Restless Knights (1935) Review // The Three Stooges #10

Restless Knights continues the down turn of the quality of these shorts. All of these have really funny moments and lame ones, though this installment has the largest dose of poor so far. Among the highlights are the atmospheric opening, which makes solid contrast with the comedy to follow. The visual look and story are also good. While they are basic, they’re thought out and expansive enough to make for a believable world which could create solid humor. Its general seriousness contrasts the comedy. Fortunately, the leads once again get a funny and interesting introduction to the audience. Bit player Walter Brennan gets a moment with, “Come close, my sons, that I may bless you.” *Slap!* The slippery carpet is a fun gag. Sadly, it gets no “rule of three”.

This episode has one of the most egregious cases of filler. There’s an extremely dull fight scene of little substance. During it, the group sometimes do little silly things out of the blue that don’t have forward momentum or much of a point. Larry is weirdly out of the way and uninvolved for much of it. Outside of it, many of the plot points go very expectedly, with little comedic flair or even just something unique. Curly’s woos and cartoonish mannerism feel stale here, like everyone’s just going through the motions. Having seen him do this numerous times before, the charm of the first time he’s done this has since worn off. A favorite Curly moment this short is when he’s confused by something his father says and he thus has a baffled look on his face, which speaks to Curly’s ability to give memorable reactions to things.

When Larry gets out from under the bed, we cut to someone else. When we next see Larry, he’s standing with the others. Maybe there’s a deleted scene of him doing something intended to be funny that also gets him to where he’ll be standing? The scene of Larry being thrown is so awkwardly edited and paced that it doesn’t have much impact. What would’ve been better is if it was done fast enough that it’s not obvious a dummy is used and you might think that actually did happen to him. It’s understandable how some felt these films were too violent. Some of the violence doesn’t happen for much of a purpose, even with much comedic payoff, which makes the use of it feel very gratuitous. The ending is a mix of a few laughs and contrived bits. It does scream of potential. The set is striking enough that it’d be nice to see more of it. The budget probably didn’t extend enough for us to see more than a little of it. That being said, the final joke is unexpected and does deliver a satisfying few seconds.

SPOILERS

When the three toss coins to see who has to do a hard job, Moe doesn’t want the others to see his. However, seeing as Curly and Larry had opposing sides and the odd man out is the one who had to get in trouble, either side Moe wouldn’t have had to do the job. The joke was seemingly that he wanted to save himself. Maybe he preferred and wanted to save Larry? During the ending, Moe and Larry are again immobilized while Curly goes on to do some action. Sadly, all he does is woo and run in a small area before hitting the baddie. Why not have more going on? Maybe he can trick the foe in some way? Just like in Three Little Pigskins, the Three Stooges probably died not long after the short ends.

OVERVIEW

This short is clearly on the disposable side of things, being a runaround that lacks the charm of many others but may satisfy for those wanting a quick adventure. It shouldn’t be on a short list of episodes to show a newbie, mainly because of things like the dreadfully slow wrestling scene.

Horses’ Collars (1935) Review // The Three Stooges #9

A frame from the short

Horses’ Collars embraces the Three Stooges formula. “Let’s give the audience a random assortment of jokes that don’t necessarily fit together.” This western short could’ve started in the west, instead of an introductory scene of the boys as detectives. While that opening is solid, it isn’t western. If you can forgive that admittedly very minor issue, there’s a lot of fun moments, like a bird flying out of Curly’s pipe; when Curly looks at a picture of a beautiful woman, Moe preemptively hits him because he knows he will get hot for her; the Three Stooges throwing their hats on a moose head; the three singing “You’ll Never Know What Tears Are” in unison; and at one point Moe says, “You know, you’re not a bad dancer.” Curly: “Ah, I bet you tell that to all the boys.” Curly then chuckles, Moe responds with a head bonk!

The Three Stooges get a really nice introduction. A man says he needs intelligent and courageous people to go on a dangerous mission. We then see that he’s talking to Moe, Larry, and Curly in detective outfits, topped with Curly’s great painted-on eyes – a nice bit of weird absurdism is often the highlight of these films. The short just as easily could’ve not had that, but it being there is such a charming touch of madness. Curly gets a lot of the big moments. You can tell that some thought he was the heart of the act as Moe and Larry are at points immobilized while Curly remains to progress the story.

Minor issues include editing errors, like a number on a chalkboard reverting to what it had been earlier. There’s some bad dubbing of voices. After a shot of a real mouse is a fake one that isn’t even the same color as the real one. However, that is so funny that it gets a pass. Scenes like the coin tossing one suffer from poor pacing. There’s far too many beats of nothingness before the next funny thing happens. Much of the episode is like this, with some humorless moments and/or too much time being dedicated to setting a plot element up. This suggests there weren’t enough good ideas to fill the runtime. One of the largest issues is Curly with mice. Curly going crazy when he sees a mouse is only used as a plot convenience. It also is used to minimally retread ideas done in Punch Drunks. Maybe the writers were so short on ideas they reused some? Here, this plot point is exploited for comedy far too little to not feel forced in.

SPOILERS

Why would the boys open the wallet in the middle of a room of people, including the person they stole it from? Why would Moe be so sure the IOU was in it? When the leads are hung up by nooses, Curly frees himself and starts fighting while the others stay trapped, not even doing anything funny. When the fight finishes, they just escape. This seems like it could’ve been a way to give Moe and Larry less focus, possibly because of a potential Curly preference.

