Crash Goes the Hash

The 2nd funniest short besides Disorder in the Court and You Nazty spy. Curly, Larry and Moe portray three Reporters working for Fuller Bull and for a $100 bonus. To get a review of the Prince of Ubeedarn, The stooges pretends to be Cooks and Butlers. Only to find out the prince is a crook and has him arrested. The widowed socialite chooses to marry Curly instead of the Prince.

Crash Goes the Hash (1944)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Here's an often hilarious short, which finds the Three Stooges being hired as reporters and their job is to sneak into the home of a rich woman and snap a picture of the Prince who is rumored to be about to propose. Of course, with Moe, Larry and Curly nothing is going to go right.

I'm a little surprised that this short doesn't have a much better reputation because it contains non-stop laughs from the opening sequence to the final seconds. There's really not a minute that goes by that doesn't feature at least one laugh and there are several very big ones scattered throughout the running time. One of the most hilarious sequences comes with the boy's cook a turkey, which comes back to life when a real bird gets inside it. Another terrific joke deals with Curly "picking up" some ice. Fans of the series will certainly love this one.

The Three Stooges often took potshots at high society, and this was their best attempt at doing so. To do this, not only did the Stooges themselves need to act like crass buffoons, but just as necessary were the supporting parts of upper class people to react to the Stooges' antics. Watch their reactions in the lemonade and turkey scenes (which are too funny to spoil here!), and you'll see what I mean. I almost lost it when the butler told the boys that they "reminded (him) of The Three Stooges".

As noted in the trivia section, Curly suffered the first of his disabling strokes toward the end of production of this short, and it shows in the scene he filmed after (the opening scene). But he did some great work elsewhere, and you would never guess how sick he was. It just shows what a genius he was, right up to the end.

If I had to pick a favorite stooge film, this would be it. Nonstop chuckles from the start to finish. And I also believe this to be the first time the stooges use the timeless "bird walkin' inside a turkey" gag, that would be hilariously reused in another classic "Three Dark Horses".

10/10

Actually not one of their best, but certainly not their worst either. Curly in his last role pre-strokes (all but one scene anyway), and the last short with the "4th Stooge" Bud Jameson. While never a Stooge, Jameson, along with Christine McIntyre, Vernon Dent, and Emil Sitka were just as vital to the Stooges success over the years as the 6 Three Stooges themselves. One of the few shorts where they actually are heroes and not running away. A common theme for the boys is to get into trouble via a case of mistaken identity, cause trouble for high society, and anytime the bird in a bird gag is on screen, you're bound to laugh out loud. Definitely worth the time to watch.