1. Woman Haters (1934) ***+
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Director: Archie Gottler
Cast : Marjorie White, A.R. Haysel, Monte Collins, Bud Jamison,
"Snowflake", Jack Norton, Don Roberts, Tiny Sanford,
Dorthy Vernon, Les Goodwin, Charles Richman, George Gray,
Gibert C. Emery, Walter Brennan
The stooges join the "Women Haters" club and vow to have nothing to
do with the fair sex. Larry marries a girl anyway and attempts to
hide the fact from Moe and Curly as they take a train trip.
[ This story is done in rhyme which detracts from the enjoyability. ]
2. Punch Drunks (1934) ****
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Director: Lou Breslow
Cast : Dorothy Granger, Arthur Housman
Moe is a boxing promoter looking for a good fighter. Curly is a
mild-mannered waiter who goes crazy whenever he hears "Pop Goes the
Weasel". Larry is a violinist recruited to play the tune. Curly
becomes a great fighter and gets a championship match. Things look
bad when Larry's violin is smashed, but everything turns out fine
when Larry delivers the music by driving a truck through the arena
wall.
3. Men in Black (1934) ***+
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Director: Raymond McCarey
Cast : Dell Henderson, Jeanie Roberts, Ruth Hiatt, Joe Fine,
Irene Coleman, Billy Gilbert, Little Billy, Neal Burns,
Arthur West, Bud Jamison, Hank Mann, Joe Mills, Bob
Callahan, Phyllis Crane, Carmen Andre, Betty Andre, Helen
Splane, Kay Hughes, Eve Reynolds, Charles King, Eve
Kimberly, Lucille Watson, Billie Stockton, Arthur Ranking,
Charles Dorety
The stooges become doctors at a large hospital where they disrupt
patients and staff alike.
[The title is a play on "Men in White", a popular film of the time.
Nominated for "Best Short Subject" in 1934. ]
4. Three Little Pigskins (1934) ****-
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Director: Raymond McCarey
Cast : Lucille Ball, Gertie Green, Phyllis Green, Walter Long,
Joe Young, Milt Douglas, Harry Bowen, Lynton Brent, Bud
Jamison, Dutch Hendrian, Charles Dorett, William Irving,
Joe Levine, Alex Hirschfield, Billy Wolfstone, Bobby
Burns, Jimmie Philips, Johnny Korcsier.
The stooges are mistaken by a gangster for the "Three Horsemen of
Boulder Dam", famous football players. Hired to play for his team,
they blow the big game and get it in the end. Lucille Ball has a
nice part as a gun moll.
5. Horses Collars (1935) ***+
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Director: Clyde Bruckman
Cast : Dorothy Kent, Fred Kohler, Fred Kelsey
The stooges are private detectives in the old west trying to help a
girl recover an IOU from a bad guy. Their attempts to steal the IOU
from the villains wallet and then from a safe meet with problems
until Curly, who goes berserk whenever he sees a mouse, knocks out
all the bad guys.
6. Restless Knights (1935) ***+
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Director: Charles Lamont
Cast : Geneva Mitchell, Stanley Blystone, Walter Brennan, Chris
Franke, George Baxter, Bud O'Neill, James Howard, Jack
Duffy, Ernie Young, Lynton Brent, Bob Burns, William
Irving, Joe Perry, Dutch Hendrian, George Speer, Bert
Young, Billy Franey, Al Thompson.
Set in Medieval times, the stooges learn they are of royal blood and
vow to save the kingdom. They become the queen's royal guards but
are sentenced to die when the queen is abducted on the orders of the
evil prime minister. The stooges escape, free the queen, and end up
knocking each other out.
7. Pop Goes the Easel (1935) ****
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Leo White, Robert Burns, Jack Duffy, Elinor Vandivere,
Geneva Mitchell
The stooges are down and out. With a cop chasing them, they flee
into an artists studio where they are mistaken for students. The
cop continues to hunt for them and they use a variety of disguises
and tactics to elude him. A wild clay throwing fight ends the film.
8. Uncivil Warriors (1935) ****
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Bud Jamison, Theodore Lorch, Lew Davis, Mary Loback, Bill
Engel, Ford West, Si Jenks, Charles Dorety, Jack Kenny,
Phyliss Crane, Jennifer Grey, Celeste Edwards, Wes Warner,
Lew Archer, Hubert Diltz, Charles Cross, George Grey, Jack
Rand, Harry Kenton.
Set in the Civil War, the stooges are spies for the north. They
impersonate southern officers and infiltrate the enemy ranks to get
valuable information. On the run when they are discovered, they
hide in a cannon and are blown back to their northern headquarters.
9. Pardon My Scotch (1935) ***+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Nat Carr, James C. Morton, Billy Gilbert, Grace Goodall
The stooges are running the local drugstore and mix up a potion that
a desperate businessman decides to sell as scotch. The stooges
impersonate Scotsmen at party to fool the prospective buyer. Their
usual antics disrupt the party, ending when a barrel of their
"scotch" explodes and floods the whole house.
