The Avengers: An IMAX 3D Experience (2012)

I'm a bit late to the Avengers love fest but now that I'm here I've still got a couple of axes to grind before my analysis on the film itself so bare with me for a moment while we take a look at the "IMAX 3D Experience" part of my review. We'll address The Avengers after the break so you can skip ahead if you like.

True IMAX experience creates an enrapturing cinematic immersion in an era where home theaters are quickly becoming more and more capable of capturing the flavors of cinema. The large format 70mm projection system on 76 x 98 foot screens is a sight to behold and is always the preferable way to truly experience cinema. Christopher Nolan is of course one of the best proponent of 70mm today and shot parts of The Dark Knight and even more of The Dark Knight Rises using IMAX camera to best utilize 70mm. For me this is worth the extra money for the venue and I happily forked over $14.50 for a matinee seat for The Avengers. However there is an ugly commercial side to the IMAX franchise. There are newly christened IMAX theater screens which are only 28 x 58 feet in size.

There is a more extensive article titled Is IMAX the next "New Coke"? which gives a good rundown of the situation. The closest IMAX theater to me was opened by AMC and it is one of these IMAX in name only situations. Originally I was weary of the announced opening and was unable to find any specifics about the screen size at this location. I went there to see TRON: Legacy to confirm the size and sadly it was indeed not a full IMAX screen. The 3D experience was also substandard because the image was noticably darker with the 3D glasses on this IMAX screen then the 3D I've seen on other true IMAX screens. There was also a more pronounced moire effect with the passive glasses on this screen. I've continued to drive out of my way to see The Adventures of Tintin and The Avengers at the original IMAX theaters in their proper 76x98 foot glory. The difference in brightness of the 3D with glasses at the true IMAX screen for The Avengers was negligible when compared without glasses. The 3D experience itself was effective with only a few minor moments where the 3D alignment was not properly adjusted.

3D itself is hotly debated and I'm somewhat bemused by the constant question "is 3D dead yet?" The prevalence of 3D today can be looked at very much the way sound or color were viewed in its day. After all black and white films were still common up until the 1970's. Like sound and color the third dimension is an every day occurrence that should be incorporated into our cinematic experience. Although I sympathize with those who can't appreciate 3D I have the same feeling towards those who are death or color blind. One of my friends only has one eye and could not enjoy Avatar the same way as I did when we went to see it in 3D. He watched the movie with the glasses on showing just one plane but he was still impressed with the IMAX screen. Technology is ever progressing however and I don't doubt that when glasses free 3D will become the prevalent norm it will leave generations to wonder what the whole debate was about (if they're aware of the debate at all).

Cheap 3D conversions are another subject all together and I'm not too keen on updating older films to 3D any more than I'm interested in colorizing black and white films, full screen versions of widescreen films or other such tinkering. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was an exception, not the rule, and that was because they took the time and consideration to make it a true 3D experience. When the filmmakers are taking 3D conversion into consideration while on set and in post-production with the proper attention films shot truly in 3D take that consistently produces fine results. I don't hold any grudges with the current films making the conversion to 3D like The Avengers have.

Now, with all that out of the way, let's take a look at the film in question. There are plot point revelations so you are forewarned spoilers are ahead as Joss Whedon's The Avengers is after the jump...

Batman: Fine Feathered Finks (1966)

KIDS! Who doesn't already know who The Penguin is? Exactly. Lorenzo Semple Jr. thought so too and decided to hit the ground waddling once again with only his third script and second shot at a villain. The Penguin is portrayed as an established criminal who's not only already in prison for previous crimes, he's already served his full length of time and is about to be released! Instead of introduction or developing the character he's just executed in his fully developed glory. What the script does take the time to do is poke some fun at the "progressive" changes to the prison system that the warden has implemented with The Penguin as his model prisoner. Although Commissioner Gordon and Robin cast doubts on the effectiveness of such programs Batman gives his full support. Of course The Penquin quickly proves to be unredeemed; much to the warden's dismayed reflection of "Where did I go wrong?"

Although Batman is quick to re-affirm the warden's faith in his progressive beliefs the over all message of the sequence is the futility of such measures. The facts of the situation and the parody nature of Batman's character make his statements hard to accept for any audience member. There is a strong conservative streak throughout the Batman series that ranges from not just crime/punishment but also to ineffective government, sexism, and the wise leadership of aristocracy. This is contrary to the spirit of the more well known anti-establishment pop art and comedic styles of the show. Batman takes the counterculture of the 60's only to parody every last bit of it. Yet the liberals at the time still ate it up. Today it can be seen more as a product of its era, a relic ripe for its own mocking. But that all fails to recognize the complex Jekyll and Hyde nature of this show.

