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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Keaton, 13 December 2005
Author: tedg (tedg@FilmsFolded.com) from Virginia Beach

I saw this with another Stooges short, "Violent is the Word for Curly." By the late 30's they were trying all sorts of forms. "Curly" was based on the Marx brothers form. This is based on a famous Keaton gag.

The three marry sisters (drawing lots), and get a house kit that they assemble incompetently.

There's a Laurel and Hardy precedent and before that the famous Keaton "One Week." That's hilarious and clever. This isn't, except for having stooge women.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Stooges' Best, 16 October 2001
10/10
Author: kapnkirk from new york, usa

This is, in my humble opinion, the best short the 3 Stooges ever made. The boys go on a strike inside their fiancees' home until their father relents and lets them marry his 3 daughters. Due to all their new found notoriety, a construction company donates a do-it-yourself pre-fabricated home which the boys set out to build after they do get married. Needless to say everything turns out wrong - the bathtub is on the side of the wall and the stairs lead to nowhere. The house collapses when one of the wives unintentionally pulls out a beam. This short was based on a silent by Buster Keaton called One Week. It also contains my all time favorite quote by Moe after Curly's feet get stuck in cement and he decides to use explosives to free him and Curly protests he'll get blown up - "Don't you know that dynamite always blows down?".

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
What a way to get married - pulling names out of a hat!, 6 February 2008
Author: slymusic from Tucson, AZ

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"In the Spring three young men's fancies lightly turn to thoughts of - you know." Thus begins "The Sitter Downers," a slightly unusual Three Stooges comedy directed by Del Lord. Oh, it's a good film, but oftentimes in their films the boys find themselves in some bizarre plot situations. In "The Sitter Downers" the Stooges intend to get married, and until their future father-in-law (James C. Morton) consents, the boys stage a sit-down strike in his very house, eventually winning the nation's sympathy and even garnering a ton of fan mail (!). Once this issue has been resolved, the party of six is faced with the challenge of having a house to build.

Highlights: Curly falls from a tree and lands on his wife Dorabell (Marcia Healy, sister of the Stooges' mentor Ted Healy), knocking her out; when he tries to revive her by splashing a bucket of water on her face, he doesn't realize there's a piece of hardened cement in the bucket! To prevent Moe and Larry from repeatedly running into some freshly-laid cement, Curly jumps into the cement himself and then gets knocked out with a keg of nails. The Stooges' "car" is rather interesting. And at the end, Florabell (June Gittelson) removes one post that causes the entire house, which was weird-looking anyway, to collapse.

What's the moral of "The Sitter Downers"? Never trust the Stooges to build a house!

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
worth watching, 15 August 2002
Author: aboarder177@hotmail.com

This isn't there best short but its funny. The stooges get married and go on a honeymoon but first they have to build a house. The funniest part was when Moe was chasing Larry around and Curly was smoothing cement and Moe and Larry kept running through it.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
One of twelve Stooges' shorts on a collection DVD, 11 May 2004
Author: pwoods1 from Adelaide, South Australia



A long-time friend and fellow Stooges fan (we're in our fifties) and I sat down with a few glasses of 'Cab-Sav' (Cabernet Sauvignon for the uninitiated) and spent some enjoyable hours p***ing-ourselves laughing. Of the twelve classics in this collection, TSD was the last in order on the DVD but paradoxically the first released: 1937.

It is a real hoot but, more than that, surprisingly contemporary and with some insights into the American psyche. Yes, Virginia, there ARE female Stooges! The uncredited trio of actors playing the wives are a feminist's delight: just as stupid as the boys. Now there's equality for you! There are pointed comments about Unionism, the notion of lotteries, and even how the selection of wives is, in itself, a lottery. The final scene with its pre-fab nightmare (the house that 'crack' built) would have made Dali proud! Escher would rise from the dead just to applaud this surreal masterpiece!

What makes TSD different from many of the Stooges' shorts is that it does not fit neatly into their vaudeville act (for surely that is where many of their set-pieces were derived). While it shares the same anarchistic bent, it is at once more pointed in its criticism of the American world-at-large as it is of life-in-general. Put simply, it is a masterpiece of its genre and can stand alone as an indication of just how brilliant Moe, Larry and Curly were. Enjoy!

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Amusing Stooges short, 16 July 2009
8/10
Author: Woodyanders (Woodyanders@aol.com) from The Last New Jersey Drive-In on the Left

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The Three Stooges go on a sit down strike in order to persuade the stern father (a brief, but excellent performance by James C. Morton) of three women to let them marry his daughters. After a couple of days the father gives in and the Stooges are married. Moreover, our lovably doltish trio win a prefabricated cottage, but naturally there's a big hitch: the trio of bumbling fools have to build said cottage themselves! Director Del Lord maintains a snappy pace throughout and stages the plentiful zany slapstick with considerable skill and gusto. Gut-busting comic highlights include Larry and Moe constantly running through cement that Curly is smoothing out, Curly being knocked out with a keg of nails and waking up with a literal pair of enormous cement shoes on his feet, and Curly stuck up in a tree. The very ending is likewise hilarious. The boys are in fine form here, displaying a loose and engaging natural rapport that's a joy to watch. Betty Mack as Corabell, Marcia Healy as Dorabell, and June Gittelson as Florabell make for perfect female foils for the Stooges. An enjoyably silly diversion.

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Fair Stooges, 19 June 2009
Author: Michael_Elliott from Louisville, KY

Sitter Downers, The (1937)

** (out of 4)

The Three Stooges want to marry their loved ones but their father refuses because, well, because they're the Stooges. The boys refuse to leave his house until he gives permission, which eventually makes the national news and soon letters from across the country are coming to them. The father finally gives his okay and the group decide to take one of the letter's offer of a new house. The only catch is that they have to build it themselves. This was an extremely bland short for the trio because of some rather lazy writing, which constantly goes for the routine joke instead of trying anything new or original. The first half of the short works the best as we get a few minor laughs mainly with the girl's father who at one point accidentally gets beat up by the boys. The second half is just rather bland as we get the boys trying to build the house but end up fighting amongst each other more. The reaction to girls have to their fighting is boring and things really don't pick up until the very end when the house is done.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Very good Three Stooges short!, 31 December 2004
10/10
Author: Movie Nuttball from U.S.A.

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

One of the most unique Three Stooges shorts is The Sitter-Downers. In this short are James C. Morton, Bert Young, June Gittelson, Marcia Healy, with Betty Mack and Robert McKenzie. The acting by these actors are good especially by Morton. There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts. I strongly recommend this one!

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