OVERVIEW

Horses’ Collars arguably collapses under its own weight due to the poor plotting, the lack of Larry and Moe, and most offensively the relative lack of good jokes, but there are still many worthwhile parts that may sustain it. Even the coin tossing scene has some really funny gags. Moe and Larry demand some presence, like when Larry smokes and Moe does that silly dance. Outside of raw humor, Larry and Moe’s taming of Curly by relaxing him with cheese gives us a new look at the dynamic of the characters. They’re portrayed as seeming to care about each other enough to put up with their antics. Scenes like the ending and others here emphasize teamwork. Woman Haters also showed them as friends, but always in conflict with each other. Punch Drunks suggests they don’t really like each other and the next two suggest they’re together by circumstance. Which dynamic is best is up to the individual.

Three Little Pigskins (1934) Review // The Three Stooges #8

Half a-Water?

All of the “Three Stooges at Columbia” shorts have had something to say. This short clearly wants to commentate on real issues by having a Great Depression-based struggle, which demonstrates a desire to not just be comedy, but instead play off of real world events. That being said, the commentary has become thinner progressively. Three Little Pigskins gives the vibe of a random short given a few Depression elements at the beginning instead of a through and through episode about the times. Seeing as the gags are also weaker than before, with a general decrease in quality over these first four installments, Pigskins doesn’t offer much. The aforementioned “entire short about the Depression” could’ve been much better as it’d have a drive and focus, something for humor to sprout from instead of the gang goofing around. Of course, if you have the Three Stooges goofing around in their prime, that isn’t too bad.

“You talking depression to me with a gun here without bullets?” Curly walks away giving the best impression, due to not playing his role as straight as the others. Still, all three are quite solid, though the scene of them talking to ladies in an apartment goes on way too long, not benefitting from the opportunity for raw comedic talent. They include Phyllis Crane, who was quite funny in a cameo last short, and famously Lucille Ball. Both get very little. They, especially Ball, are decently funny with the occasional line. Gertie Green comes off the best. It’s always fun to see women interact with and sometimes try to top the Stooges. Green and Moe sticking their noses at and lightly hitting each other is one example. With better material, this short could’ve been legendary, with the Three Stooges and a Lucille Ball-fronted female Three Stooges having a battle to out-funny the others!

After a scene of the three together we cut to Moe complaining as to where Curly is. There should’ve been a scene to establish that he’d be away from them. The scene of the three meeting the female leads seemingly has a camera blunder, demonstrating how cheap these films look. More consequently, the lack of many ideas, instead just building atmosphere, makes the first half of the short reasonably dull, especially with the seltzer bottles. Despite such blunders, the short ultimately improves. When some goons show up, the action increases, and we get something more stimulating for our heroes to play off of. Later on, there’s a fun moment where the absurdity of the Stooges is punctuated by their football outfits not having whole numbers on them, instead something silly. The context around that is beautifully ridiculous, showcasing the better Three Stooges writing when it throws logic out the window, like Curly’s clothes in Punch Drunks.

SPOILERS

The seltzer bottles gag goes on a little too long, but Lucille Ball saying, “Just a minute, this has gone far enough. Don’t you know there are ladies present?” and the Stooges’ response is one of the finest jokes of the short. A man sways his fist to and from Curly, who eventually makes a noise and faints without being hit is a highlight, once more Curly is scene-stealing. The ending with the group in a football game does come a bit out of left field, suggesting this short might’ve been composed of some reused material from unused Columbia scripts. That ending sequence does have a few laughs, though it’d be more satisfying in a short about the team warming up for a game, and this being the payoff. The episode ends suddenly, with not much of a final joke. The original last scene was ultimately deleted. There’s almost no way the Three Stooges weren’t killed after the end. Shame the scene was removed, as it would’ve confirmed they lived. Without it, their souls are lost.

OVERVIEW

Three Little Pigskins is no travesty, but the negatives of this series are more in effect, keeping the film trapped under its own faults. There often are reasonably obvious ideas that these two-reelers could’ve gone for in order to be better, like if this short connected its elements better or didn’t waste Lucille Ball, instead focusing on a foot-ball. Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.

Men in Black (1934) Review // The Three Stooges #7

The messenger from hell

One of the most memorable lines of the series for me is “Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard.”

Men in Black is one of the more famous outings for the group. While it does deliver some extremely funny and creative jokes, it lacks the relative consistency of the first two Columbia efforts. The pacing is too slow. It sometimes seems like there weren’t many ideas for gags, so runtime was filled with dead pauses. Despite the fantastic Billy Gilbert being here, his scene doesn’t have much forward momentum and thus falls flat. The bit players are otherwise mostly solid. Some look or dress a little abnormal, like they came from a dream. ‘Little’ Billy Rhodes is an example, who also has some quality comedy moments.