The first appearance of The Penguin is similar to The Riddler's first appearance from Hi Diddle Riddle in the sense that writer Lorenzo Semple Jr. has once again used a plot device that is far more advanced then would typically be used in what can be considered as just the second episode. The Penguin has schemer's block and can't come up with a single plan for his next crime wave. So he decides to throw out a bunch of elaborate clues with no real planned connection in the hopes that Batman will make the connections for him. Could you imagine Warner Brothers backing a Batman Returns where Danny DeVito had no fiendish plot and relied on Michael Keaton to do if for him? With all the slack Tim Burton is able to cut for himself he could never get the green light on a script like Fine Feathered Finks. Once again Lorenzo decides to challenge the audience upfront and I commend William Dozier for supporting it.

The almost immediate success of the show helps to prove that giving the audience more credit than their typically due can pay out in dividends. This show mixes the high brow with the low brow in the most ingenious ways and the most ingenious thing about it was the fact that everyone took it to be simply low brow. Unfortunately Batman was a victim of its own success in this regard by making it look too easy. Even today it is seen as a dumb show and by the third season it was even treated as such by its own staff of writers who know longer "got" the true joke. Ren & Stimpy suffered a similar TV fate.

Batman: Smack in the Middle (1966)

KIDS! If Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Fredric Wertham didn't already have you thinking of Batman and Robin's relationship in a really weird way then this second episode of the Adam West Batman TV series sure will. After tying Robin up to an operating table and performing their cosmetic procedure Robin is awaken one more time. Strapped down Robin is dangled in front of Batman like a cliche damsel in distress. Some of Robin's dignity is preserved as he solves a number of Riddles ahead of Batman. (This is in character for the rest of the series where Robin is normally the best at solving riddles.) But the demasculinization of Robin is far from over yet. After being put under by the application of anesthetic on an operating table, post-op Robin is reawaken as Molly; a near duplicate of the boy wonder.

This episode goes to great length to showcase the sexiness of Jill St. John as Robin. She's initially posed in a suggestive manner in Robin's outfit. After Molly puts the mask on Burt Ward duplicates the seductive pose with a knowing smile. Robin even struts in a bubble gum walk in front of Riddler who then seemingly checks out his/her ass. They took care to dub Jill's voice over Ward's to complete the female effect. Considering producers insist upon including Robin because they believe children see themselves as Robin, it's quite mind blowing for a young boy to see that a beautiful voluptuous woman could be substituted for their proverbial stand-in by Batman's side. One can't help but wonder if an impressionable nine year old Frank Miller saw this episode and was later inspired to put a redheaded female Robin in his opus The Dark Knight Returns by the name of Carie Kelley.

Back to the plot, using the Bat-locator Batman is able to pinpoint Robin's location in a speeding van. Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson's sworn protector, proceeds to disable the van there by intentionally causing it to crash. The danger of this action is even emphasized by the show because The Riddler and Molly put on crash helmets anticipating the crash. With all the great pains even the first episode takes to mock how safety minded Batman is this course of action is especially out of line. This cartoon level of violence is par the course for this series though.

The most shocking thing about this episode, and of perhaps any of the Batman TV shows, is that Molly's character is killed off in a rather senseless fashion. Not only is just about the entire sequence especially jarring but it ends with a sexist pun, "What a way to Go-Go." It's somewhat amazing in today's culture that this episode is still aired and the show itself is considered safe for children. Perhaps it could be said that the death of Molly demonstrates the resolute of Batman to reject a female substitute as a partner. This theme is later explored with Catwoman. If the 60's taught kids anything it's that the female is an incomplete male.

The rest of the episode plays out rather like the rest of the show's episodes do; setting in stone the plot patterns. It's worth noting that Frank Gorshin gave a much wider range to the Riddler in this episode with many smaller details and subtler emotions. This second episode showcases Gorshin's finer touches better than the first. Gorshin is especially on the mark when on the set of the hideout menacing Robin. There is a moment, before Batman explodes into the Ridder's hideout, where Gorshin takes the character through apprehension, feigns control  into total loss of emotional control. It is a subtle progression that the Riddler masks with apparent humor but is clearly about to turn violent. He his stopped before striking Robin by the explosion. This is a nice complex moment in what might otherwise have been a flat scene of pure anger with another actor. The mixtures of emotions is well measured and executed with camp perfection.

