"Violent Is the Word for Curly" is a wonderful Three Stooges short in which the plot and situations are absolutely daffy! Curly, Larry, and Moe are service station attendants, soon to be mistaken for European college professors. Just the thought of this premise is wacky enough!
Highlights: The most celebrated and well-loved sequence in this short is that of the Stooges and the college girls performing the classic musical number "Swingin' the Alphabet" (Charley Chase, the director of this film, was known to be a music lover). In the lengthy opening sequence, the boys demonstrate "super service" at their gas station when they cause nothing but misery for the three European professors whose automobile they try to service and subsequently blow up. One of the most mind-blowing moments ever to occur in a Three Stooges short involves Moe and Larry thawing out a frozen Curly tied onto a revolving spit; no wonder Curly was screaming in pain for Moe and Larry (and subsequently the film crew) to get him the hell off!
"Violent Is the Word for Curly" was made at a time when screwball comedy was in vogue. It's highly debatable as to which Stooge film is the screwiest of them all, but this particular short has to be in the top ten.
Highlights: The most celebrated and well-loved sequence in this short is that of the Stooges and the college girls performing the classic musical number "Swingin' the Alphabet" (Charley Chase, the director of this film, was known to be a music lover). In the lengthy opening sequence, the boys demonstrate "super service" at their gas station when they cause nothing but misery for the three European professors whose automobile they try to service and subsequently blow up. One of the most mind-blowing moments ever to occur in a Three Stooges short involves Moe and Larry thawing out a frozen Curly tied onto a revolving spit; no wonder Curly was screaming in pain for Moe and Larry (and subsequently the film crew) to get him the hell off!
"Violent Is the Word for Curly" was made at a time when screwball comedy was in vogue. It's highly debatable as to which Stooge film is the screwiest of them all, but this particular short has to be in the top ten.