Raine-8

"Income Tax Sappy" is a gem of a short. Everybody's performance in this is as great as ever and almost all the gags are top notch. The premise: The stooges decide they can cheat on their income tax in ingenious ways and conclude that if they can do it, they can teach others to do it too. With this new "tax-cheating" establishment, the Stooges become rich culminating in a VERY fancy dinner party which their guest, Mr. Cash (played by the wonderful Benny Rubin) attends much to his eventual consternation (it is not wise to cut off your dinner guest's beloved beard). Among the funniest gags: Shemp doing the old "Human adding machine" bit, Moe tangling with a foot-long sandwich which suddenly develops a mind of its own and bites back, and all the Stooges' attempts to appease Mr. Cash (not to mention conceal the fact that they have given him a close shave) who finally reveals himself to be an undercover man from the IRS! If you love the Stooges, this short will leave you in stitches!

Many Curly fans are disappointed with his 1945-46 performances during which his health got worse and worse to the point where he was no longer his old energetic self. However, his performance in this is as good as one could hope for (no one can play a maharajah better than Curly!) and fans of Curly and the stooges in general would love this short (which I consider to be their best of 1946). The plot: The stooges are sailors who wind up in ancient times and are sentenced to death by the ruler. Luckily, lady Rita is there to help them escape. Using their wits (disguising Curly as a maharajah) and their fighting abilities (they later face a band of cutthroat pirates who challenge them to a game of knife-throwing), they are eventually victorious. As mentioned, Curly's performance in this is just wonderful and there are memorable sight gags throughout. I consider this and "Fuelin' Around" to be director Edward Bernds's best Stooges shorts. RECOMMENDED

In this short (another the Stooges did that makes blatant fan of Hitler), the Stooges are fix-it men who are assigned to repair the wiring at a mansion which is actually the hideout of a group of Nazis. The Stooges are their usual inept selves particularly when they try to find the trouble by sending Curly to scale a telephone pole resulting in some of the most violent scenes ever filmed by the Stooges (Moe and Larry apply a pipe wrench to Curly's nose and press his nose against a revolving grindstone; Curly accidentally stabs Moe in the scalp, ear, and (gulp!) eye (shudder!); Moe burns Curly's rear with a blow torch; Curly is electrocuted by the wires to the point where they can light up a light bulb by sticking it in his ear). Eventually, though, their ineptness leads to victory on their behalf when they destroy the house, foul up the Nazi's directions over their air radio, and generally render the Nazis incapable. Very funny stuff, if you can stomach the over-the-top violence in this one (the spike in the eye bit repulses almost everyone who watches it). RECOMMENDED