False Alarms

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

This is a very funny Three Stooges short. Its extremely hilarious. Curly is so different in this one. Stanley Blystone is very good in this one and his fire chief character is a good one. The scenes with Curly and the women is very funny. There is another fire fighter Three Stooges short called Flat Foot Stooges which it is pretty good. I recommend this one!

This is one of those "classic" Three Stooges shorts that is funny no matter how many times you view it. You get some good sight gags, a few hilarious lines of dialog, a Keystone Kops-type wild ride in the city and the usual assortment of Stooge jokes and slapstick.

The boys are pretty new at being firemen but, of course, they are pathetic and are "fired" for sleeping on the job (among other sins, such as never helping to put out a fire). They plead with the chief, played by Stanley Blystone, to give them one more chance.

The ironic part of the story is that there never is a fire to be put out, only at the very end when the boys drive away in a big truck with the contents on fire in the back! Unfortunately, the contents happen to be the chief's brand-new car.

Much of the story centers around Curly trying to find a "fella" for fat girl "Minnie" who is one of three girls at a birthday party the Stooges were invited to, but only Curly could attend. (Why that was, you'll have to watch).

June Gittlelson, who plays the big woman, is very good. Every man she runs into, she asks, "Will you be my fella?" To Curly, she adds, "You know I grow on people." Curly answers, "Yeah, so do warts!"

Minnie wants a man in the worst way, or she wants to go somewhere and eat. I suppose fat people will be insulted with movie. Near the end, she and Curly take turns slapping each other. It's wonderful stuff you'd never see today! The goofy antics at the fire hall, at the birthday party with the women and the mayhem in the streets all make this a very entertaining Stooges film .

Curly, Larry and Moe are with the fire brigade. They mess things up and almost get fired. They get one last chance. Later that day are suppose to go to a birthday party with some girls but are not allowed to leave. Only Curly sneaks out and arrives at the party. He must find a way to get his friends there as well and therefore he sets off the alarm. You can imagine what can go wrong.

This is a pretty funny short with some very nice physical jokes as well. By watching too much Three Stooges shorts the violence, especially from Moe, gets a little irritating. There are also very funny violent moments so I am not really complaining. It is just that after one punch in the eyes it is enough, in my humble opinion. Still, this is a very entertaining movie.

False Alarms (1936)

*** (out of 4)

The Three Stooges are about to be fired at their fire fighting jobs but the Captain gives them one more shot, which they take advantage of by destroying his new car. This is certainly a step up from the previous couple shorts as this one here returns to the fast paced roots of the earlier movies. The stuff with the fat girl was very funny and the boys antics are a lot funnier here including a great sequence where the wreck the car.

Now available on Columbia's 2-disc set, which features over 20 shorts, all digitally remastered and looking better than ever.

Once again the Stooges are firemen. While this isn't the first time they've been in these roles, this isn't one of the best due to a plot and jokes that just don't seem to have a lot of energy or zip. Fortunately, while this is a problem, the mindless violence that many enjoy in their films is present--with some of the most painful-looking gags I've seen. Larry really has a tough time of it and I don't know how they did the one scene with Moe holding him by the hair as he dangled on the fire pole--could this have been real? Also, although it may offend some, I liked where Curly and the lady at the end of the film slap each other around--especially since in the 1930s you almost never saw a guy slap a lady--unless he's a Stooge! Overall, it's an amiable time-passer and not a lot more. Fans of the team will no doubt love it, while others will probably find it all a tad tiresome.