These first two episode came out of no where like a bolt of lightning from the sky and sent electricity coursing through the bodies of kids throughout the neighborhoods. They cemented the style of the show which remained nearly unchanged even by the end of the series's three year run. It was an ingenious two part episode that is not given enough credit for its challenging content and clever wit.

Batman: Hi Diddle Riddle (1966)

Normally I go through an entire TV season watching an episode or two day by day. Today I'll be starting a new round of episodes with the Adam West lead 'Batman' TV series. Tonight will be the first episode, 'Hi Diddle Riddle," first aired on January 12, 1966.

What's most apparent about the very first episode is how fully formed the concept and execution for the entire series already was here. At best only minor alterations were eventually made to the plot structures, villains and general tone for the show. For most TV series the first season is usually seen in hindsight as a work in progress; especially in the pilot or first episode. This show does do a good job establishing the traditional plot structure from the comics with Batman being defeated in a first encounter, coming up evenly matched in the second encounter and finally defeating the villain during the third encounter.

"We're in luck, he's home." Gotham's Finest's got Batman on a dedicated line.

Infrastructure firmly in place. Bruce's Batpole looks a little bigger too.

The typical start of a superhero series either on TV or in the movies is to focus in on the origin story and introduce the lead character before they are even the hero. Instead what we are given here by prolific writer Lorenzo Semple Jr. is a Batman already in the prime of his crime fighting career. Already he has a well establish rogue gallery. He has already been deputized by the police along with putting in place the mechanisms to aid him like the bat phone. The character of Batman and Robin are in many ways already frozen in state from here on out. More and more today we are seeing superheros introduced through origin stories like the rebooting of Spider-Man only ten years after Sam Raimi's origin story in 2002. Ironically today's audiences are becoming much more familiar with these characters and the origin stories are less necessary now then any time after World War 2. Lorenzo understood that kids were already familiar enough with the character and just wanted to get to the pay off point. This also has the benefit of seeing the character already firmly established which helps to build the myth and prestige of the character in the audience's minds. No wonder kids went nuts for Batman from the start. He wasn't a bastard child struggling to become something more. He was just Batman.

Ambitious blocking for this single camera set-up.

Robin stands a safe distance away in a "flight" position.

Compare that to Tim Burton's 'Batman' which established the character already with firm footing on his territory in Gotham (with a teaser opening reminiscent of the loss of Bruce Wayne's own parents.) but struggling with his new life and still not yet fully revealed to the citizen of Gotham. Now follow that up with Christopher Nolan's 'Batman Begins' which goes in depth and at length to show how Bruce Wayne came to be Batman. Nearly the first hour is spent establishing Bruce Wayne before we ever truly get to Batman. With the end of Christopher Nolan's trilogy in 'The Dark Knight Rises' coming later this year already Warner has re-introduced the character with an animated adaptation of Frank Miller's 'Year One.' Once Nolan hangs up his cape and cowl it is expected that Warner will reboot Batman once again with another original rehash. It shows a keen appreciation for the audience when the filmmakers take an already established character and just tell an interesting story with him without the need for lengthy introductions.

Color coordinated Riddler gvies Batman matching blue court papers.

"Boy that Riddler, always thinking of others."

 This episode also takes liberties with Batman's character that aren't normally performed until a character is already firmly established in the audiences' minds. Typically a series would not run the risk of jeopardizing a character's personality until the later seasons. From the start The Riddler tricks Batman into arresting him and sues him for false arrest. This is an intriguing plot twist that many superhero's face occasionally in plot lines still to this day but only after establishing the crime fighter's typical conflict through resolution pattern. The character of Batman is shown placing a false arrest when we haven't even seen him place a legal arrest yet. The typical screenplay would first show Batman defeating crime before having the criminals beating him. This was a refreshing twist that played with audience's expectations. Kids expected Batman to nail Riddler, not be nailed by the Riddler! This script is smart because it already gives the audience credit for being a few steps ahead and so pulls the rug right out from under them in the very first episode. This of course helps set the precedent that this show is primarily camp by placing Batman in such a ridiculous predicament without any context to show him acting competently. Lorenzo is able to establish the tone with a clever plot device within the story structure.

That orange juice ain't the only thing screwy around here.

The Ridder seems awfully touchy feely around an unconscious Robin; much to Molly's dismay.

