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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Not One Of The Stooges' Best, But We See Curly In A Dual Role, 27 February 2008 Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States
The boys break out of jail and go home to try and stop their pappy from being taken advantage of by a gold digger and from gangsters. Curly plays a dual role, taking over as the father. I guess that's most distinguishing feature of this so-so Three Stooges short. They didn't do anything, makeup wise, to Curly except to put big sideburns on him. That makes him 20 years older? No, he looks the same. It turns out, however, that is part of the story as we later get a "mistaken identity" angle where the bimbo thinks Curly is the old man.Overall, this wasn't one of the Stooges best, especially in an era where they were really on a roll. Hey, you can't get a gem every time.Note: If you watch enough of these Three Stooges in a short period of time, such as a couple of the DVDs, you see repeating scenes and comic lines. That was the case here in the opening jail scene. I saw and heard three jokes I had just seen in other episodes! Actually, this could have been the first usage of the jokes since it was done fairly early (1937) in the boys' careers. Whatever; fortunately, new material came after that in this episode, but you wonder how many of the same lines and jokes, and stock footage was used over the years.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: A bizarre Stooge short, 23 August 2005 Author: slymusic from Tucson, AZ
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Directed by Del Lord, "3 Dumb Clucks" is definitely not one of the better Three Stooges shorts during the "classic Curly" era of 1935-1941. In this short, Curly plays both himself and his father, and it is rather absurd that there appears to be no age difference between Curly Sr. and Curly Jr. Curly Jr. is forced to pose as his father and marry a pretty young blonde (Lucille Lund), who is connected with a couple of gangsters and is after the senior Curly's money. It's easy for me to feel sorry for Curly Jr., but after all, he has suitable grounds for a divorce.With all that said, there are at least a couple of highlights from this short that I can relate. When Moe and Larry mix a drink for Curly before he gets married, Larry curiously gazes at one particular bottle and uses it as hair tonic! He then shakes up the concoction, and when he finishes, it splashes right into Moe's face. The ending is a bit strange but entertaining, as the two thugs knock the boys off a flagpole, causing them to fall numerous stories and land right on top of their dad! One interesting tidbit: During the hat scene, take a look at the mirror behind Curly and you will see a nasty cut on his forehead. It happened during a later scene in which Curly Sr. is pushed by the two thugs down an elevator shaft (actually just a dug hole) and his head hit a two-by-four.
one of my favorites, 23 June 2008 Author: pilotjairen from United States
I don't understand the two reviews on here kind of slamming this short. It is one of my top 3 or so favorite stooges. The slaps are excellent, the use of silence as comedy in the hat store is brilliant, and Larry is simple and hilarious. 10 out of 10. It can't say any more about it. The getting out of jail routine is perhaps my favorite opening. Del Lord is a master. Home sweet home. "They got him behind bars, too". Can't beat it. It kind of tails off near the end, but so do most of the skits, which usually end up with an explosion or collapse of some kind. Seeing them hang out over the city reminded me of the old Chaplin stuff. Superb!
0 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Lesser Stooge, 25 January 2009 Author: Michael_Elliott from Louisville, KY
3 Dumb Clucks (1937) ** (out of 4) Weaker Three Stooges short has the boys breaking out of prison so they can stop their father from marrying a blonde who is working with a gangster. After the marriage they plan on killing the father but the boys have their own plans. The boys were in an incredibly hot stretch during this period of their career so it's rather shocking to see how bland this short is but no one could have batted a thousand. The biggest problem I found was that the film was extremely lazy in its writing and acting. The screenplay is a pretty poor one because it recycles plenty of gags seen in previous films but this time out they aren't one bit funny. Another issue with the laziness comes in an early gag where Moe and Larry pick Curly up to use his head to break out of the prison. The edit to the stunt double is poorly done but what's even worse is that the stunt double is so obvious because he's skinny and has a full head of hair! Also, having Curly play the father is fine but they make no attempt to make him look different. I know this plays a part in a joke towards the end but the joke itself is rather lame, which just makes this stick out like a sore thumb.
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