The more bizarre or surreal scenes are often great. A nurse with an extremely high voice, played by Jeanie Roberts, says, “A pippin is an apple with a skin on the outside.” Moe (curious and seductive): “Did you ever see an apple with a skin on the inside?” “Oh sure I did.” Larry (dumbfounded and exacerbated) “You did?…Where?” “In homemade apple pie.” The three faint as the nurse continues laughing. No clue who thought that up or how, but three hat tips to them. That scene demonstrates the main positive of this series. Even when the material is bad, the Three Stooges inject such personality into their performances that they don’t land as bad as they could (not that the apple pie scene is poorly written by any means). This is most noticeable when they do things like sing to a woman’s hiccups and joke around with a mailman. Another noticeable nonsensical moment is the store room, which defies logic by having an interesting form of transportation inside it each time the leads go in.

There are a surprising number of jokes that mock the hospital system, specifically when the noted problems are kept because keeping them is easier or cheaper than fixing them. “Oh, Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard, is it true that an apple a day keeps the doctor away?” “Yes, that’s true.” “Well then, why don’t the patients eat an apple a day and save hospital expenses?” Curly: “Pardon me if I laugh, Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!” Later there’s: “Say, why are we all whispering?” “I don’t know why you’re whispering, but I lost my voice asking for a raise!” As an aside, we get a horror-esque closeup on Moe after that line as he laughs. Even when it comes to things like the glass door, the logical solution would be to fire the Stooges or get glass that is harder to break. However, admitting that the hospital would hire such incompetent people could cause scandal. The man fixing the door might prefer things as they are as that way he can keep getting paid to fix the door.

SPOILERS

The shot up Moe’s face as he says, “Boys, give him the anesthetic.” is so creepy that it’s funny this little dark moment came from nowhere. Look at his eyes light up. Larry makes unnerving comments about performing surgery on someone, like he gets joy from opening up bodies. At one point, the Stooges lose their tools and Moe asks where they are. They all give interesting line deliveries. Moe sounds concerned, Larry surprised, and Curly like he didn’t know there were tools in the first place. While the final joke is absolutely hysterical, it comes out of left field. Imagine if we had a few scenes of the Stooges being annoyed by the announcer? That would serve as setup. Their last line after shooting the voice box also doesn’t really follow from anything. Did they think they were doing a service to humanity by shooting it? “Uh, they got me.”

OVERVIEW

The scene of Moe sewing reminds me of when I sew up a pair of trousers. The shoddiness of the production holds this one back a little, like when the gang do something that makes no sense. That being said, Men in Black is still hilarious. Many of the gags are really good, even if they don’t always fit with what’s going on. Its numerous elements of otherworldliness and satirical wit could’ve made this the best short if expanded on, like if it was through and through about a hospital that seems destined to unravel any sense of order as it goes on, instead of seeming like random hospital-related jokes stuck in where they’d fit. Still, it’s definitely worth a view for what does work. “For Duty and Humanity.”

The lovely Three Stooges

Punch Drunks (1934) Review // The Three Stooges #6

A frame from the film

Punch Drunks is sometimes considered the greatest Three Stooges film of all, which is arguably an insult to the act or at least their main production company, Columbia. Taking the film on its own, it is quite strong, featuring a sense of wordiness and creative energy to the humor that seems designed to be memorable, succeeding in spades. Curly casually dumps his clothes out a window, like that’s where he thinks the hanger is, but that’s not explained. There’s Larry’s scene, “How much dough do you generally get?” “Well I get $250, but for you I’ll take $200.” “I’ll give you a bowl of soup.” “I’ll take it!… I hope the soup’s good.” And a Moe moment, “Four slices of burnt toast and a rotten egg.” “Burnt toast and a rotten egg?” “Yeah!” “What do you want that for?” “I got a tapeworm and it’s good enough for ‘em.” Moe also insists on ordering for his associates, with him not getting them what they wanted and them not complaining about it.

Not only are these good moments, but they are notably character defining moments. This is one reason why this short is considered the ideal starting point for the series. Moe gets to be the ultimate asshole that just picks on everyone and sneers like a devil, Curly is an underdog that has a comparatively honest spirit and will to succeed, and Larry is this humble observer that takes solace and a slight bit of appreciation in being less prominent. These characters can survive on being the barest version of themselves, funny guys that hit each other, so it is rewarding that this time we’re offered much more. Of course, a lot of these gags work brilliantly on the level of some quick and mean humor.

Just like last installment, the opening music is romantic, contrasting the short being anything but. “Sorry, gentlemen, you can’t have any hamburger. The meat’s too fresh.” The “I’m a victim of circumstance” line is said so casually, suggesting a person really feeling out of his element, and not like a quirky catchphrase. After the stellar establishing scene, the film stops being as high energy and rapid fire with its humor, seeming to get caught up in the actual story. Maybe the portions of the big fight without any jokes were thrilling enough for the time that they hit as hard as jokes, but now they feel like filler, as if someone didn’t have enough material to fill the runtime. This is epitomized by an odd moment where we see Larry tune his violin without anything funny happening.

There could’ve been more gags during the fight at the end. A film like Catch-as-catch-can benefits from some absurdist and weird goings on in the ring. It’s good to see things like Larry’s funny run as he bolts down the street, though it could’ve been punctuated by gags. Imagine if there were weird things in the background to catch your eye? The lack of any people adds a moodiness and a sense of atmosphere, like this fight is so important that nothing else matters, or even that every single person wanted to see the fight so bad that there was no one on the streets.

