Three Pests in a Mess

Three Pests in a Mess (1945)

*** (out of 4)

The Three Stooges are trying to get their fly killer a patent but they soon realize that they'll need to kill a large number to break even. Soon after they end up with a blonde who thinks they're talking about cash and before long the trio believe they've killed a man. They rush to a cemetery to try and bury him when they run into more trouble.

THREE PESTS IN A MESS is certainly a step up compared to the previous two shorts that boys put out. This one here starts off a tad bit slow but things quickly pick up once the action begins. There are a few very funny scenes here including one involving Moe and some ink. This leads to a blackface joke that some might find offense but I thought it was pretty funny. The stuff in the cemetery isn't anything we haven't seen countless times before but it was still funny.

Having been wanting to review this short for quite some time, I really must say that, similar to "Uncivil Warriors", there was a slight plot hole that I can't help but be unable to overlook.

The plot hole is this:

After the Stooges try to stuff the "body" into a barrel, a cop approaches them and, thinking that it's trash, tells them to take it somewhere else, only to later discover the dummy and think that it's an actual body.

The prime problem was that it never showed how the Stooges got away from the cop after he started chasing them. That, and it was easy to tell that Curly dubbed a piece of dialogue at the last minute in the moment he was taking the body out.

Other than that, though, this short was another that I found to be nonstop fun!

Taking the chairs of both writer and director, Del Lord definitely didn't stop making himself known as one of the best Three Stooges filmmakers around. The comedy throughout the short was literally nonstop hilarious and fun, and the way Lord was able to make a ridiculous concept so entertaining was astounding. Despite how unbelievable a person mistaking a dummy for an actual body would obviously seem, the premise worked perfectly as a Stooges short.

The performances of the cast were great as well. Despite Curly not maintaining the same kind of splendor he had before, he still gave quite an energetic and funny performance. Plus, it was nice to see Moe and Larry have equal time to shine, and the trio's commitment to their material and their ability to deeply be into what they're doing hardly ceased itself from amazing me.

In the end, "Three Pests in a Mess" was another fun-filled member of the Three Stooges filmography that was absolutely hilarious and entertaining. Additionally, it's one of the very best shorts of the fourth volume set, even with the slight flaw in the plot being clear as day.

By 1944, the studio budgets for Columbia's short-subjects department were skyrocketing and most of the shorts were made rather cheaply and some were remakes of previous entries. Despite being directed by the great Del Lord, you can tell that he really tried to inject a lot of visual gags in the short. As for the plot, it's very silly, but it flows along nicely with great supporting performances by Christine McIntyre, Vernon Dent, and Snub Pollard.

THREE PESTS IN A MESS could've match up it's plot line better. The first half of the short is great, but the second half is bad because it may be inappropriate to general audiences. Secondly, the second half of the short wanders away from the plot of the first half. Don't even bother to watch.

Grade: D+

This is one of Curly's last short subjects but it is very good.I feel its a good one to watch around Halloween time as well!Christine McIntyre was very good and Vernon Dent was too!The thing with the dummy was great!This is a good one to check out!