Product Description

"Half Wits' Holiday" (1947, short number 97 in the Columbia series) is an unnecessary remake of "Hoi Polloi" from 1935, in which a bet is made that the boys can/cannot be transformed into being acceptable to high society. Needless to say the experiment is a dismal failure right down to the last thrown pie. Here the table-manners lesson in pantomime is overly long and too familiar to those who saw it all before, most notably in Laurel & Hardy's "Oliver the Eighth." This is, however, Curly's last film in the series because of a stroke during the shooting, and Shemp was called in to replace him "temporarily." A sad farewell to a great clown. "Horses' Collars" (1935, number 5) is fairly lethargic until the final sequence in which mouse-hating Curley (as his name is spelled then) wreaks havoc on foe and friend alike. As will happen many times with variations, something triggers uncontrollable rage in the oversized Stooge. Only three films earlier, it was "Pop Goes the Weasel" and later it would be the sight of tassels! There is one good coin-shooting sequence in which Moe aims at a tossed $5 coin and turns it to change. In the hanging sequence, the harnesses from which Larry and Moe are suspended are clearly visible. "How High Is Up?" (1940, number 48) is plotless and devotes far too much footage to trying to get Curly out of a tight sweater. Once they are up on the 97th floor of a building under construction, only Curly's balletic skills save the film from utter predictability. Even Laurel & Hardy could not make gold out of this high-on-a-skyscraper situation. Actor spotters might notice Bruce Bennet (otherwise known as Herman Brix when he played Tarzan) as a bit player.