SPOILERS

Probably the funniest gag is when Curly punches the restaurant owner and he goes flying up into the air. Later we see him on a fan and then Curly turns it on! When the car falls on Moe’s foot, why wouldn’t Larry just play the song, so Curly can lift it? Also, them trying to pull Moe free looks and sounds excruciatingly painful. The final joke is interesting. While a little predictable, the song beginning to play again, followed by Curly knocking out Moe and Larry just epitomizes this short so well that it’s hysterical. He then looks into the camera, which might suggest he’s on his way to punch you! It also suggests that the Three Stooges never win, even when they do. They essentially do here, but Moe and Larry get knocked out for their troubles and we get a little bit of realism of what it’d be like for Curly to have to live with something like this. It’d make parts of living quite hard. Yet, the ending is also celebratory, Curly has won and he triumphs over everyone else in the shot.

OVERVIEW

The increased fluidity from Moe, Larry, and Curly makes this a step closer to how the Stooges will be, but they have more developing to do. This isn’t stronger than Woman Haters because of the occasional drag, but you’re still in for a great time, regardless. For a different film with some of the same core ideas, check out Kelly the Second. It’s hysterical. If someone is to have one takeaway from Punch Drunks, it’s that Curly Howard is… Zoidberg.

Woman Haters (1934) Review // The Three Stooges #5

Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Jerry Howard

Woman Haters is a hilarious satire of chauvinism. The clownishness of such an ideology is beautifully punctuated by the Stooges pretending they’re rational and composed, but under something like a misunderstanding they turn to childish violence as their solution. While it’s understandable that some might not like that their violence is used to punctuate a point, rather than just being for the sake of comedy, for others it’s a really cool idea. There’s other nice touches like the ridiculous looking Stooges being married to sweet romantic music during the opening title card.

There’s something so striking about the Three Stooges first time being seen in the flesh being with their backs to the camera and the other characters. This could be a sign of the world of the Three Stooges never quite making sense. There’s a fun rhythmic quality to their first scene of breaking out into violence. It pacing-wise matches the setup, while being unexpected. The trio get a lot of fine moments to interact with each other. One part is where “Tom”, played by Moe, says the three will stay together for life. This ultimately is true for the performers, the three only leaving the act when they were sick to the point of dying not long after. After the characters’ vow to never go after women, they immediately break that when one goes by, showing how unnatural and unhealthy this mentality is.

One of the men laments that men have to work while their wives stay home. This represents how people can blame those that seem to have it a little better when in fact they should be against institutional systems that allow for such a way to be. Other highlights include the group cheering their glasses; Larry as “Jim” accidentally hitting Tom with a pot; and later Curly as “Jack”’s hilarious noise when bitten, filled with personality. The “For You” song is good, especially when it comes out of nowhere. Jim to Marjorie White as Mary: “But, Darling!” Tom to Jim: “Darling?!” Jim to Tom: “Oh I forgot, I thought I was talking to you.”

Marjorie White is extremely fun, portraying this confident force who essentially just wants respect. She doesn’t ever seem too dumb to understand what the Three Stooges are up to. She could’ve been a great recurring actress in the series, being a funny woman for the guys to bounce off of, like Bonnie Bonnell. She’s this charming femme fatale who gives some quality singing, which works to heighten the story and comedy.

The rhyming is very unnecessary. Sometimes there will be a really bad line of dialogue for the sake of justifying a rhyme. There’s a few good moments where someone breaks out into a song, but that would still work without the rhyming gimmick. The script would be punchier if someone could just say a line without having to awkwardly phrase it so as to justify a rhyme.

SPOILERS

The establishment of the main plot is way too sudden. Jim just happens to be getting married for some reason. He’s also convinced to leave her extremely suddenly. What if he proposed to her, drank to the point of forgetting, joined the club, then realized his error? Mary trying to get Jack to play dead is a highlight, especially because the others believe her. When Jack lifts his head up, she smacks it back down, showing her Stooge credentials. Mary really takes control and looks like a badass when she basically says she knows what’s going on and won’t be taken advantage of. She then pushes Tom and Jack out the train, which seemed to be intentional.

Larry singing the love song “For You” to the Woman Hater’s Club at the end is not only hilarious but demonstrates that people that get into these clubs are more in it for the sense of belonging than out of their natural beliefs. Almost everyone that was there at the beginning now being absent demonstrates that these sorts of groups pretty much never last.

OVERVIEW

Despite some slightly poor production and a little drag, Woman Haters has plenty of highlights and probably something to say on misogyny. The ending is especially funny, though. Its faults are not so significant as to sink this excellent two-reeler.

The Big Idea (1934) Review // The Three Stooges

The Big Idea is the last “Three Stooges at MGM” film. The Stooges appear so little here I’m not counting this as a “starring film” of theirs, despite them being prominent enough in the other four shorts to earn such a distinction. That being said, they are pretty funny in their minimal role. The Three Stooges arguing about their age is very funny. They act just like how they famously do. Seeing as this was among the last they did before leaving Healy, it’s an appropriate sendoff. The little bit of sexual harassment humor is pretty unfortunate. There’s something unsettling about them walking in, playing their instruments, creating a little chaos, then leaving, like they’re animatronics from an amusement park. The more surreal this short is, the better, as it leaves you wondering what will happen next.

