Hoi Polloi (1935) User Reviews

Can The Stooges Be Transformed? Soytenlee.....NOT!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 11 December 2009]

Although not the funniest, this remains a "classic" Three Stooges film, one you never forget. The story, used a number of times not only in Stooges films but in famous feature films like "My Fair Lady" is the idea of trying to totally transform someone. Here, it's Curly, Larry and Moe.

The three guys try to answer the question two rich guys debate: heredity or environment? Which has the most influence. They wind up betting $10,000 (a ton of money back then) on the outcome with the Stooges as the subject matter.

There are a lot of classic slapstick sight gags here in the last 10 minutes when the boys have to strut their stuff at a big hoi-polloi-type affair. I thought the best gag was the Curly trying to dance with a big, fat woman who kept knocking him down, only to have him spring back up. (Well.....you have to see it.)

Pygmalion meets the Stooges

[WeNeedJohnWayne · 9/10 · 11 January 2019]

Another great show with lines I've quoted since I was a kid. "Does the deer have a little doe?"...

Absolutely Hilarious

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 8 April 2018]

I know that the Three Stooges aren't to everyone's tastes. However, in this one, they shine. Of course, we are first introduced to the combative trio who work picking up refuse. We then move to a couple men, one of whom makes a bet he can use environment to turn a base individual into one who can function well in society. From there we have a series of jaw dropping scenes. The funniest of all, in my opinion, involves a pretty dance instructor who asks them to copy her lead. But a fly goes down her dress and she goes into amazing gyrations. The copy her and it is absolutely precious. I also found the conclusion a cut above others in the Stooges canon.

Stooges step into society with hilarious results

[jimtinder · 10/10 · 30 June 2003]

"Hoi Polloi" could be regarded as the first classic film of the Three Stooges series. The Stooges play trash collectors who are selected by two professors to be the determining factor to a bet. One professor says that heredity determines social position; the other claims that environment makes gentlemen. The environment professor tries to make gentlemen out of the Stooges, and the usual chaos ensues!

"Hoi Polloi" delivers solid laughs and a good storyline. Helen Howard, Moe's wife, is now credited with giving the basic storyline to Felix Adler, who received credit for the story at the time the film was released.

This basic plot was reworked as "Half-Wit's Holiday," Curly's last starring Stooge film, in May 1946. Some elements of "Hoi Polloi" appeared in post-Curly Stooge films; most of the plot was remade with Joe Besser in the Stooge film "Pies and Guys" (1958); the spring gag was used by Joe DeRita in "Have Rocket Will Travel" (1959). These reworkings, while not as good as the 1935 original, reflect the quality of the story and the humor found in making gentlemen of stooges.

A total romp. 10 out of 10.

The Three Stooges have their most hilarious short yet with Hoi Polloi

[tavm · 10/10 · 5 January 2011]

This review is of the tenth short The Three Stooges made for Columbia Pictures. In this one, Moe, Larry, and Curley (as his name was still spelled at the time) are garbage men forced to agree to a couple of professors' proposal of becoming gentlemen in exchange for them not calling the cops on the boys for general nuisance concerning their jobs. It involves a wager of one of the profs of debating environment vs. hereditary. Will the former win out? With the Stooges, are you kidding? Anyway, this was a most hilarious short what with all the gags and punchlines especially when the boys do their dance "lesson". And wait till you see what happens at the end! So on that note, Hoi Polloi comes highly recommended.

Can't the Stooges behave even for a few minutes?

[slymusic · 28 September 2006]

Superbly directed by Del Lord, "Hoi Polloi" is one of the best of all the classic Three Stooges shorts. In this film, a wealthy professor (Harry Holman) bets $10,000 that he can take three men from the lowest strata of life and make gentlemen of them within a few months! The three men he selects are - who else? - Larry, Moe, and Curly, who in this case are garbagemen. The Stooges become educated in reading, dancing, and applying proper table manners, but, as the professor comes to realize, educating these three men is an impossible chore!

Here are my favorite highlights from "Hoi Polloi" (but don't read any further if you have not yet seen this short). During the classic dance lesson scene, the Stooges' dance instructor (Geneva Mitchell) tells them, "Now follow me closely and do exactly what I do"; what follows is unforgettably hilarious! At the swank mansion, the Stooges cause even more hijinks on the dance floor: Moe's dancing is atrocious, Larry's shoe gets knocked around, and Curly gets a sofa spring stuck to his behind. At the end of this short, as all of the other "polished" party guests engage in an eventual slugfest, the Stooges pay a huge price for their crude ways.

Again, "Hoi Polloi" is a Three Stooges classic that is simply not to be missed. It is a film that is "tailor"-made for the Stooges as it epitomizes their stock-in-trade slapstick humor. The frustrated professor deserves at least a little credit for attempting to tame the boys' crudeness, but, as all Stooge fans would come to expect, he fails miserably.

