Loose Loot

Larry, Moe, and Shemp are looking for their inheritance from their rich uncle but the executor of the estate, Icabob Slipp, is hiding the money. The guys have to give the crook a subpoena but they don't know what he looks like. Slipp pretends to be an angry client and rips up the subpoenas. The painting is an interesting gag. I like the premise. This is average Stooges fun.

Ah yes, the old "Stooge Decline," where the new fangled television sets are killing off the 2-reeler business (if it wasn't dead already) and Jules White has to go "stock footage" crazy.

All that being said, there are a few of these recycled dogs that are average or above that; hell a few might improve on the original. "Loose Loot" comes close to being as classic as "Hold that Lion." It certainly is the best one coming from these waning years of the Shemp trio...

This is the best of the remakes, a classic. Only the first five minutes are new footage and the next 10 minutes is stooge heaven! The new footage is hilarious and mayhem-filled. This is as good as the classic original "Hold That Lion!"(1947). From 1953-1956 many of the Shemp shorts were quite weak with some exceptions. This is one of the exceptions. I also find this to be the best of the remakes because in most of the remakes, only a 1/3 of the short was new footage.

Grade: A

"Loose Loot" is one of the first Stooges remakes of an earlier short. In this case, it is a remake of their 1947 effort "Hold That Lion." Beginning in 1952, producer Jules White began to remake earlier Stooge shorts and include existing footage in the remakes to save money and production time. In addition, motion picture houses were becoming increasingly reluctant to show short subjects; there was also the competition from television.

Some of the remakes lifted much footage from earlier shorts; more than 3/4 of each release after 1952 included footage from the earlier shorts.

"Loose Loot" includes footage from "Hold That Lion," most notably in the first five minutes. However, most of the remaining footage was shot in 1952. Happily, "Loose Loot" succeeds because of the new footage. This part of the plot takes place at a theatre where the Stooges are tracing the executor of their late uncle's will. Many funny slapstick moments occur in the new footage, which includes veteran actors Kenneth MacDonald and Tom Kennedy (Edgar Kennedy's brother.) Among the funnier moments are the Stooges throwing fruit at MacDonald and the surreal moment when the stooges enter a picture frame.

"Loose Loot" is not to be missed by Shemp fans and Stooges fans in general. Although based on a earlier short and including old footage, "Loose Loot" is funny and interesting in its own way. Stooge fans who tend to stay away from their 1950s remakes should catch this one.

LOOSE LOOT (1953) is not the best remake The Three Stooges have ever made. You can hardly even call this a remake. There's just reused footage from HOLD THAT LION! (1947) in the first five minutes. And the new footage is unusual, because most of it takes place in one room at the theatre. For some odd reason, Shemp isn't his usual funny self in the new footage, he, acts meaner that usual. "That guy must have iron in his bod," Shemp says after he sticks a sword in Slipp's (Kenneth MacDonald) rear end. Overall, an olay remake, but nothing special.

Grade: C

Footage from HOLD THAT LION! was also used in BOOTY AND THE BEAST (1953), the previous short.