Ted Healy is mediocre, as usual. “Gimme that phone, GIMME THAT PHONE!” has no life in the performance. “I’m the one that does all the thinking” similarly has no punch. He even manages to get in a flubbed line. It doesn’t help Healy that Moe, Larry, and Curly appear so little they can’t be a comedic force for him to hide behind. You get a far too large dose of him. This problem is most notable when he’s describing his story over the phone. He’s basically trying to get the audience invested, but he sounds and acts like an idiot. Ted checking to see if anyone is behind him is a solid moment, same with the watch joke.

Near the beginning, a man with a ladder falling down could’ve been played by a Stooge. The opening scene of Ted at his typewriter as people make messes behind him is one of the best scenes here. It both invests you into the world of this short and tells us something about Ted Healy’s character. Bonnie Bonnell is amusing, showing up to dump trash in Ted’s room. She gets some of her best lines here, like the desk drawer one, but unfortunately gets very few. In terms of the actual plot, she doesn’t do much. That might be for the best as it makes her quirks all the funnier due to them being unexplained.

“And the mother was there the opening night and she sat in the front row, as she saw hundreds upon hundreds of beautiful dancing girls with very little clothes on.” That’s a pretty good line, though it cuts way too fast. There are some little errors like that, which MGM seemed to pride itself in avoiding. Did anyone else think that after Ted described three men in his story, this short would mostly be footage of that story, with the men played by the Three Stooges? The actual footage of those three guys isn’t bad, but it goes on forever and isn’t very funny. The initial singing one also was a pretty average singer. The impressionist was better. Ted Healy did some bonking in retaliation for the Stooges’ racism in Nertsery Rhymes. Here, he defends Bonnie from them when they try to mack on her.

The ending is pretty funny, paying off on some elements established, having a faster pace, and being more chaotic. It also utilizes Ted Healy as someone who loses, which he handles better than when he’s trying to be smart or witty.

OVERVIEW

The Big Idea does show some signs of improvement, mainly with Moe being the leader of the Stooges instead of Ted. It is significantly held back by the lack of the Three Stooges, so it’s really only worth it for completionists. The Stooges show up at the following timestamps in this 19:16 minute film, 6:24, 13:28, and 16:20. To rank these five shorts, the weakest is Hello Pop!, then The Big Idea, Nertsery Rhymes, Plane Nuts, and Beer and Pretzels.

Doctor Who (Classic) 063: The Time Monster // Season 9 (1972) Review Part 5

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time in his ship called the TARDIS. Since Spearhead from Space, he’s been exiled to Earth and aiding the monster fighting-military organization, U.N.I.T. Other main characters are U.N.I.T. members, Jo, The Brigadier, Benton, and Yates. The Daleks, Cybermen, and Master are recurring villains.

The Time Monster is a welcome return for the UNIT gang and increases the stakes for the purpose of being a good finale. The Master is beautifully cunning here, losing a lot of the hokeyness he possessed in The Sea Devils. Mikes Yates and especially John Benton get a lot of good scenes and lines to make themselves presences. The Brigadier is arguably a little too shorthanded, but he has some nice bits. This episode is definitely made by the great back and forths between the Doctor and the Master, especially in episode four. They do seem to have some respect for each other, but obviously many strong disagreements. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning turn in excellent performances, feeling the weight of their time together.

There is a recurring theme of feminism, mainly restricted to references to gender by the character of Ruth and her associate Stuart. There’s an amusing moment related to this theme in the last episode of the serial, but it overall amounts to nothing substantial. While some female characters have purpose and agency this serial, notably Jo, they’re not particularly distinct or related to gender when compared to other moments of Jo or other women doing something. Due to all these references, the story probably wanted to say something on gender and/or sexism. Though the Doctor is often testy with Jo, here he is particularly snippy, like when he raises his voice for her to get the Brigadier. Arguably this might’ve been part of this theme, with the Doctor’s attitude towards his female assistant being supposed to mean something, but what is hard to say. There’s nothing that could pass as a moment of the Doctor realizing that he was wrong for his treatment, or even right.

One particularly amusing moment is when a scene opens on Jo saying the Doctor is the most infuriating *man* she’s ever met and that she’s asked a million times what the thing he’s holding is. He responds like he didn’t know she was asking. That means either he was ignoring her for no reason or he was so focused on what he was doing he couldn’t hear her. If it’s the latter, he hasn’t had this problem before. Is that supposed to signify that he won’t give much thought to a dumb woman? Another moment shows a device going off in Jo’s hand. Jo references that it’s done that and the Doctor acts like he doesn’t know what she’s talking about, a little later he acknowledges the sound going off right next to him. He was literally in the same room as it, so how couldn’t he have heard it immediately?

Miscellaneous comments: There are some charming comedy moments, like Stuart dancing after a successful experiment. One of the highlights of the season is when Mike Yates has to battle some historical baddies, who pop into modern time. Episode one’s opening is striking, with a moody setting and filming. Despite this, it’s ridiculous when realizing that the reason the Doctor discovered the Master is up to something is because he had a dream, instead of something more substantial being the cause.