10. Hoi Polloi (1935) ****
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Harry Holmes, Robert Graves, Bud Jamison, Mary Dees, Grace
Goodall, Betty McMahon, Harriett De Bussman, Phyliss
Crane, Geneva Mitchell, Kathryn McHugh, James C. Morton,
William Irving, Arthur Rankin, Robert McKenzie, Celeste
Edwards, Blanche Payson, George B. French, Gail Arnold,
Don Roberts, Billy Mann.
A professor bets that he can turn the stooges into gentlemen. After
many attempts to teach them etiquette, he brings them to a fancy
society party. The stooges new found manners don't last very long,
and the party quickly degenerates. By the end, the other guests
have adopted stooge-like behavior and the stooges leave as
gentlemen.
11. Three Little Beers (1935) ****+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Bud Jamison
The stooges are inept deliverymen at a brewery. When they learn
about a company golf tournament, they sneak onto a golf course to
get some practice. They quickly proceed to bother the other golfers
and destroy the course. Forced to escape in their beer truck, more
havoc ensues when the load of beer barrels are spilled out down a
steep hill.
12. Ants in the Pantry (1936) ****-
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Director: Preston Black
Cast : Clara Kimball Young, Harrison Greene, Bud Jamison,
Isabelle LaMal, Vesey O'Davoren, Douglass Gerrard, Anne
O'Neal, James C. Morton, Arthur Rowland, Phyliss Crane, Al
Thompson, Helen Martinez, Charles Dorety, Hilda Title,
Bert Young, Lou Davis, Ron Wilson, Robert Burns, Lynton
Brent, Arthur Thalasso, Elaine Waters, Althea Henly,
Idalyn Dupre, Stella Le Saint, Flo Promise, Gay Waters.
The stooges are pest exterminators who drum up business by planting
vermin in a ritzy mansion where a party is going on. They are
hired, but must pose as guests to work unobserved. They ruin a
piano and generally make a mess of the party, but the hostess passes
them off as vaudeville comedians and they are invited to join the
guests on a fox hunt.
13. Movie Maniacs (1936) ****
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Bud Jamison, Lois Lindsey, Arthur Henly, Eve Reynolds,
Kenneth Harlon, Mildred Harris, Harry Semels, Antrim
Short, Jack Kenney, Charles Dorety, Elaine Waters, Bert
Young.
The stooges arrive in Hollywood hoping to make it in the movie
business ("There must be a couple a hundred guys in Hollywood who
don't know anything about making movies, three more ain't gonna make
any difference".) They sneak into a movie studio where they are
mistaken for three new executives who were due to arrive. after
taking over production of a movie, causing the director and cast to
walk off, Moe takes over as director, with Larry and Curly as the
leading man and lady. When the real executives send a telegram
explaining why they haven't arrived, the stooges must leave on the
run.
14. Half-Shot Shooters (1936) ***+
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Director: Preston Black
Cast : Harry Semels, John Kascier, Vernon Dent, Stanley Blystone
The stooges are discharged from the army after WW I, and promptly
administer some revenge to their mean sergeant. Years later they
wind up in the army again, and of course the same sergeant is their
superior. The sergeant plays various tricks on them, and when the
stooges go crazy with a cannon, blowing up a house, a bridge, and a
smoke stack, he blows them up.
15. Disorder in the Court (1936) ****+
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Director: Preston Black
Cast : Susan Karoan, Dan Brady, Tiny Jones, Bill O'Brien, Bud
Jamison, Harry Semels, Edward LeSaint, Hank Bell, James C.
Morton
The stooges are witnesses at a trial where their friend, a dancer at
a nightclub where they are musicians, is accused of murder. The
stooges manage to disrupt the proceedings but save the day when they
discover the real murderer's identity.
16. A Pain in the Pullman (1936) ****
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Director: Preston Black
Cast : Bud Jamison, James C. Morton
The stooges are small time actors traveling by train to an
engagement. Along with their pet monkey, they manage to spoil the
trip for quite a few of the other passengers including the conductor
and a big movie star. Eventually their antics get out of hand and
they are literally tossed off the train.
17. False Alarms (1936) ***+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Stanley Blystone
The stooges are firemen who are constantly getting in trouble,
they've been warned that one more incident will cost them their
jobs. Curly sneaks out anyway to visit his girlfriend. She has two
friends who need dates, but the only way Curly can get Moe and Larry
out of the station is to pull a fire alarm. The firetruck leaves
without Moe and Larry, so they steal the captains new car to make it
to the call first. They manage to get Curly and get back to the
station, but in doing so wreck the car and must leave on the run.
18. Whoops I'm an Indian (1936) ****-
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Bud Jamison
Set in the old west, the stooges are crooked gamblers gypping the
resident of a frontier town. They are discovered and must escape
into the woods. To elude the sheriff they disguise themselves as
Indians. Their plan works until Curly, dressed as a squaw, is forced
to marry a local tough guy. The stooges are unmasked and wind up in
the hoosegow.
19. Slippery Silks (1936) ****-
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Director: Preston Black
Cast : Symona Boniface, Vernon Dent, Robert Williams
The stooges are carpenters who inherit a fancy dress boutique. They
put on a fashion show with dresses they've designed based on
furniture. During the show the owner of a antique box the stooges
wrecked shows up and a wild cream puff fight ensues.
