Oil's Well That Ends Well

Whenever we are feeling rather low we put on a "Stooge" to lift our royal spirits. As a rule we avoid a selection from the Joe Besser stooge catalog. However an exception to this rule is made for this film in which Joe's comedic talents shine like Excalibur. From his frustrated squealings of "I wanna tell you somethiinnnggg" and "I need hellllppp" when trying to climb into the bunk bed to his belly bouncing of Larry he is at his best. As some of the reviews from the commoners have noted ad infinitum this is a "sort of" remake of an earlier stooge film but what of it? Rise Sir Joe of Besser..we are amused!

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!

I consider nearly every Besser stooge short to be a complete throwaway, but this is an exception imo, and it's all due to everyone's favorite middleman, Larry. For whatever reasons during this time period, Porcupine seems to give it his all in this particular episode, more than making up for the man-child antics of Joe, and playing brilliantly of Moe during the outdoor scenes when the 2 stooges are mining for uranium. Too bad that this rare bit of actual "comedy" from the 57-58 preiod couldn't have been their last short instead of the sh**-fest that is "Sappy Bullfighters".

Grade: B+

One of latest shows of The Three Stooges and Joe Besser is great replacing Curly and Shemp, they receives a message from the bankrupt father asking to them some help, they headed to his father's ranch searching for Uranium, at cottage they have they great funniest scene in this short on a bunkbed at sleep time, another was on the rocks when Moe and Larry were handling with the dynamite to explode when Joe tries warning Moe for something, Moe doesn't wants to hear nothing, then Joe sit down on ignition key, what a blast, later they find...well see by yourself, unfortunately just few shows went to sales on official DVD, they easily could put the whole catalogue on sale to an small dealer, in my opinion it has a strong market to explore!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD-R / Rating: 7

Joe Besser "The Wishing Wizard" gets everything he wants in this remake of "Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise" with Curly Howard as third Stooge. This film does not rank anywhere near the original in greatness, but it's good in it's own right. The fact that so much material was taken from Curly's version really stands out. There are plenty of new things, though. Highlights include Moe and Larry's interactions at the uranium digging site and the bunk-bed scene, (almost like no other Stooge bunk-bed scene before it).

It's interesting how in the first scene, Moe is unusually passive and Larry is the aggressive one. It's like they exchange characters! I don't mind seeing Larry that way once in a while, but Moe has to be Moe!