If a Body Meets a Body

Well, I'm sure very ardent stooge fan knows the story behind this particular short. The first one where it's painfully obvious Curly was not his old self--given that he suffered a stroke or possibly multiple strokes when this 2-reeler was filmed.

Whatever the case may be, anyone with eyes can see that Curly is definitely "off." And yet--in spite of that--I still like this one. One plus to the "Sick Curly" era is that this is when Larry's character started getting more development for the first time in years, and old "porcupine" really steps up his game during this time period.

Plus, even Curly at half-strength still beats most comedians in their prime & old Jerry was still capable of getting laughs--i.e. that hilarious backwards jump he does in reaction to poor Mr. Link being murdered on the very spot he was standing.

8 stars

This is one of Curly's last short subjects but it is very good.Theodore Lurch is very good and of course the Stooges are as well.The stuff that happens in the room where the Stooges sleep is hilarious!This spooky short is very funny and a good one to watch around Halloween!

I understand that the Stooge films were a way of making a living for all involved, but I really think someone should've looked at the dailies and seen that Curly was very sick, and either halted production or sought Shemp as a replacement sooner. But all I could think while I was watching this film was "Poor Curly! He looks so miserable!", which is the last thing you want to be thinking while watching a Three Stooges film. True, the Stooges are always hurting each other (especially during the Curly era), but you want to think of them as cartoon characters who are never really impacted. You want to see them get up after being knocked down, brush themselves off, and move on to more pratfalls, just as strong as ever. But when Curly is incapable of doing that, the productions lose their trademark sense of humor.

Larry, Curly, and Moe are poor unemployed men. Larry reads in the newspaper that Curly Q. Link is being sought as the heir to a $3 million inheritance from his dead uncle's estate. They arrive at the mansion to attend the reading of the will. The police detective reveals that the uncle was murdered and his body has disappeared. Then the lawyer is killed and the will gets stolen.

This turns into a murder mystery type. With the Stooges, it's always going to be a Scooby Doo mystery. I would have liked more slapstick. The potential is there. It could have been more. It's also only a short which is nowhere long enough to do what this genre wants to do.

If a Body Meets a Body (1945)

*** (out of 4)

Moe and Larry are about to kick Curly out of their home when they read a newspaper headline stating that a rich relative of his has died. The three make up and head off to Curly's relative's house only to soon run into various ghoulish things.

IF A BODY MEETS A BODY is a pretty good short for The Three Stooges but as many reviewers have pointed out, it was clearly beginning to show that Curly had suffered his stroke. His speech is a bit slurred here and he's just not nearly as quick with his physical and verbal deliveries here as in previous years. With that said, this is still a very funny short as once again the boys find themselves in an "old dark house" setting with the creepy house and a flying skull. There are plenty of nice laughs here but I've always thought the boys were terrific at showing fear. The jokes around the skull walking and then floating around all hit the right spot.