A scene of Stuart being distraught is laughably bad. A lot of Ruth’s dialogue, especially the gender based lines, are extremely unrealistic, as if the writer never met a real woman before. In fact, the one-off actors are particularly bad, with the scenes with Atlantians losing impact because of their extremely wooden performances. Inside the TARDIS in one scene, the door is slightly ajar, probably by accident. The interior was also redesigned for some reason. At the end of episode five, the cliffhanger music starts early, with us not getting to see Jo’s reaction.

SPOILERS

After the Doctor finds Stuart after he aged fifty-five years in a few seconds, Jo asks if they’re too late and he says they were just in time. The Master being able to imitate people’s voices makes him too powerful. Fortunately, his plan that involves that doesn’t work as Benton doesn’t seem to buy it. After the Master easily removes a gun from Benton’s hand, it’s pointed out how dumb it was that the Master was able to overpower him so easily. Roger Delgado gets a funny moment where he tells Benton that that is the oldest trick in the book. Why even keep Benton alive? He does in fact get up and it wouldn’t be hard for him to make trouble for the Master. Even though the Master thinks he can’t be stopped, he’s thought such a thing every serial pretty much. You’d think he’d learn his lesson and stop Benton.

The Master amusingly tells Kronos to obey, who is flying around screeching, not even acknowledging him. He then contains them in a room, saying they’ll stay there until he needs them. You’d think the Brigadier would understand that the Doctor often does weird things for a reason, so why would he be so in his face about what the Doctor was working on, assuming it isn’t for anything? Really good cliffhanger for episode three. Yates has been around for two seasons, but he’s not so major that you couldn’t believe he’d be killed off.

Episode four is just a fantastic episode that focuses on the battle of wits between the Doctor and the Master, with Jo, who has been pushed aside for some of this serial, having an emotional performance when the drama is high. One of Pertwee’s finest moments is when the Doctor realizes he must endanger himself just for the chance of the Master listening to him. Manning responds just as well, explosive over the idea of the Doctor sacrificing himself. When Jo thinks the Doctor is dead, she is argumentative with the Master, saying she doesn’t care if he kills her.

This episode also has one of the best cliffhangers of the show. We know the Master just did something to Jo, but we don’t know what. On top of that, the Master seems to have everything going his way. Minor negatives include the Master scrambling the Doctor’s words as he speaks being pretty ridiculous. The Doctor doesn’t seem to realize that the Master might kill Jo once he’s not around.

It’s basically unexplained how the Doctor could just magically save himself from last episode. It’s a really cheap resolution. It’s pretty funny when the Doctor solemnly says someone died where he’d have no way of knowing if he actually did. He didn’t look hurt that badly and the Doctor would have no reason to think it was a fatal excursion, he then sees the crystal he was looking for and directs Jo’s attention to it. They then move on from the apparent death like nothing happened. Why even mention the death, seeing as it’s just this awkward element wedged in the plot?

Episode six improves when the main characters leave Atlantis, with the Master and Jo having a dialogue where Jo is upset at him. That being said, the Master says the Doctor and Atlantis were destroyed, when neither appeared to be. Maybe the script called for something that looked more like a proper destruction, but what we see is Atlantis at worst being a little disordered? There’s no reason to think the Doctor was killed, though the Master acts like he’s convinced. Even if the Master saw something like the Doctor be bludgeoned violently, he knows the Doctor can regenerate.

Another one of the strongest scenes of the Third Doctor era is when Jo, after a season of constantly fretting over the Doctor in danger, encourages the Doctor to kill her and himself for the purpose of also getting the Master, even doing it herself when the Doctor refuses. This crushing darkness and mortality should’ve been used more for the point of narrative impact, though admittedly the less it’s used the more effective it is. Still, there could be a careful medium. After this moment is a really striking special effect.

The idea of the Doctor and Jo being saved by and then talking to a God is a fascinating idea, with the visual look of the two TARDISes in a void a good one. Ignoring the actual appearance of the God being quite off putting, there are other negative implications. Couldn’t the Doctor wish for the Master to be free, but also not villainous? Couldn’t the Doctor wish for so much? He doesn’t even ask for Atlantis to be restored to a pre-Master state. You could almost believe this was supposed to be the finale to Doctor Who, with the Doctor originally having asked to basically fix the universe of all that ails it. For obvious reasons, this episode is more concerned with maintaining the status quo, so why have the Doctor meet someone that apparently can fix everything? Except, maybe she can’t as she couldn’t even prevent the Master from escaping?

You can almost imagine the purpose of having a God here is to explain how the leads could wiggle out of Jo doing something that should kill them. A possible way to fix this is for this God to not be so powerful as to end the show and for it being more costly and problematic for the Doctor and Jo to get back to Earth. The Doctor says no one deserves an eternity of torment, as a way to explain not letting the Master be tortured forever. This is an annoying contradiction as the Doctor is sometimes fine with creatures suffering if they’re bad enough. He arguably holds the Master to a different standard because they were once friends.

OVERVIEW

There’s sadly ultimately little point to Stuart and Ruth. They were given a small story and character traits, only to be suddenly unimportant when the Doctor and Jo go to a different location. Stuart’s subplot is particularly meaningless, suggesting there was a purpose in an early draft. Baby Benton is similarly random.