This two parter also plays off of the hysteria surrounding the book Seduction of the Innocent. Batman is shown as overprotective of Robin's well being by asking him to stand back while Batman throws up a grapple to scale a building. A rather simple act that needs little to protect from. Later Batman has the underage Robin sit outside in the Batmobile like a neglected child while he goes inside a bar to dance with the first strange fascination with legs he can find. The dance itself needs little explanation as to its ridicule. Lorenzo follows this up by compromising Batman's character even further by slipping him a mickey. Not only is Batman portrayed as a drunk driver who needs to have his keys taken away by the police, his slurred speech and near babbling hysterics over the loss of Robin come eerily close to a man crying in an empty glass over a lost love. The police seem to ignore his pleas as intoxicated ramblings with little thought to there being any imminent danger to Robin. The police act the same way they would to any homeless man talking to him self on the street. Batman is a man shown to be out of control of his feelings which are singularly affectionate towards Robin. Again Lorenzo toys with the conventions and hits a nerve with the public's perceptions of the character. A true mark of comedy.

Give me the keys sir.

But I'm the GODDAMN BATMAN!

It's mentioned how Robin's aunt would react if she knew the danger Dick Grayson is exposed to on a regular basis. He is of course captured by The Riddler who leers over Robin's tied unconscious body sadistically with scalpel in ready hand. You may note that after Nurse Jill hands The Riddler a scalpel Robin "awakens" in the next episode as a woman in the impersonation of Molly. The de-masculinization of young Robin as damsel in distress is graphically depicted by the first two episodes in the series. Never in Dr. Fredric Wertham's wildest dreams could he have imagined these events unfolding as they do here.

Give those to Magenta, she knows what to do with bloody rubbers.

Turn them inside out and use 'em for an others.

With an IQ of 162 she never had to say, "I wish these were brains."

Jill St. John is perhaps the only glaring difference between the first two episodes and the way the rest of the series played out. Her roll is also uncharacteristically sinister and unrepentant compared to her later incarnations. Although later episodes would see the molls with small roles in the plots most were worn around the arm by villains but all too often fell for Batman and recanted their evil ways. Molly played a skillful part in the Riddler's plot reflecting Jill's own talents beyond simple eye candy. She could have easily rivaled Julie Newmar if she had been able to strike out on her own as a villainess. Her unique role in Batman would not be duplicated. She has obviously come to be the biggest name actress to play the moll roll during Batman's run.

Next kids we will continue with some final thoughts on 'Smack in the Middle.'

Holy Gender Bender Batman!

Svengoolie: This Island Earth (1955)

I first saw 'This Island Earth' (1955) in the theaters. It was a very special treat as my father drove the whole family downtown to see the limited screening. The van overheated in the middle of traffic and stalled. The old man had to pop the hood, find some bottled water and poor it into the radiator while we sat back in anticipation. Could we make our one chance for this once in a life time screening? Would we be too late? It was all like something out of a Jean Shepherd novel. However my Pa got the engine turning again and with the exorbitant parking fees aside made it on time to see this limited engagement of Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie. Yes, much to the condemnation of old school sci-fi fans everywhere this was my first exposure to this science fiction classic.

Tonight however the scene would be set by another genre host Svengoolie, a local TV host who's now broadcast nationwide like Elivra and has been at it for twice as long. Rich Koz started out in the late 1970's as Son of Svengoolie before finally playing the role for so long he himself became our beloved singular Svengoolie. I'd seen This Island Earth a few times as stand alone since my first exposure through MST3k but I must admit I've seen The Movie version so many times its riffs are engraved into my memory patterns. But we shall focus on how Sven presented tonight.

What's most interesting is the edits made between the theatrical cut, the MST3k cut and Svengoolie. Sven made trims to Cal's scenic flight, all the dialog between delivery and just before assembly of the Interocitor montage, seemingly some trims to the inner plane ride to Georgia (my memory is fuzzy on that one) and some trims to the escape from the house in Georgia. It's worth noting that MST3k made fun of how quickly Cal and Ruth dried off from their trimmed scenes, but even in the full length version it is a clear change from wet to dry. What's interesting is what MST3k left in like the scenic flight and some minor dialog, and that while Sven kept most of the footage from the escape there's some segue footage cut there that MST3k included. MST3k of course relishes deadspace for jokes while Sven would looking to keep people from changing channels. The MST3k version is brief but flows fairly well while the Sven footage doesn't always quite match up. Partially I think it's because MST3k took more time to edit the film theatrical then Sven did for their broadcast. Also interesting was Sven's use of letterboxing for the whole lead inserting in the toaster scene when looking through the giant viewmaster. MST3k didn't maintain that illusion as well as the Sven transfer did although the rest of Sven's footage is full screen. At one point the channel MeTV showed an old commercial for a theater which advertised free popcorn for anyone who got a soda with a red star on it.

