Matri-Phony

The filming of July 1942's "Matri-Phony," a play on the word 'matrimony,' did not go smoothly for The Three Stooges. Set in 'Ancient Erysipelas' (reminiscent to Ancient Rome), "Matri-Phony" was directed by Harry Edwards, who was known as Columbia Pictures' worst director. Edwards reportedly possessed no peoples skills, constantly lambasting both cast and crew. The Stooges usually knocked out filming their 17-minute movies in four days, mostly with their pair of steady directors Jules White and Del Lord helming the productions. Under Edwards, who was silent movie comedian Harry Langdon's favorite director, "Matri-Phony" took three weeks to complete, with script changes and reshoots lengthening the filming. Viewers can readily spot Edwards' awkward staging, unexpected jump cuts and even blurry, out of focus shots. In the concluding scene, Edwards directed the soldiers carrying the Stooges by the points of their spears to walk straight into the wall. The production was so chaotic the Stooges, in a rare request, asked the studio never to assign Edwards to their movies again-which unfortunately for the Stooges he returned the following year with 1943's "Three Little Twirps," his last one with them.

"Matri-Phony" is also known for introducing a faster beat to the Stooges' theme song 'Three Blind Mice,' heard in the opening titles, lasting until the end of 1944. The short is also famous for being the first instance the word "sexy" is heard on film. Curly, dressing in drag pretending to be intended bride of the Emperor Octopus Grabus' (Vernon Dent) gets advuce from Moe when he says, "Go on, get sexy!"

It's ancient Erysipelas in the reign of the rash Emperor Octopus Grabus. Mohicus, Larrycus, and Curleycue own a pottery and stone works. The Emperor is searching for a young redhead to marry and Diana begs the boys to hide her. The boys are arrested when a soldier finds Diana hiding.

A cross-dressing Curly is always fun. There is plenty of fun crab work. I do wonder how Diana escaped. The easy move is for her to dress as a soldier and she can pass the Emperor without noticing her. The bum fed the wine is out of focus. The last scene has the boys in an awkward position which is weird and not actually funny. The funnier move would be them falling head first into giant pottery surrounded by soldiers. This has some fun but some could be improved.

The boys are potters in ancient Rome during the reign of Octopus Grabbus played by veteran Stooge foil Vernon Dent. What the emperor wants the emperor gets. Dent has proclaimed he wants all the redheaded women brought to him. One has taken refuge with 3 Stooges for a much protection as that affords you.

She;'s caught and the boys vow to rescue her. After that it's a series of Stooge type gags and pratfalls.

The boys are in good form here.

This had the great ingredients to be a funny Stooges short, but the end result is pretty disappointing. First off, a lot of great gags were edited out during post-production, with a lot of awkward cutting away at certain scenes. Second, Harry Edwards' alcoholism and erratic behavior dampened the entire production of this short with him berating and insulting the cast by saying they couldn't act, nixing a lot of great material in the script (courtesy of Monte Collins & Elwood Ullman), etc. The shooting schedule went over two weeks due to these problems and veteran director Del Lord was brought in to film additional footage.

But there are still a few funny scenes with Curly interacting with a snake charmer and a seemingly endless scene with the Stooges roughed up by the hard-nosed palace guards, and the emperor flirting with Curly disguised as a redhead. It's no wonder the Stooges refused to work with Edwards again. He did direct them a year later in Three Little Twirps, which is a marginal improvement, but still falls short.

Matri-Phony (1942)

*** (out of 4)

Funny two-reeler has Mo, Larry and Curly working as potters in ancient Rome when Emperor Octopus puts out a call saying he wants to marry a young red-headed woman. One just happens to be hiding in their store and when the guards find her the three men are taken to the Emperor's lair where comedy follows. Fans of the Stooges are really going to find plenty to laugh about here. From what I've read the three didn't enjoy director Harry Edwards but you really couldn't tell by watching the film as all three men are in fine form. There are several funny moments throughout the film but the highlight has to be when the boys are being held in front of the Emperor with spears to their backs. Curly doesn't realize it and makes an escape only to be caught by something other than the guard. Another funny sequence happens early on inside their shop as a guard comes in looking for the hiding girl but gets a sales talk from Curly. The film certainly isn't a classic or masterpiece but fans of the Stooges should at least get several laughs.