The contract between the Three Stooges and Columbia Pictures, begins here. Woman Haters (1934), is pretty good, when it comes to the jokes. The film actually starts out great. The Stooges get involved in a rumble with longtime, Three Stooges foil, Bud Jamison. Jamison did a bunch of shorts with the Stooges, until his untimely death in 1944. He went on, from here, to do 38 shorts with the boys. This film is a first for many things Stooges and we do get to see a great preview of things to come. However, Woman Haters (1934), gets bogged down, by the need to tell the story, in a melody of rhymes. This device is interesting for the first five minutes of the film, but gets old quick. Not only is Woman Haters (1934), the Three Stooges first film, with Columbia Pictures, that would launch a great 25 year career for them, it also was the first film they did, after their spilt from Ted Healy. Those shorts before this, have their own kind of charm, but involved a lot of music, singing and dancing, which probably carried over to Woman Haters (1934). It's an understandable transition.
I also noticed, Larry got more screen-time in this film too, compared to Moe and Curly. That aspect also looked like it was a carry-over from the Healy years too. Curly actually did more solo film work than both Moe & Larry combined, during these years. I guess, in those early, Healy years, the filmmakers probably felt Curly was a rookie and they wanted to keep the two brothers together, so Larry seemed to get his own separate sub-plot or they took him in a slightly different direction with his character, than Moe and Curly. That transition period would be over here and the musical-rhyming would end here too, because we will see the more popular form of the Stooges emerge in their next film, Punch Drunks (1934). However, the historical, significance of Woman Haters (1934), the fact, that Columbia actually produced a nicely polished film technically, created an interesting start for the Three Stooges. The problem with Woman Haters (1934), is the singing-dialogue gets old quick, the film itself gets old midway through and it ends up being a weak start for Moe, Larry and Curly. I call it the Healy hang-over.
6.4 (D+ MyGrade) = 6 IMDB.
I also noticed, Larry got more screen-time in this film too, compared to Moe and Curly. That aspect also looked like it was a carry-over from the Healy years too. Curly actually did more solo film work than both Moe & Larry combined, during these years. I guess, in those early, Healy years, the filmmakers probably felt Curly was a rookie and they wanted to keep the two brothers together, so Larry seemed to get his own separate sub-plot or they took him in a slightly different direction with his character, than Moe and Curly. That transition period would be over here and the musical-rhyming would end here too, because we will see the more popular form of the Stooges emerge in their next film, Punch Drunks (1934). However, the historical, significance of Woman Haters (1934), the fact, that Columbia actually produced a nicely polished film technically, created an interesting start for the Three Stooges. The problem with Woman Haters (1934), is the singing-dialogue gets old quick, the film itself gets old midway through and it ends up being a weak start for Moe, Larry and Curly. I call it the Healy hang-over.
6.4 (D+ MyGrade) = 6 IMDB.