As for the film itself it's probably not worth the time to spell out the plot for you so I'll run over the more interesting details. Faith Domergue claimed she had nothing on underneath her alien speedsuit and sports some near cameltoe as she looks simply poured into that tight outfit. I still prefer the pink wet t-shirt and bullet bra ensemble she wore during their escape from the house. There's also an underplayed black maid in a french outfit in the heart of the South. Sven pointed out that the Mork & Mindy connection with the aliens went so far as the character name Exeter being used again although this time spelled as "Exidor." He also noted that the reporter Cal talks with is Olan Soule who would later voice Batman in cartoons. I also just noticed at the fog drenched airport Cal is operating the manual windshield wipers on the Army Jeep.

Some of my favorite moments happen when they're first on the spaceship as it seems someone else was writing parts like this line of dialog, "Ruth, don’t tell me as a woman you’re not curious about our destination?" What part of being a woman makes you more curious about your destination then men, boys or even young girls for that matter? Was this some kind of dig about how woman are willing to ask for directions? Plus when Ruth asks him how they're able to create artificial gravity all he says back is that they make artificial gravity. That doesn't answer the question at all! And if the aliens are migrating to Earth why bother to destroy your only base of operations on Earth to bring some Earthlings all the way to Metaluna for just an hour or two when you know you're about to go back? No wonder they lost the war with strategic planning like that. Also Exeter comments that now his planet can be a sun for some other world but if his solar system already has a sun it'll still be pretty useless for most any orbiting planet.

Continuing the trend from earlier this evening when Curly smoked from a "water pipe" our fearless adventures step into giant bong and let'er rip. Sven directly follows up this scene appropriately enough by parodying the Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Lookin' Out My Back Door" from the stoner favorite The Big Lebowski with some psychedelic Interocitor styled camera view to match. A lot of This Island Earth's score had its own experimental flavor with generous use of the theremin; standard in sci-fi since its use in The Day the Earth Stood Still and Forbidden Planet.

There's also some consistently bad blocking through the movie and some poorly lit moments where characters are in shadow because of the blocking. Then on the spaceship they didn't matte the movement of the camera to the second exposure and so the stars move with the camera instead of remaining their own steady motion. Though while on the alien world there's some pretty good matte paints, models but a truly bad blue screen effect that really should have been cut out. Surprisingly MST3k did in fact cut this out while Sven left it in with some comment. Also it appears they didn't bother to matte the close ups in the airplane and just left the blue screen alone as blue skies.

So while this movie does have an interesting premise, a decent budget and a well cast ensemble of actors this has not aged as well as some of its contemporaries. But modern sci-fi would be so lucky as to still be seen and discussed some sixty years later. There's something iconic and everlasting about 50's sci-fi that I think no other era (except perhaps the 80's) as been able to re-capture.

9th Anniversary “Stooge-A-Palooza”

Here in Chicago today was the 9th anniversary of "Stooge-a-Palooza," a weekly two hour block of Three Stooges shorts on local TV hosted by Rich Koz. Rich had been local color here in Chicago for decades now. I grew up watching his morning kid's TV show screening cartoons and he's been a staple as local TV horror host Svengoolie, or more accurately Son of Svengoolie, since the late 70's.

Rich hosts the Stooges by giving some factoids and sometimes placed the films in proper context. Unfortunately I missed most of the first hour of this Saturday's block, coming halfway through the Shemp short Three Arabian Nuts (1951). As a Shemp fan I'd like to review it but having only seen half of the episode I will save a full review for another day.

The first full short I saw from the block today was the Curly entry 'Playing the Ponies' (1937). Financially inspired by the Marx Brother's success with 'A Day at the Races' released earlier in the year, this is still some of the Stooge's better moments. Curly even honks a horn for a gag very much as Harpo Marx would. Like much of their 1930's output there's a more down to earth tone to the routines and the film stock itself is grittier. A team of five writers hammered this one out for our boys, and as pointed out by the host Rich Koz this was the last hurrah for many of those writers. Who's really unsung from the Three Stooges' shorts are their foley artists. Even in the earliest shorts from the 1930's they produced top notch foley work even compared to today's standards and that really help emphasize the Stooge's performances. However there's a really odd moment here where Larry sits on a pitch fork and his cries of agony are dubbed by Curly. The dubbing itself is fairly obvious with a dramatic increase in the noise floor but for the most part Curly does a pretty good Larry Fine impression that could rival Billy West. There's some scenes that border on other restaurant routines the boys would later do but it's somewhat refreshing to see them going in another direction this early in their careers.

