This here "Movie Maniacs" short was filmed in what I would consider the Three Stooges' "anarchistic period", that few years' span in which the boys did just about anything for a laugh. In later years their shorts would start to make a bit more sense and have more in the way of story and plot, and while that was all good as it didn't always get in the way of their slapstick and antics, those mid-to-late-1930s films, in all their nonsensical glory, made for plenty of big laughs on my end. "Movie Maniacs" is one of those fine examples, focusing on the trio's ability to turn all things conventional on their heads in their attempt to make something of themselves, usually resulting in general chaos being unleashed (pretty typical for the Stooges, but we love them for it). I've found many things to humor me throughout, from their arrival at the studio to the eventual madness on the movie set itself, as a result of the group's manic energy that seemed to bubble over on occasion (poor Curly swooning at a starlet's kiss, or his child-like tantrums over Moe's confiscating his many-sized pencils). They don't really show this one as often as others, which is a damn shame if you ask me, and as it stands in this day and age "Movie Maniacs" could be considered a rare treat from the early glory days that makes me chortle every time I see it.
Review of Movie Maniacs
