Hokus Pokus

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!