20. Grips, Grunts and Groans (1937) ****+
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Director: Preston Black
Cast : Harrison Greene, Casey Colombo, Herb Stagman, Budd Fine,
Chuck Callahan, Blackie Whitford, Tony Chavex, Elaine
Waters, Sam Lufkin, Everett Sullivan, Bill Irving, Cy
Schindell
The stooges become trainers of "Bustoff", a champion wrestler. The
big boss has a lot of money bet on Bustoff and orders the boys to
take good care of him. Instead they accidentally knock him out and
Curly must disguises himself as Bustoff and wrestle in his place.
The match doesn't go very well until Curly smells "Wild Hyacinth"
perfume on a lady fan at ringside. This drives him crazy and he
knocks out his opponent and half the people in the stadium.
21. Dizzy Doctors (1937) ****+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : June Gittleson, Eva Murray, Ione Leslie, Vernon Dent, Bud
Jamison, Erle Bunn, Wilfred Lucas, Betty MacDonald, Louise
Carver, Frank Mills, Harley Wood, James C. Morton, A. R.
Haysel, Ella McKenzie
The stooges get a job selling "Brighto", what they think is cleaning
fluid. After ruining a cop's uniform and a new car, they discover
Brighto is actually medicine. Taking their sales pitch to a
hospital, they get into more trouble and must leave on the run when
the head of hospital turns out to be the owner of the car they
ruined.
22. Three Dumb Clucks (1937) ****
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Lynton Brent, Frank Austin
The stooges escape from jail when they learn their father, who has
just become rich, is planning to leave their mother and marry a
young girl. Curly is mistaken for the stooges father (he plays both
parts) and marries the girl instead. When they learn that she is
working with gangsters who plan to kill their father for his money,
they escape and take their father with them.
23. Goofs and Saddles (1937) ****
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Ethan Laidlaw, Tod Lorch, Hank Mann, Stanley Blystone,
George Gray, Sam Lufkin
Set in the old west, the stooges are spies for US Calvary; "Buffalo
Bilious", "Wild Bill Hiccup" and "Just Plain Bill". Sent by General
"Muster" to catch a gang of cattle rustlers, they wind up in a
saloon where the boss of the gang hangs out. The boys disguise
themselves as gamblers and get into a card game with the villain,
but must flee when their identities are discovered. They hole up in
a cabin, fighting off the bad guys, until the calvary arrives.
24. Back to the Woods (1937) ****-
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Director: Preston Black
Cast : Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent
Set in colonial times, the stooges are convicted criminals who are
banished from England to the American colonies. When they arrive,
they find that the colonists are starving because the local Indians
won't let them on their hunting grounds. The stooges go hunting
any, and after a wild chase, are captured by the Indians. They
escape and another wild chase ensues.
25. Cash and Carry (1937) ****-
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Lester Dorr
The stooges find a crippled boy and his sister living in their
dumpyard shack. To raise money to pay for the little boys operation
they buy a phony treasure map from a con man. Thinking the treasure
is buried beneath an old house, the boys start digging and wind up
in a US treasury vault and are promptly arrested. The president (FDR) gives
them amnesty and arranges for the boy's operation.
26. Playing the Ponies (1937) ****
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Director: Charles Lamont
Cast : William Irving, Tiny Lipson
The stooges are gypped into trading their restaurant for
"Thunderbolt", a washed up race horse. When Curly feeds Thunderbolt
some chili pepperinos, he runs like crazy towards the nearest water.
The boys enter Thunderbolt in a big race. With jockey Larry feeding
Thunderbolt the pepperinos, and Moe and Curly on a motorcycle
leading him with a bucket of water, they win the race.
27. The Sitter-Downers (1937) ****+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Marcia Healy, Betty Mack, June Gittleson, James C. Morton,
Bob McCenzie, Jack Long.
The stooges are suitors who go on a sit down strike when their
prospective father-in-law refuses to consent the marriages. The
strike wins them fame and they receive numerous gifts including a
lot and a prefabricated house. They win the strike and get married,
but the wives decree no honeymoon until the house is built. The
boys have some problems with the construction, especially since
Curly burned up the plans. The eventually finish the house, a
monstrosity that collapses when one post is accidentally moved.
28. Termites of 1938 (1938) ****+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Dorothy Granger, Bud Jamison, Bess Flowers
The stooges are pest exterminators, mistakenly hired by a rich lady
looking for an escort to a fancy society party. The stooges wreck
the fancy mansion where the party is taking place and befuddle the
guest of honor, an English Lord.
29. Wee Wee Monsieur (1938) ***+
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Director: Del Lord
Cast : Bud Jamison, Vernon Dent
The stooges are artists living in Paris. When the landlord comes
after the overdue rent, the boys skip out and wind up joining the
French Foreign Legion. Posted to the desert, their assignment is to
guard captain Gorgonzola from the natives. When the captain is
kidnapped, the boys must disguise themselves as harem girls to
infiltrate the chieftains hideout and rescue him.