Spook Louder

The Stooges are hired by a wacky professor to watch his mansion. He apparently is working on a death ray and is worried the Japanese* want to steal it. As soon as he leaves, all sorts of weirdness happen in the place...with someone trying to scare them off by dressing like a skeleton and more. And, oddly, throughout the film pies come flying from out of nowhere! It's all very goofy and silly...which is exactly what most Three Stooges fans love. While it is far from being an intellectual film, it does have its moments.

By the way, if you do watch this one, note the butler. He's played by Charles Middleton--the same tall guy who was Ming the Merciless in the Buck Rogers serials.

*First, the US was at war with the Germans, Japanese and Italians....so why worry just about the Japanese? Second, politically correct sorts won't like the use of the term 'Japs'...which is used repeatedly.

Spook Louder (1943)

*** (out of 4)

A reporter goes to interview Professor Dunkfeather (Lew Kelly) who tells him about two separate cases, all involving the Stooges. One involves the boys going around trying to sell weight reducing machines. The next has the boys inside a spooky house where a skeleton, a devil and another man tries to scare them.

SPOOK LOUDER isn't the greatest short in the world but there's no doubt that fans of the Stooges should enjoy what humor there is. I'd say the weakest stuff deals with the Dunkfeather character as there's really no humor to be found here. The first story contains a couple decent laughs but the highlight is certainly when the three manage to finally get a buyer only to have Curly mess it up. The majority of the laughs come from the second portion of the film as the boys are running around scared of just about everything that jumps out at them. There are some really funny moments to be found here including one where Curly keeps getting punch by someone behind a book shelf.

I recall an extremely cold February afternoon. I went over to Freddie's house to mess around and read the playboy magazines his Father has stashed away. Obviously Freddie's folks went to some party and we thought the house was ours but to our surprise Freddie's Mom at the last minute hired a baby sitter to watch his two younger siblings. The babysitter wasn't very friendly and wanted to corner the only color set in the living room. We were mad that she took over our territory so we went outside and decided to harass her. Throwing crab apples on the roof and ringing the front door bell while hiding in the adjacent bushes. Just an all out onslaught against the helpless sitter. SPOOK LOUDER is definitely my favorite of all the Three Stooges shorts. Our story begins with what appears to be a young impressionable reporter (Stanley Brown) hearing a tale about three master salesman (The Stooges) peddling a weight reduction machine to would be house wives from the lips of Professor Dunkfeather (Lew Kelly) narration. The deplorable Professor is interrupted by the inquiring hack as to what does selling a weight machine have to do with the story? Our eccentric story teller continues spinning a goofy yarn how our Three Stooges stumble upon a mansion. They meet the owner of this spacious dwelling Inventor deluxe,Mr. Graves (Theodore Lorch) as they are instantly hired as caretakers. While the inventor Mr. Graves has to travel to Washington. Foul play ensues outside unbeknownst to the three newly hires. The foils enter the house in Halloween garb and try to scare off Moe Larry and Curly. Chase scenes, balloons, prat falls and plenty of pies get thrown at crucial parts of this comedy. Just a funny collection of non- stop comedy only the Stooges could provide. Plenty of belly laughs in this unforgettable short. I grade this 8 nyuk nyuks. Who threw those pies? I threw the crab apples!

This Three Stooges "movie" is broken into three segments: 1 - a newspaper man goes to interview a "Professor Denkfeather," who is a "special investigator. He tells the story of the three "heroes;" 2 - The boys are seen as door-to-door salesmen, selling "reducing machines" to housewives; and 3 - the wind up at a deserted house miles away but three spies, dressed in costumes, try to scare them off.

Everyone is very odd in this film. The investigator is very weird and is the man behind the big question of "Who threw those pies?" The women that the Stooges encounter while trying to see their wares. Finally, the owner of the house where the spies are hiding outside, dressed as a skeleton, the Devil, and just some dark-clothed-hairy monster.

This is one of those episodes - as are a few others in this DVD of the same title ("Spook Louder" - in which only the last 4-6 involve what the title implies. The best comedy bit was with Curly and the balloon inadvertently attached to the back of his sport coat. The reactions on Curly's face are what help make him a comic genius.

Overall, a decent Stooges effort but not as good as advertised.

Scriptwriters for the Three Stooges dug deep in their memory holes to dig up comedy skits of the past to give the comedy team material to work with. Early film historians can trace some of the Stooges' brilliant routines from past movies. A prime example is April 1943's "Spook Louder," set in an old dark house where the boys are scared every second by disguised enemy spies dressed in Halloween costumes intent on capturing a top scientist's 'Death Ray.' Film reviewer Dave Sindelar notes, "The Stooges had a way of packing a whole movie's worth of gags into a seventeen minute short, and this one is great fun." One of the key mysteries in "Spook Louder" is why and who is throwing pies at the Stooges and the professor who relates the tale to a reporter of the trio's adventures. Diligent research reveals the answer to the mysterious pie throwing can be traced to the 1931 Mack Sennett comedy, 'The Great Pie Mystery,' with Harry Gribbon and May Boley. Writer Clyde Bruckman, who had a habit of modifying older movie gags for the Stooges, was credited for adopting the pie-in-the-face gag into the story of their night in the inventor's house. Coincidentally, Del Lord directed both the Sennett film and "Spook Louder." The Stooges open "Spook Louder" as weight reduction machine salesmen who knock on the door on the house of an inventor who's planning to drum up interest of his a 'death-ray' machine to government officials in Washington, D. C. His butler answering the door is played by actor Charles Middleton in his only Stooges' film. Fans of the "Flash Gordon" serials will recognize him as Ming the Merciless. Meanwhile the inventor is acted by Ted Torch, who played the High Priest in the same Flash Gordon serial. The inventor asks the three to housesit for the weekend while he's away in D. C. That evening, three spies, intent on stealing the machine, go about scaring the Stooges. Writer Bruckman sketched the gag showing Curly unknowingly tethered to a balloon with a face drawn on it. The balloon, hooked onto the back of his sweater, frightens everyone he meets, a skit taken from Harry Langdon's 1929 comedy film "The Big Kick." The movie is also the first to show Moe's hair rising when scared.