Sweet and Hot

"Sweet and Hot" is one of the last Stooge two-reelers shot at Columbia. As such, the production values are poor, and let's face it --this film is merely a pilot to showcase Muriel Landers.

I will defend this film, however, as NOT being the worst film in the Stooges canon. (That honor must surely go to the racist "The Yoke's on Me.") Muriel Landers has a modicum of talent; she later appeared on early episodes of "Laugh In" and previously appeared as the love interest (!) of Sammy Petrillo in "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla."

I must also defend Joe and Larry. The talents of Joe Besser burst forth here. He tears paper and does a little dance. What's bad about that?

Okay, so some of my comments are tongue in cheek. "Sweet and Hot" is no classic, but it's not the worst Stooge film, either. Although it musk rank in the bottom 20. 4 out of 10.

I have to say I agree with a lot of what's said in the other comments. No, the Stooges should not have been reduced to this. Yes, it violates a key Stooge ethic to have the guys play different, and separate, characters like this. (That ethic never needed to be stuck to more than in the sadly low-budget Besser years. Separating the guys, as in this one or FLYING SAUCER DAFFY -- presumably as a way of trying to deal with Joe "not fitting in" -- just made things worse; the guys always worked best as a true trio.) And, yes, it was a mistake to center a Stooge short so much around a non-Stooge character. As for that character, the most charitable thing I can say is that her singing, etc., must have gone over much better in 1958 than it does now. Overall, this short is just too different, and that "different-ness" is not good.

But the Stooges themselves, as always, give it their best. They still manage to be fine comic actors even with all these disadvantages. Yes, we miss the usual Moe, but he plays his atypical character here well; his fractured English is a hoot ("A mice! A mice!"). (I'm surprised no one's pointed out that each Stooge plays TWO characters in this, though in the flashback scene they don't do much funny.) And, as one who does not worship at the altar of Curly (I like Shemp best, actually), I maintain that Joe could have made a fine Stooge were it not for the low budgets and the poor scripts in which they seemed not to know what to do with him. (Joe's tap dancing -- or anyone's, actually -- doesn't fit well into a Stooge short, but it gives a hint of how much more talent this guy had than his Stooge work let him show.)

"Sweet and Hot" is neither sweet nor hot. What it is, actually, is sad. The Stooges were near the end of the line (Columbia would shut down the shorts department and unceremoniously dump them later that year), and it shows. They are old, and they look tired. Columbia cut the budgets for its shorts department to almost nothing, which is obvious by watching this thing. Besides the Stooges, the only other "actor" (for lack of a better word) in this film is Muriel Landers, a woman who is so monumentally untalented it is actually embarrassing to watch her. You wonder if she was related to some Columbia executive, as that could be the only possible explanation for her appearance. She can't sing or dance (although for some unfathomable reason she's given a musical number), and she certainly can't act. There's no real plot to speak of; nothing in this film is anywhere near funny. The whole thing runs about 15 minutes and looks like it was shot in 16 minutes. It is not easy to watch this film, and not just because of its cheapness and ineptitude. It's sad to see two comics (Joe Besser was never considered a real Stooge by true Stooge fans) at the end of their careers in a vehicle that is nowhere near worthy of their talents, and this piece of crap definitely isn't.

If The Stooges Had a Woman in the team, it would be four stooges, and it would not work well. Thus is the problem with this late Stooge short. The Stooges are not together as a team like most of their shorts but rather Moe is introduced 4 minutes in as a German psychiatrist (think of Sidney Fields on The Abbott and Costello Show, who I thought did a funnier job as a quack). Before the whole team gets together on camera we have an extended song by our "fourth Stooge", Muriel Landers, who's IMDb bio says was formerly Ray Bolger's nightclub partner. Her online credits seem to be uncredited bit roles as a large sized woman in comedies. Here, she seems to have more screen time then The Stooges! I usually give all the Joe Besser shorts a higher rating because I like them more then most reviewers but here I'm giving it a low rating. Not because of Joe Besser but because the basic premise of the Three Stooges is so far off the norm here, plus its not funny. Not a single laugh really. Giving this a 4 is probably being generous.

Sure, it's not the best story, and it was a showcase for Muriel Landers, but I've always enjoyed the dialogue in the doctor's office.

"Gentlemen, take a chair." "Here, here, here! Please don't take them home!" "Indian Giver."