome presence of exasperated straightman, Vernon Dent.

Overall--if you like Shemp--then "Three Arabian Nuts" should definitely be up your alley.

9/10