Wednesday, April 02, 2014

False Detective

Welp, according to Wikipedia, this is it, folks!  The last Stooge short with living Shemp.  And as Sam Raimi should remember, it's Fake Shemp after that.  This time, it's a remake of their 1949 whodunit called Who Done It.  This one's called For Crimin' Out Loud, and for some reason, the VHS Lords of long ago preferred the remake to the original.  Why, they cut out all of Moe's best lines, like when he asks Larry "You've been around me many years.  Dontcha know what I look like?"
To make matters worse, the Stooges get downgraded from "Alert Detective Agency" to "Miracle Detective Agency."  They also get a slightly more dignified entrance than in Who Done It, if I may be so bold... but it quickly slides down the slippery slope from there.  Emil Sitka dons the old guy makeup for a new narrative intro from him.  The comedy names of roads and rivers abound!  Even he's a little taken aback by it!
Stooge director Edward Bernds did Who Done It, and Jules White directed this here remake, so the emphasis on childish violence is front and center where it belongs.  Moe gets a little sloppy with a double hit that bounces back upon him!  Wotta goof.
The supporting cast does a fine job once again... actually, I think they're just in the old footage.  Charles Knight makes a fine British butler... you know, to class up the joint.  And of the 342 credits to arch bad guy Ralph Dunn's name, Who Done It is in his IMDb Top 4.  Something wrong with that.  But most of the "air time" goes to the lovely Christine McIntyre.  Femme fatale, talented ingenou ... doesn't really matter, does it?  The camera loves her... especially Shemp's!!!

***
-so sayeth The Movie Hooligan

No comments: