Crash Goes the Hash

Don't you just love it when the Stooges totally trash a high-society party? That's just one of the many crazy scenes in this one. This particular Three Stooges film might have more gags per minute than any of the many they made. It's unbelievable; non-stop lunacy, led by Curly's antics, for 17-and-a-half minutes.

It may have been near the end of the great Curly's career but he was never more energetic and full of all his physical slapstick and silliness as he was here. He did about physical bit he was famous for, from the snapping fingers on his face, to slapping his head, to all the step dances. I was exhausted after watching this guy. He was fantastic.

Symona Boniface was perfect as the rich socialite Mrs. Van Bustle. If you can't recall what this woman looks like, try to think of Margaret Dumont, the Marx Brothers foil. That's her quote at the top of this review.

Another actor who always was playing either a butler (as in here) or a crook in the Stooges films was Bud Jamison. He was hilarious in many Three Stooges efforts.

All the boys - including the now-very baggy-eyed Moe - seemed to be at the top of their game in this feature. All of them do what they do best, and many times over here in this story in which the boys pretend to be newsmen out to get a scoop.

I have no idea how many gags were in here, there were so many. This is simply great stuff: one of the Three Stooges' best films.The underrated Larry also made me laugh a number of times, with just the look on his face. I don't want to leave him out.

P.S. I never seem to get tired of the bird-in-the-bird sight gags, which the Stooges used many times. They always make me laugh out loud. Here, a parrot winds up inside a turkey.

This is definitely one of the all time great Stooge shorts. I especially loved the fight scene at the end. The gag where one Stooge gets caught in the sleeve of one thug while the other keeps punching his partner is always a great gag. Also, does Curly ever get to smoke a cigar without it getting crushed in his face?

An excellent, hilarious short. The writing and direction was superb, as well as the performances. Symona Boniface is hilarious as Mrs. Van Bustle (she was always typecast as a rich socialite, but always did a great job carrying that role). Vernon Dent is great as usual as the Stooges boss, and Bud Jamison gives in a great last performance in a Stooge short (he died shortly afterwards due to diabetes) as the butler.

There is no real ending - just hilarious slapstick between the Stooges, and it has them at their best. The funniest part is Larry - pay attention to him in the background, while Curly and Moe are beating each other up. His reactions and expressions are funnier than the focused action going in the actual scene.

One of the Stooges' best shorts.

In the Three Stooges previous short, February 1944's "Crash Goes the Hash," the three are mistaken for newspaper investigative journalists by a newspaper editor who promised a handsome reward if they photograph romantically together a visiting prince and his rumored American socialite fiancee, Mrs. Van Bustle (Symona Boniface). Actor Bud Jamison plays the prince's assistant, Lord Flint, who arranges a reception for the royal. To get inside, the Stooges pretend they're cooks. "Crash Goes the Hash" was Jamison's final Stooges' movie appearance after starring in 38 of their films, beginning with their first Columbia Pictures short, 1934 "Woman Haters." Although seen in several more movies, he died in September 1944 at 50 from, his family claims, phlebitis of the leg, where a blood clot went straight to his lungs, killing him. He had suffered from Type 2 diabetes.

"Crash Goes the Hash" also was the rare time Curly is captured on film speaking in his real-life low voice rather than his on-screen high-pitched one. The scene occurs around the lemonade table at the reception where Curly is in charge of dispensing the drink. In a deep voice he instructs Larry to take a picture of the prince. The short was written by Felix Adler, who also scripted the Stooges' only Academy Awards nominated film, 1934 "Men in Black," as well as Hollywood's first parody of Adolf Hitler in the Stooges' 1940.

The Three Stooges often took potshots at high society, and this was their best attempt at doing so. To do this, not only did the Stooges themselves need to act like crass buffoons, but just as necessary were the supporting parts of upper class people to react to the Stooges' antics. Watch their reactions in the lemonade and turkey scenes (which are too funny to spoil here!), and you'll see what I mean. I almost lost it when the butler told the boys that they "reminded (him) of The Three Stooges".

As noted in the trivia section, Curly suffered the first of his disabling strokes toward the end of production of this short, and it shows in the scene he filmed after (the opening scene). But he did some great work elsewhere, and you would never guess how sick he was. It just shows what a genius he was, right up to the end.