Season nine of Doctor Who benefits from more excuses to go off Earth. Jon Pertwee and Katy Manning pack enough personality into their scenes that you’re not sorry to be away from the very likable Brigadier and UNIT. Some plot contrivances and pacing issues hurt the flow and impact of stories. The 60s era had a way of really getting lost in the affairs that the 70s don’t as well. In order to keep the formula working, there are some issues. The Master comes off as extremely pathetic, constantly making grand plans that probably wouldn’t work even if the Doctor wasn’t there to stop him. The Doctor does seem to care about Jo and want her to stay safe. Thus, he seems incompetent when she multiple times gets close to death, and he keeps letting her go on dangerous missions. That all being said, every installment of this season has more than its fair share of charm and lovability. Personally, I wouldn’t skip any in a rewatch of the show.

Despite the problems, there’s much in the favor of the story. The Time Monster does a little calling back to past serials this season and leaves you wanting to know more about the Doctor and the Master’s relationship. Plus taking the more epic nature of it into account, this is a great finale and one of the biggest highlights of the Pertwee era. See for the Doctor’s tea leaves-powered device made to annoy the Master.

Meet the Baron (1933) Review // The Three Stooges

Meet the Baron was a movie I wanted to watch for ZaSu Pitts, but now I’m seeing it for the Three Stooges! That being said, the movie is more about Jack Pearl as Baron Munchausen. His plot is like if Captain Spaulding from Animal Crackers was explicitly a phony and had a conscience (A Day at the Races?). Some of the scenes of Jack Pearl doing what seems like his radio routines have slightly unnatural delivery and staticness, due to no visual flair. The straight man speaks like an actor giving a feed line. Pearl is certainly not exceptionally bad. He gets a really good line, “I can’t look myself in the face. Why, I shaved in the dark this morning.”

Jimmy Durante as Joe McGoo is the funny friend of the lead. He gets some decent monologuing. There is a scene where he is alone in a room and some of his dialogue and performance is awkward due to him talking to himself and not to another person. Some jokes like wanting the Baron to say as little as possible, “Use one syllable words”, are quite good. His performance being heightened in weird ways, like in situations that ask to play on more subtle ground, makes him not my personal taste.

The Three Stooges’ introduction in the movie is really funny, especially with the score. Ted Healy is more Stooge-like. He dresses in ratty clothes and doesn’t act intellectually superior. The great blindfold scene depicts him as dumb as the others. The famous three are as excellent as always. They make music with the pipes and manage to do as good a job as you’d expect with the Three Stooges handling tools while blindfolded. They later destroy a room. There’s one very funny moment of them singing together. “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Dean.” Ted then slaps them all in a row perfectly.

Despite ZaSu Pitts having some relevance to the story, she appears less than she should. She pretty much only exists relatively to Jack Pearl, and thus suffers from too much of a lack of identity. At the very least, give her more jokes. Some favorites with her are: “Buenes noches.” “Huh?” “Buenes noches.” “Oh, you’ll find it in the bathroom.” The hot-water gag is another, though it doesn’t make much sense. ZaSu’s delivery is perfectly straight.

Fans of lady shoulders can delight in the pre-code glory of women singing and showering. There’s also the innuendo when ZaSu’s arm is being touched and she asks, “Do you want something to play with?” More miscellanea includes: “Gentlemen, this is no time for innuendo.” The tramp song is well sung and amusing, being just as grand in scale as the other big songs. Now it’s about calling someone a tramp! The final joke is pretty weird, and comes out of nowhere, but it’s very funny regardless.

At one point, McGoo asks for ice water. The water he receives has no ice in it. The romance has an inherent absurdity to it that doesn’t make the film quite stop in its tracks like is sometimes an issue. The movie seems to know it’s stupid, other than one or two moments that should’ve taken a little more absurdity in them. Near the end, there’s one little racist joke. The climax is more consequentially too short given the stakes established.

SPOILERS

The real Baron having to pretend he’s not the Baron is a great idea. It’s a shame more wasn’t done with it, though what we did get is quality. Imagine if he came back at some point and said or did something ironic? Even seeing him simply back in his place as the Baron would give closure. He is essentially here for the bare minimum in order to set up the plot and provide what could pass as closure.

OVERVIEW

Meet the Baron isn’t worth watching for any one act unless you are a completionist. For those that want some quick Stooge action, their scenes start at 11:28, 24:54, 39:28, 50:27, and  1:01:16 on my 1:06:28-lengthed copy of the movie.

Doctor Who (Classic) 062: The Mutants // Season 9 (1972) Review Part 4

Context for those unfamiliar with Doctor Who

In the classic era of Doctor Who, stories were divided up into multiple episodes, in a serialized fashion. The show follows The Doctor, the protagonist, on various adventures through space and time in his ship called the TARDIS. Since Spearhead from Space, he’s been exiled to Earth and aiding the monster fighting-military organization, U.N.I.T. Other main characters are U.N.I.T. members, Jo, The Brigadier, Benton, and Yates. The Daleks, Cybermen, and Master are recurring villains.

This serial has a more significant case of “being too slow and treading early on” than most. Such a problem is most significant in the first four episodes. If this serial was a movie, episode one probably would and could be condensed into five minutes. That all being said, the last two episodes have good payoff. There’s some good cheesy fun throughout, but they’re most prevalent in the end, especially episode six. There’s some pretty weird stuff in that last part that is so ridiculous it’ll have you laughing. Even if by episode six you’re still bored, there is something that will without fail wake you up.

