In the Sweet Pie and Pie

Who had better pie fights than the Three Stooges? If you want to see one of their best, this is the film to see as the last three minutes are nothing but people throwing and mashing pies into each other's faces. No matter how many times I see Animal House-scenes like this over many years - and I've seen this more times and for more years than I want to admit - I still laugh.

It all began when Tiska, Taska and Baska Jones - three scheming sisters - are bummed out because they might have just lost out on their $10 million inheritance clause which insists they be married by tomorrow to collect. (This theme was used in several Three Stooges films and the greedy people always got what was coming to them!) Anyway, when the guys the women lined up for matrimony - Tom, Dick and Harry - are shipped out to Honolulu, the women are in desperate straits.

Their lawyer, however, has an idea: marry these three convicts (Curly, Larry and Moe, shown on the front page of the day's newspaper) today before they are going to be hanged tomorrow and then collect and be rid of them when they die!

So, the girls head out to the jail where the boys, of course, marry them instantly. (If all of the above sounds like a corny and weird, well, that's our beloved Three Stooges, many times corny and stupid but almost always funny and entertaining.)

The humor was mostly slapstick with poor Curly and Larry gets hammered by merciless Moe. You also get a lot of puns and outrageous things like a saw losing all its teeth after meeting up with Curly's noggin. Curly can be honest, though. "I'm too young and too handsome to die," he wails. Then he looks in a mirror, says "Yuck!!!" and says, "Well, I'm too young, anyway."

Another outrageous scene, in addition to the pie fight at the end, is the hanging scene inside the jail. It is incredible dark humor, even for the Stooges. There is an announcer gleefully giving us the details, a necktie company sponsoring the radio broadcast, guys selling programs, peanuts and popcorn to the rest of the inmates, etc., etc.

All of this leads to the Stooges getting back with those woman and the girls deciding that to get a good reason for a divorce, they'd throw a high-society party and let their husbands make fools of themselves. Apparently, that would be grounds for divorce!

This is a true classic Three Stooges film, complete with all the sight gags, slapstick and corny lines you'd ever want to hear.

In the Three Stooges' October 1941's "In The Sweet Pie and Pie," their 58th in the series, the 17-minute short is divided into two different locales. Its opening sees our heroes in jail about to be hanged for a murder they didn't commit. A lawyer played by actor Richard Fiske recommends to his three female clients who stand to inherit a large fortune if they marry before midnight to get hitched to the three since they'll be dead by execution the next day. They do, but a wrench in the women's plans is when the Stooges are found innocent after the real murderers have confessed.

In a sharp turn in scenery, the now married women realize they need a quick divorce. The best way is to show to their hoity-toity friends how barbaric their new husbands are at a formal function. Once the Stooges arrive, the gathering quickly dissolves into one of cinema's wildest pie fights "In The Sweet Pie and Pie" contains several things rarely seen in film. Usually capital executions are somber events. Here as the Stooges are led into the gallows it's celebrated as a sporting event, complete with cheering inmates as spectators and a radio "jerk-by-jerk" broadcast of the execution. The radio announcer 'Bill Stein' resembles the real-life sportscaster Bill Stern, one of media's most famous broadcasters at the time who handled the play-by-play of television's first baseball game in May 1939 and who appeared as himself in 1942's "The Pride of the Yankees." Another scene in "In The Sweet Pie and Pie" is a previous clip of one of the Stooges' more famous sequences where actress Geneva Mitchell in 1935's "How Polloi" is teaching the Stooges how to dance. While demonstrating a dance move, she finds a bee flying into the back of her dress, causing her and her three students who were asked to follow her every move to wiggle and prance before jumping out of the window. The Stooges' training sessions lead up to the 'coming out' high society party where among the guests is a United States Senator (Vernon Dent). The gathering ends in a disaster, complete with an audacious pie-throwing confrontation. What's different here from other food fights is all the pies contain crusts, a departure from Hollywood's normal thrown pies where shaving cream is simply sprayed into pie plates. Sadly, this was the final Stooges' movie for actor Richard Fiske, a regular in several of their shorts. He's the lawyer who comes up with all these ideas for his female clients. Fiske was drafted into the Army early 1942 and was killed in action in the Normandy France region in August 1944 at 29. He's buried at Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial, Basse-Normandie, France.

In the Sweet Pie and Pie (1941)

*** (out of 4)

At times hilarious short finds The Three Stooges in prison about to be put to death for a crime they didn't commit. A lawyer learns about their hanging and talks his three female clients into marrying the boys so that they can collect an inheritance but sure enough after the marriage the boys are set free. IN THE SWEET PIE AND PIE has a few weeks spots but for the most part this is classic Stooges as the boys go through some hilarious situations including a terrific pie fight that closes the film. The first portion of the movie packs quite a few laughs as the boys are trying to figure out a way to get out of prison not knowing that Curly has had saws the entire time. The second portion of the film is much better as the boys find themselves trying to fit into society and this includes a very funny dance sequence as well as the before mentioned pie fight. Speaking of the pie fight, I will admit that when they happen I usually don't laugh and it seems like this is something that the Stooges used every few shorts. Even though I normally don't laugh that certainly wasn't the case here because I thought the entire fight was hilarious and especially all of the reactions given by Moe. Just look at his covered up face when he first gets hit with the cake as it's very funny. While watching this rather long sequence I wondered how many takes they would have to do just to make sure all of the pies hit their targets perfectly.

Can you believe it!? Everyone's favorite stooges (that's Curly, Larry and Moe) are actually in prison (waiting execution) for their apparent involvement with the notoriously ruthless Mushroom Murder Gang.

Well, before you go and shed any tears for these boys, you can be rest assured that their wrongful accusation has promptly been given a full pardon from the governor.

And, so now our guilt-free guys can fly to the open arms of their newly wedded wives, Tiska, Taska, and Baska Jones where (before the night is over) you can be certain that some real zany, over-the-top shenanigans is gonna get well underway when the stooges try to toe-the-line and transform themselves into proper gentlemen of high-society living. (Nyuck! Nyuck! Nyuck!)

Larry, Curly, and Moe are innocent convicts facing execution in 24 hours. Tiska, Taska, and Baska are society girls who have to marry soon for their inheritance but their boyfriends are stuck at sea. Their lawyer comes up with a foolproof plan to marry the Stooges before their executions. After their quickie marriage, the real Mushroom Murder Mob is found and the Stooges are pardoned. Now the girls are stuck with the idiots and they scheme to get rid of them.

I really don't like the Curly stunt double but I must admit that he's too old to do that. There is also a bit of recycling as often happens with the Stooges. The pie fight is pretty standard although the Stooges make it fun. All in all, this is ridiculous fun from the Stooges and it's rather standard.