Mutts to You (1938)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Charley Chase

Writers:

Al Giebler (story)
Elwood Ullman (story)

Release Date:

14 October 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

The stooges, professional dog washers, find a baby on a doorstep and, thinking it to be abandoned, take it home...

Plot Keywords:

Murphy Bed | Abandoned Baby | Slapstick | Anvil | Remake

Cast

Curly Howard	...	Curly (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)
Bess Flowers	...	Mrs. Manning
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lane Chandler	...	Doug Manning (uncredited)
Vernon Dent	...	Mr. Stutz, Hotel Manager (uncredited)
Bud Jamison	...	Policeman O'Halloran (uncredited)
Cy Schindell	...	Policeman (uncredited)

Directed by
Charley Chase

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Al Giebler		story and screenplay
Elwood Ullman		story and screenplay

Produced by
Charley Chase	....	associate producer
Hugh McCollum	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
Allen G. Siegler

Film Editing by
Art Seid		(as Arthur Seid)

Sound Department
Edward Bernds	....	sound (uncredited)

Music Department
Leigh Harline	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Ben Oakland	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Louis Silvers	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures
• Screen Gems Television

Runtime:

18 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Movie Connections:

Remake of My Little Feller (1937)

An untypical weak entry for the Stooges

Something happened here. This was made right at the very pinnacle of their careers and yet if falls sort of flat. Excellent director in Charley Chase. He was by this time a real veteran of the two reel comedy format. He had making films for about twenty years by this time. The writers? Well, they used to steal bits and gags that were done about twenty years earlier and rework them for the Stooges. However, this particular short just doesn't have that spark, that Stooge zaniness that appears in most of their work. It does have it's moments though such as when they attempt to smuggle the baby into their apartment against the landlords' "no babies allowed" rule. That's a real funny bit with Larry concealing an inflated balloon under his vest and after inquiry by the landlord, tells him it must have been something he ate. The landlord immediately fixes him up with a mega dose of bicarbonate and has him drink it down. All the time Moe is attempting to "hide" an ice cream cone in his pants pocket, while standing next to an overactive steam radiator. Or during the obligatory chase scene with Curly and the baby in a laundry hamper being dragged by Moe and Larry. A cop suspects it's "the kidnappers" but Moe and Larry are disguised as Chinese laundry men and when he questions Larry, he answers him in Yiddish. The cop asks Moe for a translation and Moe answers, "Oh. He from China, east side!" Overall though, despite lacking the usual frantic fast pace, this is a generally good short.