Flat Foot Stooges

In this short subject the boys are firemen who succeed in burning down the fire station. Not that in this case they started the fire, but their response time leaves a lot to be desired even for the Three Stooges.

It all starts innocently enough for the boys, they're told the fireman's picnic is coming and to get things spic and span even their two white horses. Only Moe, Larry, and Curly would think of sending the horses and themselves to get cleaned up.

This short subject is something of a Keystone Kops reunion with brothers Chester and Heinie Conklin in the cast. With Chief Chester leading the response to a fire in their own station is hilarious.

One wonders if the ancestors of the Three Stooges were part of the Rome Volunteer Fire Department when Nero burned the city.

Flat Foot Stooges (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent short has the Three Stooges working at a fire company that still uses a horse and buggy to go to the fires. A salesman tries to make them come current but the owner refuses so the man accidentally starts a fire at the firehouse. It's hard to believe one could say that a Stooges short was just too silly for its own good but that's pretty much the case here. Have you ever seen a duck that eats some gun powder and then lays an egg that explodes? You'll get to see that here as well as another scene where bulldog fights a mouse only to get beat up. Those two items aren't really funny and that's pretty much the story from start to finish. We get a few nice gags but even the best ones will only put a smile on your face and none of them will have you laughing at out. The entire second half of the film deals with the firehouse being on fire but the Stooges manage not to realize even though they're downstairs from the blaze. This leads to a rather amusing scene where they must try to get the wagon around town without any horses.

In the Stooges' final short of 1938, December's "Flat Foot," they revisit the fire house in their 35th short film. Shady salesman Mr. Reardon (character actor Dick Curtis in his film debut) drops a keg of dynamite inside the horse-driven fire truck because he's frustrated he was unable to sell the fire chief (Chester Conklin) a motorized vehicle. Meanwhile, the chief's daughter catches him in the act. She follows him upstairs at the firehouse, only to have both knocked out while a duck who's ingested the dynamite powder leaking from Reardon's keg lays an explosive egg at the window, setting off a fire. The Stooges as resident firemen, respond to the fire, thinking it's blocks away as they did in their earlier 1936's "False Alarm." They scamper away in their horse-drawn fire truck--without the horses but manned by a group of civilian volunteers-only to see their truck blow up.

Charley Chase was an efficient yet hasty director of the Three Stooges when filming their shorts. There's a couple of slipped lines said by Moe and Larry that the perceptive viewer can spot which Chase left in rather than reshoot. Larry also says Curly's trademark line, "I'm a victim of circumstance" for the first time. "Flat Foot Stooges," whose title was gleaned from the 1938 popular jazz song 'Flat Foot Floogee' by Slim and Slam, was filmed after "Three Little Sew and Sews," but released a month before. The tune 'Three Blind Mice' was first used in this Stooges' opening credits.

As the fire chief, actor Chester Conklin was a comedian in silent movies for Mack Sennett beginning in 1914, appearing in Charlie Chaplin's first short, "Making A Living." Chaplin and he became good friends for life, with Conklin acting alongside The Tramp in more than a dozen shorts as well as in 1935's "Modern Times" and 1940's "The Great Dictator." The 1950s were not kind to Conklin, who was unable to find work. He resorted during the holidays to play Santa Claus in a department store. He died in 1971 at 85, six years after his last film appearance, 1966's 'A Big Hand for the Little Lady.'

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 hilarious. The Stooges are a little different in this one. Dick Curtis is very good in this one and his character is a good one. Chester Conklinand and Lola Jensen perform well as father daughter! The scenes with the fire house mouse and the bulldog is very funny. There is another fire fighter Three Stooges short called False alarms which it is a great one! I recommend this one!

FLAT FOOT STOOGES is a very weird plot. How did they come up with the idea of a duck laying an egg with gunpowder to start a fire. The stooges also play firemen in SOUP TO NUTS, FALSE ALARMS, & IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD. Watch one of those films instead.

** out of 4 stars.