Hokus Pokus

Mary is faking her injury for a $25k insurance claim. She has to stay in a wheelchair for one more day before going to the insurance adjustor's office. Larry, Moe, and Shemp are clueless idiots who have been tricked into waiting on her hand and foot. The boys put up a poster for hypnotist "The Great Svengarlic". The hypnotist decides to play around with them and put them in his street show to walk a flagpole outside an office building.

It's a solid Shemp Stooges short. I would add one scene with Mary rolling into office so that the final scene can be setup. I love the sing-sing bit and I wish the hypnotist can do something more imaginative. The flagpole is good but I can think of something wackier. They could do a dance or Rocket kicks. All in all, this is pretty good.

In this short subject the Three Stooges have a sweet little racket going. Mary Ainslee has taken them in because they are three dumb clucks who will go into court and swear she's a cripple due to an automobile accident. They believe it and of course they're too stupid to lie.

Naturally for their room and board they have to help around the house. Seeing them cook and do the household chores has a bunch of laughs for the audience.

But come the big day they get hypnotized by mesmerist Svengarlic and they do a bit of Harold Lloyd type high wire act on a flagpole.

Very good stuff. One of the best Shemp features for the team.

As for Ainslee, she should have hired Whiplash Willie Gingrich.

This couple is pulling off an insurance scam where the woman ("Mary") is faking being a wheelchair-bound victim. Today is the day the crooks get interviewed and then, hopefully, their money: $25,000, which was a lot of loot back then. The lady says she has "three saps who will testify what a hopeless cripple I am." Guess what "saps" she means?

The first seven minutes of the "movie" are the boys - Moe, Larry and Shemp - getting up in the morning, shaving each other and cooking Mary's breakfast. Nothing that funny in all that, maybe because most of the gags are re-hashed material from the "Curly" days.

Finally, the claims adjuster from the "Calamity Insurance Company" (series regular Vernon Dent) comes to Mary's apartment. The boys give him a piece of their mind, the only funny thing being Shemp's amazing footwork, and then leave to do their shop - putting up posters.

The poster they are plastering on the wall reads, "Here This Week - The Great Hypnotist SVENGARLIC! He'll Steal Your Breath Away" The hypnotist, looking for publicity to help his show, spots the Stooges and hypnotizes them. That leads to justice prevailing in the insurance scam. Overall: weak.

Classic. Our opening shot of the Stooges has them snoring in harmony. Soon, Moe attempts Morse Code on Shemp's head, which differs from a steam pipe only in that a steam pipe hasn't got ears! Shemp, performing the Australian crawl on the living room floor, gets grappled by fisherman Moe. All this, and the Stooges haven't even gotten warmed up yet. Things really get going when they start shaving each other. Moe shouts football signals and they execute some tricky plays here (Shemp: "Your face is too sharp!"). Larry takes the opportunity to disengage himself from a huge tuft of chest hair while we learn that Shemp's tongue makes a natural razor strop. The refrigerator keeps the hot towels piping hot while Moe sneezes Schlemiel #8 talcum powder all over the place (and we know where Woody Allen in "Annie Hall" got that bit from, don't we?). We see Moe apply his sixteen-parts-lard-to-one-part-egg formula for cooking breakfast while Shemp loses a battle with a folding table, thus keeping Mary (the "hopeless cripple") waiting for her nice cold pancakes smothered in vinegar. Yes, so far so good, but then . . . enter Vernon Dent! Here, Shemp "gets tough" with Vernon, and this bit is the highlight of the film. The scene then shifts to the Great Svengarlic, who stealthily observes Shemp hypnotize Moe into thinking he is in New York, Los Angeles, and then Sing Sing (whereupon Moe grabs the rungs of a chair back, thus simulating jail cell bars). Another great highlight of the film ensues after Larry observes that Shemp's attempts to extricate Moe from Sing Sing have been met with utter futility. The film's climax is breathtaking. I wonder how Svengarlic's agent was able to get a permit to allow three guys to dance on a flagpole several stories above a city sidewalk, and so quickly, too? Of course, such trivial details matter for naught in a Stooges short. We see that justice prevails in the end, but the scheming Mary, although defeated, has the last say, namely, the famous three-tone NBC gong as played out on the Stooges' heads, courtesy of the large ball that was attached to the end of the flagpole. All in all, a must-see for all you saps!

I've always thought of this one as perhaps one of the more underrated or perhaps I should say "overlooked" stooge shorts-- especially considering the great short that preceded it (the all time great Who Done it?).

But, this is a great short in its own right--a great mix of big belly laughs and little small moments that add up to 16 minutes of pure fun. And when I think of the "big laughs," my mind goes immediately to Shemp's smackdown with Vernon Dent (shoot one that way, shoot one this way, whoa).

I also enjoyed Larry's moment with the mixing bowls. Overall--if you're a Shemp fan--or just a stooge fan in general, then give this one a few looks.

9 stars