Cactus Makes Perfect

Cactus Makes Perfect (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Lesser short from The Three Stooges has the boys finally moving out of their mother's house. With Curly's gold finder in hand, the trio buy a gold mine out West and head there to make their riches. CACTUS MAKES PERFECT is middle ground Stooges at best as for the most part it's pretty forgettable, although there are a few funny jokes to be had. Still, I think this short is going to appeal to fans more than just your casual viewer and if you're new to the trio then it's probably best that you start somewhere else. I think the best jokes come towards the end when the Stooges find themselves at the bottom of the mine looking for the gold. This here leads to some pretty good violence with the boys constantly hitting one another with the tools and the final showdown in the vault contain a few laughs as well. The first part of the short is pretty hit and miss but the sequence with the Stooges in front of the mirror trying to get ready at the same time worked well. Ma Stooge was actually the highlight and especially some of her mannerisms, which of course got passed down to her boys.

This Three Stooges short isn't one of the more memorable ones, except it has the boys' mom in it. Who remembers what Curly, Larry and Moe's mom looked like? Not me, and I've seen this a few times over a 50-year period.

Actually, the answer is Monty Collins, an ugly guy in drag who plays "Ma Stooge." She/he looks more like "Ma Barker!" Outside of her-him, it's a lot of standard Stooge slapstick with the boys hitting each other and a ton of sound effects. Early on the trio squeezes into a tiny bathroom and Moe shaves Curly with a straight razor, which will make you wince a few times!

Vernon Dent, a regular in the series, plays a prospector with a beard. You may not recognize him, but his voice told me who it was.

"Cactus Makes Perfect" gets some good laughs from some of the Stooges' standard material. When Curly comes up with a crackpot invention that is supposed to find gold, the trio heads out west to find a mine. It starts off a little slowly, except for some good moments with 'Ma Stooge' (played by Monte Collins) as she tries to motivate her boys, but then gets quite funny. Most of the laughs come from standard Stooges material, but their timing here is very good. Stooges fans won't be disappointed by this one.

The only problem I have with Cactus Makes Perfect is that Monte Collins leaves it too soon. Collins an actor in drag does the best Curly imitation around as he plays Ma Stooge sending her boys off into the big city to seek fame and fortune with Curly's gold finder invention.

This gold finder is some weird contraption that Curly swears will find gold in any direction it is shot in. Armed with this device that Rube Goldberg would have rejected, Moe, Larry, and Curly set off to prospect in the desert.

Naturally some equally dumb people think this thing has possibilities and in truth Curly does find some gold, nice and already minted. And like Bette Davis in The Bride Came COD, the Stooges do get involved with some cactus, hence the title.

Very nice short subject, but I do so wish Ma Stooge came back before it was over.

Larry, Curly, and Moe are lazy bums still living with their mother. Curly has a crazy gold finder invention and the boys go to the city to sell it. They buy a gold claim off a con man on the street. They head out west and can only finds cans with their gold finder. Curly stumbles upon a lost mine.

The gold mine is fine. The cactus is fine. The gold coins don't make sense. All of that is functional but I prefer the mother much more. It would have interesting to have her hit the boys non-stop for fifteen minutes. It's weirdly funny to have a female Curly.