Next up on the block is the highly praised but just as regularly banned from TV short 'I'll Never Heil Again' (1941). Being Jewish themselves our boys relished the opportunity to lampoon Adolph Hitler and his cronies. Moe gives a spookily spot on imitation of Adolph's fiery German speeches that seems to reveal his own hatred of the Nazi's themselves. The film opens with the all too familiar to modern audience's legal declaration to being unrelated to anyone living but, "anyone resembling them is better off dead." One of the many politically incorrect statements that helped to ban this short from the air while also being the very reason why we love it so. Rich Koz noted that Hitler is said to have hated the Three Stooges which is somewhat interesting if not unsurprising as it is said he loved Charlie Chaplin's portrayal in The Great Dictator the year before. Speaking of which, the Stooges could not help themselves with taking their own turn at tossing the globe around as the tramp so eloquently did. But this time the boys get rough and tumble while tossing it around like a pig skin. A nice contrast of the Stooge's more every man sensibilities.  

Mary Ainslee plays a bombshell princess of the dethroned King who really shows she knows how to rack'em up when she puts a bomb in the shell of a 13 pool ball.

There's also a very hot brunette french maid, which must have happened during the French Occupation, who so far seems to remain an unknown combatant even to the internet. The aforementioned pool ball has a surprisingly well executed scene with some stunning SFX's that are done in live action wide shoots. There's some other nice classical touches too like Curly and Larry Fine walking into a room backwards to show their ignorance and a vision of hell where the Stooges are roasting on a spit fire while red suited devils poke them with pitch forks. There's also the politically incorrect mix up of ethnicity with the Asian Indian speaking like a Native American who gives curly a portable "water pipe." You'd almost expect them to call it a peace pipe but they are Nazi's after all. Speaking of stereotypes the Japanese delegate is portrayed as being obsessed with taking photographs at inopportune times. I never would have imagined this image to be so ingrained in American culture as to be funny already by 1940. It just goes to show the more things change the more things seem to stay the same. 

As part of the Stooge-a-palooza anniversary they showed an old clip of Rich Koz parodying a modern monster Osamba bin Laden and the propaganda videos he did for Al-Qaeda. This time they called back to the playing card decks the USA passed out with pictures of their most wanted; this time Bin Laden presents what is America's most violent members in the Three Stooges as Al-Qaeda's most wanted. Moe Howard would be proud me thinks. Before our final short Rich Koz also addressed a fan letter about the fact that the current owners of the Laurel and Hardy shorts are "not interested" in licensing out their films for broadcasting on local TV. This really is a shame as my parents raised me watching many a Laurel and Hardy routine. How corporations can sit on their properties and say "No" to more money really boggles my mind sometimes when all they truly do is for money! But I digress.

Our final short for the night was 'Loco Boy Makes Good' (1942). It's about the Stooges trying to build a case to file a lawsuit against a hotel. Ironically Harold Lloyd would later sue them for stealing some gags for this short from Movie Crazy (1932). One Take Rich made a flub saying "Local" instead of "Loco" in the introduction of the title but he recovered rather nicely so they let it slide. Rich also states that there's an edit in the film but no one knows why it was made. While watching the scene in question I couldn't even figure out what cut would be made but in a later scene is seems obvious that Curly pulled a few more things out of his Magician's jacket (which Moe is now holding) that were cut. Early on there's a real good gag with Moe talking to a double of Curly's that I even had to do a double take on because it fooled me too! There's also a surprisingly risque close up of a girl lifting her skirt to extensively show her nylon legs and garters. Curly also calls a gal "toots" which is a word I don't use nearly often enough. Already five years after 'Playing the Ponies' the finer grain prints and lack of depression era routines already seem to be watering down the Stooges. With World War II in full swing at this point people were coming to the theaters to forget their troubles and I don't think the Stooge's fully bounced back comically after that.

With two outta three shorts being ones I hadn't seen before (and the half a Shemp short being another) all and all this was a good night to learn that there's a lot more Stooges left for me to discover. And I don't mean the Farrelly Brother's. "Just Say Moe" indeed. Although Kate Upton as a bikini suited nun I have to given the credit for that one but apparently it was CUT so to hell with that.