There are expectedly some really ridiculous moments, with some good ideas. Why would the Doctor forcefully open doors instead of waiting for someone to get him? The Doctor acts like it’s unreasonable for him to not be allowed into the conference with no pass and with a strange item that could be a weapon. When an alarm is going off in the beginning of episode two, you can’t hear what anyone’s saying. Episode three’s cliffhanger’s quite good. Episode four’s would be much stronger if the special effects were better. The inside of the caves look excellent, being extremely colorful and psychedelic. It’s a shame there wasn’t a contrivance for our characters to stay in it more.

A black character is named Cotton. His actor, Rick James, is good at his role, though he usually is just running around in a group. His character being an officer in this corrupt government could’ve been used as commentary or to give a unique perspective on the story. Shame no one thought to change his name. The scientist character’s callousness does supply some subtle characterization of this world, with him taking things like killing lightly.

Garrick Hagon as Ky’s performance is lovably bad. This is most notable in his hammy speech in the first episode. The character of Varan gets an Oscar moment at the end of episode three. He’s supposed to be going through something emotional, but his acting is so thoughtless and wooden, with the background set so cheap. It’s unbelievable this was considered acceptable or that people watching this weren’t on the floor.

Jo is generally a liability here, not doing much to make herself useful. A recurring issue in the series is the Doctor having to make unwanted compromises in order to save her life. It gets ridiculous that he’d allow her to come with him on adventures. If the Doctor simply gets a thrill out of taking someone along, then that’s pretty immoral that he’d do something that can endanger multiple people. Episode four leans heavy on the cheese, featuring a lot of running around that will bore some to tears, losing some of the pace and energy of the previous episode.

SPOILERS

At the end of episode one, when the Doctor’s container is opened by Ky, who is running away, he yells he should wait as the box is for him, like Ky would care and isn’t trying to escape guards. Episode one’s cliffhanger is a classy one, following up on the beginning of the episode where the Doctor told Jo the mission was too dangerous for her to join in. Jo goes with Ky when she has little reason to trust him or think she won’t be walking into great danger. She later explains she went with him for the sake of her and the Doctor’s mission there, but that’s not worth her endangering her life. When the Doctor is told Jo might be killed, he doesn’t seem that worked up over it. When the Marshal threatens to not try to find Jo, whose life is in danger, if the Doctor doesn’t help him open the container, the Doctor says it’s unethical to open it as it’s for Ky. Why would he care so much about that in this situation?

After the Doctor stops Stubbs or Varan from killing each other, he takes the gun and hands it back to Stubbs, as if he wouldn’t then just try to shoot Varan. After Varan is saved by the Doctor, you’d think he would like or appreciate him, but he briefly wants to kill the Doctor due to a misunderstanding for the purpose of getting a cliffhanger. A reason is later quickly contrived for him to help the Doctor and he doesn’t show that disliking of the Doctor he had shown moments before for the rest of the serial. If only changing people’s minds on propaganda-engrained political issues was as easy as the Doctor with Stubbs here.

When the Doctor and Varan find Ky, the Doctor gives some plot, Ky and Varan then interrupt to argue, then Ky turns back to talk to the Doctor like that argument hadn’t just happened. The pacing and writing continue to be awkward. Some lines about Jo’s safety are thrown in, seemingly out of necessity, then everything stops for a few seconds so the Doctor can get the container for Ky. Later, Cotton and Stubbs say they’re going to leave so as to escape the dangerous gas. Next scene Cotton is shown with the Doctor, being stationary. It’s funny to see the Doctor just leave Sondergaard on the ground to get the crystal, though there is a point to it.

At one point, guards shoot at the Doctor, despite being told not to. At the end of episode five, Cotton becomes panicked amusingly quickly. When people arrive at the hearing against the Marshal, the investigator comically shouts who those people are. The Marshal grabs a gun at his hearing and shoots a mutant, not thinking that wouldn’t be unnecessary or make him look bad. Why would the investigator listen to the Marshal’s order to be put in command after he killed the mutant? Ky floating around, especially when he explains why and that he will kill the Marshal is simply the funniest thing. The Marshal is just poofed out of existence. Also, why wouldn’t the Doctor try to prevent his death? He is usually against even the villains being killed in the series.

It seems the Time Lords knew how to save the day and what needed to be done. Why not just send someone to tell Ky or Sondergaard what to do clearly instead of making things far more cryptic, so everyone’s got to run around getting into scrapes, with the Doctor initially knowing very little? The Doctor should not be okay with taking Jo on adventures after how close she got to death, and due to her own recklessness. He literally told her at first to not come along as he thinks it’s too dangerous. While superfluous characters are reasonably common this show, what was the point of the character of Varan? Why give him his backstory with Ky and the fate he ultimately gets? He seems to just exist to help out the Doctor once.

OVERVIEW

While The Mutants is on the dull side, there are good moments. The certain scene in episode six is an absolute riot of so-bad-it’s-good and makes it an extremely entertaining watch, though of course a few glorious minutes doesn’t save the whole serial. Still, the big dumb adventure element is charming and lasts the whole story, making it worthwhile on the level of satisfying a sci-fi itch. See for the Doctor’s Vulcan nerve pinch.