Slaphappy slapstick!

[jhaggardjr · 10/10 · 14 March 2002]

"Hoi Polloi" is one of my favorite Three Stooges shorts. A society man makes a bet with another society man that he can turn Moe, Larry, and Curly into society men. Take a guess what happens next. And boy does Moe go slaphappy in this one! Slapstick comedy at its best and brightest.

COMEDY GOLD!!!

[scorkery-762-655265 · 10/10 · 1 March 2021]

This classic Stooges short is an early Curly one with the boys at the top of their slapstick game. The early Curly's (1935-39 pre-heart attack/stroke) are IMHO the best due to his manic high-energy wackness. It's a take on the old "Heredity vs. Environment" theme. Two wealthy gents bet each other on who would succede in taking on The Stooges development from ordinary chumps to sophisticated high society hob-nobbers....hilarity ensues.

HOI POLLOI (Del Lord, 1935) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 25 January 2008]

The Three Stooges do "Pygmalion" when two elderly upper-class types make a bet that one of them can turn three tramps into society gentry; naturally, he picks up the comic trio (the local garbage collectors) off the streets and then has them take lessons from various teachers in an attempt to elevate their social standing.

As ever, there's a lot of mugging (especially from Curley) but the film does feature a couple of great moments: a dancing teacher is stung by a bee and starts doing somersaults in order to get rid of it – only The Stooges, unaware of what's going on, try to keep up with her...and they all end up falling out of a window into a fountain below; then there's the inspired final gag – where, after the boys make a shambles of the party in which the old men present them to their equals, the guests eventually start to mimic the antics of The Stooges rather than be shocked by their behavior (slapping each other around, uttering Moe's trademark "Spread Out!", etc).

Stooges' Best Scene In Their Entire Film Work

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 10 June 2023]

Columbia Pictures released its tenth Three Stooges short film, August 1935's "Hoi Polloi." One scene shows actress Phyllis Crane dancing with Moe at a formal affair when Larry's shoe comes off. In desperation, Larry scrambles onto the floor to retrieve the shoe while the crowd of dancers unintentionally kick it away. As Phyllis was dancing, she accidentally stepped on the shoe and fell hard on the floor. As seen in the finished film, she slammed her head, sending little tweedy birds flying around her skull. Earlier in rehearsal actress Grace Goodall was one of many involved in a food fight scene. With her mouth open a piece of food flew into her open orifice and lodged in her windpipe. Gaging, she nearly chocked to death before someone extracted the culprit. The producers decided to forego the food fight scene after the near-fatal accident.

Moe's wife Helen wrote the treatment to "Hoi Polloi." In the movie, The Three Stooges are guinea pigs to an experiment by two college professors who bet on whether people's social environment is determinant in how they act. One professor is convinced he could take the most incorrigible misfits and mold them into sophisticated cultured gentlemen. As trash collectors, Moe, Larry and Curly are the first miscreants the professors see and pick them for their experiment. The premise, similar to George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play 'Pygmalion,' was Helen's idea, and the studio offered to pay her for her idea or give her a screen credit. She took the money. The plot was so good that it was reworked two more times by the Stooges.

A poll was taken for a Stooges' anniversary show that polled its fans to determine which scene was the best in all their films. The top prize went to the dancing lessons actress Geneva Mitchell gives them in "Hoi Polloi." She instructs them to follow her every dance move. A bee flies under the back of her dress, sending the instructor in a tizzy trying to extract the insect. The Stooges follow her every move, even performing several acrobatic tumbles, before Mitchell jumps out the window, with the three close behind.

"Hoi Polloi" is one of the more violent Three Stooges' films, with as astronomical 48 slaps and four eye pokes delivered-mostly by Moe. The slapstick is so contagious that during the film's finale, the party's high society guests break out in a frenzy by imitating the Stooges' patented punishments. Moe, Larry and Curly, witnessing such a spectacle, walk out of the room in disgust. Their departing words are one of the most ironic statements the comics have ever said: this is what they get for "associating with the hoi pilloi," a term meaning 'the rabble.'

classic Stooges story

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 3 November 2019]

Two rich men make a bet on turning three lower class men into gentlemen. Larry, Curley, and Moe are bumbling garbage men and the rich guys have the subject of their bet. This is a classic Three Stooges premise that the boys would return to again and again. They are simply perfect for the concept. There are elements which would get reworked over and over again. The spring gag is great fun. This is classic Stooges material.

