Horst_In_Translation Review of Three Smart Saps

Three Smart Saps (1942)

Three smart saps aren't enough to make this a smart movie

[4/10 · 25 July 2017]

"Three Smart Saps" is an American 17-minute short film from 1942, so it is the 75th anniversary this year. The names Bruckman and (especially) White maybe make obvious to you already that this is another of the really really many Three Stooges short films and as such, it is of course in black-and-white with sound. Curly is still on board here and despite the time when this was made, it is one of their unpolitical works. Instead, it is about an unlucky prison warden, who gets thrown in jail by a bunch of gangsters and the ones who have to get him out are the Three Stooges because (now it gets really unlucky for him!) they are also engaged to the warden's three daughters. But they are probably doing a surprisingly fine job this time. Most of the action takes place on the dance floor here (for Curly and Moe), but these scenes I never really found funny. Several of these scenes, especially the way the woman realizes it's her dress that is loose, really look like they are taken right out of a cartoon, but for a live action film it is not working. This is one of the more known Stooges shorts still and I believe that if you like their other works, then you will maybe enjoy this one too as honestly in terms of the comedic approach, all these films look extremely similar. I myself really only somewhat enjoyed the occasional play on words, like Moe's draft reference. The rest was extremely forgettable. I may be a bit biased though as I am certainly not the biggest Stooges fan.