Gentalha

Hoi Holloi (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Trading Places for its day finds two rich men making a bet that one can turn some bums into smart gentlemen. The three men turn out to be the Three Stooges and they get their shot at a fancy party. There are some good laughs here including a scene where Larry loses his shoe on the dance floor but overall this is a pretty standard short. I did notice that the sound effects were heavily used here for the first time.

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

"Hoi Polloi" was excellently done, the party scene is hilarious, and so is the rest of the episode. I love the part when the stooges read and Curly and Larry pretty much goof up the story.

Overall: A

Note: This was later remade as "Half-Wits Holiday"(1947) which would be Curly's last time he would ever be a stooge.

"Hoi Polloi" could be regarded as the first classic film of the Three Stooges series. The Stooges play trash collectors who are selected by two professors to be the determining factor to a bet. One professor says that heredity determines social position; the other claims that environment makes gentlemen. The environment professor tries to make gentlemen out of the Stooges, and the usual chaos ensues!

"Hoi Polloi" delivers solid laughs and a good storyline. Helen Howard, Moe's wife, is now credited with giving the basic storyline to Felix Adler, who received credit for the story at the time the film was released.

This basic plot was reworked as "Half-Wit's Holiday," Curly's last starring Stooge film, in May 1946. Some elements of "Hoi Polloi" appeared in post-Curly Stooge films; most of the plot was remade with Joe Besser in the Stooge film "Pies and Guys" (1958); the spring gag was used by Joe DeRita in "Have Rocket Will Travel" (1959). These reworkings, while not as good as the 1935 original, reflect the quality of the story and the humor found in making gentlemen of stooges.

A total romp. 10 out of 10.

Another great show with lines I've quoted since I was a kid. "Does the deer have a little doe?"...

Although not the funniest, this remains a "classic" Three Stooges film, one you never forget. The story, used a number of times not only in Stooges films but in famous feature films like "My Fair Lady" is the idea of trying to totally transform someone. Here, it's Curly, Larry and Moe.

The three guys try to answer the question two rich guys debate: heredity or environment? Which has the most influence. They wind up betting $10,000 (a ton of money back then) on the outcome with the Stooges as the subject matter.

There are a lot of classic slapstick sight gags here in the last 10 minutes when the boys have to strut their stuff at a big hoi-polloi-type affair. I thought the best gag was the Curly trying to dance with a big, fat woman who kept knocking him down, only to have him spring back up. (Well.....you have to see it.)