The Hot Scots

"The Hot Scots" was an excellent short from beginning to end. Shemp seems very open to abuse since he takes a lot of it in this one. The fright scenes are hilarious. Edward Bernds once again does a great job in directing. One of my favorite stooge exchanges is in this one. Also, the stooges being gardeners in the beginning was quite funny.

Grade: A+

I like this one and this is one of My favorite ones with the Three Stooges! I think Christine McIntyre was as good always! All of the actors were good which included Herbert Evans, Charles Knight, Jimmy Logan, Theodore Lorch, and George Pembroke! I like the spooky theme of this one like some of the Three Stooges shorts! It has a good mystery to it! The Stooges especially Moe are hilarious in Hot Scots! One of the funniest parts in the short is when Moe and Christine McIntyre were dancing and she was giving the Earl's treasures to Theodore Lorch in disguise! One other part in it is when the Stooges introduce themselves to the Earl and Shemp is getting knocked on the head by Moe's cane! The Stooges Hot Scots is a hilarious spooky Three Stooges Short! Like some other spooky type Three Stooges shorts this is a great Three Stooges short to watch over again around Halloween time!

The head of Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn, was notoriously cheap when it came to producing his studio's movies. Always looking to save a buck, Cohn had the supervisor of short films, Jules White, reuse expensive sets left over from the studio's previous movies. In a trio of Three Stooges shorts, White ordered his writers to come up with scripts utilizing the castle sets built for Cornel Wilde's 1946 'The Bandit of Sherwood Forest.' Columbia released the three films in a row, called 'The Castle Trilogy,' with the last one, July 1948's "The Hot Scots." Unlike the Stooges previous two 'Castle' films, "Fiddlers Three" and "Squareheads of the Round Table," which took place in the Middle Ages, "The Hot Scots" was in contemporary times. It has the wanna-be detectives castle-sitting while safeguarding a Scottish Earl's valuables.

"The Hot Scots" saw actress Christine McIntyre deviate from her normal woman-in-distress roles for a more corrupt one. As the Earl's secretary, McIntyre's Lorna Doone, named after the late 17th Century character in R. D. Blackmore's novel as well as the Nabisco square-shaped shortbread cookie, is the ringleader of the Earl's staff aiming to steal all his high-priced items while he's away. Figuring the Stooges were incompetents in guarding the Earl's valuables, the thieves proceed with the caper, with hilarious results.

"The Hot Scots" was the last appearance for the Stooges' regular Theodore Lorch. Actor Lorch, 74, died of a heart attack shortly after he filmed his role as the butler McPherson. Beginning his movie acting career in 1920's "The Last of the Mohicans," Lorch is best known to Stooges fans for his role as Major "Bloodhound" Filbert in 1935's "Uncivil Warriors" and as General Muster in 1937's "Goofs and Saddles."

I wonder if McDonald's restaurant sponsored this film, if the business was around back then, because in one scene, they seem to call everything Mc-something!

This is a film where my favorite of all six stooges, Shemp can be seen at his funniest. Curly would be my favorite, but I think he's a little too silly. As the film begins, you see three men with beards, hats and pipes approach the desk of the top man at Scotland yard. The man asks, "What can I do for you gentlemen?" Moe answers, "Before we answer that, I want to prove we're not gentlemen!" The three men peel the fake facial hair off and Moe helps Shemp peel some of his. This reminds me of the Curly Stooges film with they went to Egypt in search of the mummy of King Rootin-tootin. They first appeared in an American museum disguised much the same way, except they wore false faces on the backs of their heads. (You must have seen it to know what I'm talking about.) Anyway, after getting their assignment in a way they never expected, the fun really begins. They go to Glenheather Castle in Scotland and run into three criminals, one is the lovely Christine McIntyre, who may very well be the best soprano I've ever heard. She doesn't sing in this short though (darn!). A really funny part is when they meet her before they knew she was one of the crooks and the owner of the castle. Larry (or McLarry) asked her, "And what might your name be, lass?" She replied, "Perhaps you've heard it. It's Lorna Doone." Shemp (or McShemp) extends his hand to shake and says, "Hi, Lorna. How ya doone?" Moe or (McMoe) raps him on that hand with his cane. This is one of my very favorite Shemp Stooge films. You may want to grab some Mcnuggets and Mcfries for this one!

The great Herbert Evans, a popular character actor who appeared in four Oscar winning films, including CASABLANCA, plays the wise old Earl of a Scottish castle who needs help! Enter the Stooges, who were working as gardeners for Scotland Yard(!) there to save the Earl's family fortune from cut-throat thieves. Among the bad guys is Christine McIntire (as Lorna Doone)! Shemp steals the show, kidding with the Earl and basically mugging and acting goofy. This was Theodore Lorch's last short, long associated with the boys and usually playing creepy butlers and other stuffy gents. Best scene is the disappearing beds and the spooks jumping under the sheets. The Stooges were always at their best in haunted house and castles. Get the dvd box sets, which have come down in price over the years.