Shoddy execution, the appeal is beyond me

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 28 November 2017]

"Hoi Polloi" is an American 18-minute live action short film from 1935, so this one is already over 80 years old and if you take a look at the names behind as well as in front of the camera, you will find quite a few who worked on many Three Stooges short films and here we got one of the more known of their efforts. It is also an earlier work from way before they got political (against Nazi Germany), let alone before Curly left the trio due to health reasons that finally resulted in his untimely death. Okay now about this one here, I am baffled by the high rating. The general premise of this one being about the Stooges learning manners and eventually trying to act civilized at a social event is not too shabby. But the attention to detail (or lack thereof) is shockingly bad. Curly looking into a mirror or biting a girl in the finger is supposed to be funny? At least that's what they want us to believe, but it has aged really not good at all. It's probably closer to a */***** than to a ***/*****. The worst moment is when we see a fly on a woman's cleavage from very close and then the camera moves away and it's gone and then it moves close and it's there again etc. So even when it comes to the very center of attention, the one spot where everybody's looking at, they messed up big style. Some horrible production values at times. Overall, this is definitely one of the worse, if not worst, Three Stooges films I have seen. These 18 minutes get a definite thumbs-down from me.

One of the best stooge shorts

[holme-1 · 24 June 2001]

"Hoi Polloi" was excellently done, the party scene is hilarious, and so is the rest of the episode. I love the part when the stooges read and Curly and Larry pretty much goof up the story.

Overall: A

Note: This was later remade as "Half-Wits Holiday"(1947) which would be Curly's last time he would ever be a stooge.

Everything But The Custard Pies!

[verbusen · 10/10 · 13 April 2014]

Many think this is the best Three Stooges 2 reeler made. I'm not of that opinion since the destruction is pretty minimal but it's certainly a great episode. We all know this and that about it from reading Stooges trivia, but what I wanted to ad was that many of these male actors died pretty young in their 50's. The guy with the toupee here James C. Morton (age 58), the bully guy who gets upset at Larry William Irving (age 50), and the butler who was in many many Stooges shorts Bud Jamison (also age 50), all died in their 50's from heart attacks. Add to that Curly who died at age 48 and it's pretty sad. And I only skimmed the surface I bet a few more of those male actors could be included! Oh well, thats all I got to add, everyone else beat me to the funny stuff. Except I did like to see Curly dancing with that tall fat chick and he seemed to be enjoying it also, as did she! Nyuck nyuck nycuk! 10 of 10, some really good dance floor scenes that would be repeated again and again later by them and also Abbott and Costello!

Classic all the way

[markm-00775 · 10/10 · 1 February 2020]

How does one not laugh at this short? The one bad review I've seen must be judging it on 21st century thinking. While the comedy stands up the test of time, it's still a social commentary on the haves vs the have nots. Better than even Trading Places half a century later. The dance scene is hilarious, so much so that many aspects became trademarks in many other shorts, and copied in many other comedies over the years. Surprised that this is actually an early short, and considered the one that put them on the (film) map!

Great Three Stooges short!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 3 August 2004]

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

This is a very funny Three Stooges short! It has a an unusual casting which includes Harry Holman, Robert Graves, Bud Jamison, Mary Dees, Grace Goodall, Betty McMahon, Harriett De Bussman, Phyllis Crane, Geneva Mitchell, Kathryn McHugh, James C. Morton, William Irving, Arthur Rankin, Robert McKenzie, Celeste Edwards, and Blanche Payson. Along with George B. French, Gail Arnold, Don Roberts and Billy Mann. I like the scenes with Moe and Phyllis Crane and the dance scenes with Curly! There are two other Three Stooges shorts similar like this one called Half-Wits Holiday with Curly and the other being Pies and Guys with Joe. Both are very good! This one Hoi Polloi is very funny I recommend that you see it!

The Three Little Pygmalions

[NoDakTatum · 8/10 · 10 October 2023]

The Three Stooges go the "Pygmalion" route in this funny short film. Two professors (Robert Graves, Henry Holman) make a $10,000 wager that one of the men can turn three uncouth men off the street into gentlemen. They find three garbage men (our Three Stooges- Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard) who would be perfect candidates. They stay with the professor for months, taking etiquette and dance lessons, until their big society debut at a classy party. This is the highlight, with Curly dealing with a couple of hilariously awful dance partners.

All the old bits are here, but remember they were new bits back in the day. A still-funny sequence has the dance instructor (Geneva Mitchell) telling the three to do everything she does, just before a bee flies down the back of her dress. The slap and punching choreography is top-notch, and the other cast members get into the act by the end of the film. Lord does well with his direction, matching the performers. "Hoi Polloi" is good, funny, surreal physical comedy from the kings of slapstick. They were at the top of their game.

Decent Stooge short

[Michael_Elliott · 25 February 2008]

Hoi Holloi (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Trading Places for its day finds two rich men making a bet that one can turn some bums into smart gentlemen. The three men turn out to be the Three Stooges and they get their shot at a fancy party. There are some good laughs here including a scene where Larry loses his shoe on the dance floor but overall this is a pretty standard short. I did notice that the sound effects were heavily used here for the first time.

Now available on Columbia's 2-disc set, which features over 20 shorts, all digitally remastered.