Pardon My Scotch (1935) User Reviews

'What Tools?'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 11 December 2009]

Like a number of Three Stooges films, this was broken down into several segments where the boys could use extended gag scenes.

For instance, in the opening scene they are carpenters and are assigned to work on a big door. Before they get started, Moe tells Larry: "Get the tools."

"What tools?," asks Larry.

"The tools we've been using for the last 10 years.

"Oh, those tools."

This opening carpenter scene was used in later Stooges film almost a decade later with basically the same jokes.

The next comedy scene is when the boys, filling in the for the drug store owner who went to get some bourbon (it was still the Prohibition era), are asked by a feeling-low customer, are asked to "give me a pick-up," meaning make the man an alcoholic drink. The boys go out back to the pharmacy and concoct a beverage to remember! After being mistaken for Scottish distillers (their drink was a hit!), the boys are hired to provide the beverages for a swank party.

If you've seen many of the Three Stooges films, you know the chaos they cause as snobby parties! (I know it's stupid but I never to fail to laugh when one of the Stooges silences an opera singer by firing a banana into the guy's mouth!) Anyway, dressed in kilts and yelling "hoot, mon" make a farce out of the party, which always is fun to watch. One difference in this one: most of the snobs actually enjoy the Stooges!

Pardon My Scotch (1935) ***

[JoeKarlosi · 7/10 · 26 January 2013]

Funny Three Stooges short has them in various situations over the span of its quick running time. They begin as clueless carpenters who are trying to install a new door (this routine is one of the best they ever did, and Moe explained in his memoirs that he actually broke his ribs doing a real fall from a table that gets sawed in two ... amazingly, he still managed to rise up and finish the shot before collapsing in pain!). Then the Stooges are mistaken for pharmacists, who inadvertently concoct a beverage that gets bought by a booze salesman. In the end they find themselves at one of those high class parties where they just don't fit in, causing riotous mayhem. *** out of ****

some good funny

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 6 March 2020]

Larry, Curley, and Moe are workmen installing a door in a drugstore. The store is running out of scotch and the owner is desperate for a delivery. When he has to leave, he puts the boys in charge of the store. They invent a drink to replace scotch and get invited to a fancy party where they dress in traditional Scottish outfits.

They do some door antics. Moe is the one getting hit this time. At the party, more could be done with the kilt. Larry loses his seemingly by accident. I am fascinated by Curley's sandwich. I wonder if it could be funnier. A sausage is funnier. Getting knocked back in the chair is funny. Blowing up the keg is also funny. There is some good funny here.

From carpenters to Scotsmen!

[slymusic · 19 May 2005]

"Pardon My Scotch" is a wonderful Three Stooges short with plenty of gags and a fairly unusual plot involving a "mistaken identity" setup, as the boys pass themselves off as Scottish distillers around the time of the Repeal of Prohibition.

One of the highlights of the short (and please DO NOT read on if you have not yet seen it) is the opening carpentry scene (reused in "Dizzy Detectives" [1943]), in which Moe puts himself through some serious roughhouse. Probably the most amazing stunt I have ever seen in a Stooge film is that of Moe falling off the sawed-in-half table, and as many hard-core Stooge fans know, he actually broke a few ribs in the fall. (I think it's amazing that he was able to finish the take by slapping Larry and Curly before fainting and being rushed to the hospital.) Following that, Curly drops a large door on top of Moe, deepening Moe's agony!

Later, at the party, the Stooges try to fake a Scottish dance, Larry concocts some strange foods on his dinner plate, the Stooges flip grapes into an opera singer's mouth (the singer is played by Billy Gilbert), and finally, Moe causes the whole house to flood with the Stooges' "Breath o' Heather" when having trouble driving a spigot into a barrel.

One interesting sidelight on "Pardon My Scotch": the gag of the Stooges mixing liquids in a old boot (done in several other shorts besides this one) was the basis for the drink-mixing scene in "Back to the Future Part III" (1990).

Pardon My Scotch is another of the hilarious shorts of The Three Stooges' early output

[tavm · 9/10 · 5 January 2011]

This is my review of the ninth short of The Three Stooges they made for Columbia Pictures. In this one, they are handymen who try to put a new door for a pharmacy. After the proprietor leaves, however, they're in charge of the fountain drink department when a customer, a alcohol businessman who's down-on-his-luck, comes and orders something strong. The drink Moe, Larry, and Curley (as his name was still spelled at the time) literally explodes to the point that the businessman wants to do business with them! I'll stop there and just say that this was a nearly hilarious short from beginning to end though I admit cringing a little when Curley had to use that saw! In fact, after he cut that table Moe stood on, Moe injured himself when he performed that stunt of falling on the floor though it's still funny even knowing that. The real highlights were at the society party afterwards where the boys throw grapes and bananas at the opera singer (The always funny Billy Gilbert) and their funny dance in Scots clothing, not to mention Curley's involvement with bread. And, finally, this is the first time that the people have to tolerate the Stooges to get what they want and we get the first of their several theme songs (this one is the one that ends that classic novelty song, "The Curly Shuffle"). So on that note, Pardon My Scotch is well worth seeing.

Sets The Bar For Destruction

[verbusen · 10/10 · 13 April 2014]

Well, we had to start somewhere right? (BTW don't shoot me if I'm wrong on this but at episode number 9 for their Paramount run, I'm pretty sure this is correct.) Like the first (Paramount) episode that the Stooges use power tools (like deadly table saws). The first episode where they mix deadly tonics from a druggist store (mixed in a rubber boot of course). The first episode where they mix with contemporary high society (no pies though here). Well you get all of those "firsts" as far as the Paramount run goes right here. Granted they did some of this stuff in feature films and with Healy before this but most people identify the Stooges with their 23 year run at Paramount and this is within the Stooges first 10 episodes of that. This is one of the best Stooges episode in my opinion, they do a little bit of everything in it, and the destruction they wreak upon the rich blows any pie throwing scene away! This one truly sets the bar as far as the best of the Stooges and you will see many of the same routines done here over and over again verbatim over the years. Is it perfect and the best Stooges episode ever? Maybe, maybe not, but it's one of their best. Is the material original to the Stooges? No way. Curly does a fork and roll dance copying (pretty badly) Chaplin's in The Gold Rush and all the gags with power tools and foaming concoctions were done in the silent films and as recently as a couple of years before this was made by Laurel and Hardy. BUT, this would make a great first episode to play a new comer to The Three Stooges. 10 of 10. The destruction is awesome and really made me laugh!

Pardon My Scotch (Del Lord, 1935) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 25 January 2008]

This Three Stooges short, revolving around the then-topical Prohibition theme, is neatly divided into two sections, each seen before in superior Laurel & Hardy efforts – the boys at work from THE FINISHING TOUCH (1928) and BUSY BODIES (1933) and the dinner-table mayhem recalling FROM SOUP TO NUTS (1928).

As usual, The Three Stooges find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time and here, told to mind the chemist's counter for a while, concoct an impromptu "explosive" beverage for a paying customer who, happening to be a down-on-his-luck alcohol dealer, sees a reversal of his fortunes in marketing The Stooges' new drink! It's a passable enough star vehicle but the stars' typical schtick is rather unsympathetic, and gets repetitive pretty quick.

Actors In Three Stooges Movie Sustain Injuries

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 10 June 2023]

Being in Three Stooges' movies posed more physical injuries to the actors involved than probably any other long running movie series. In August 1935, "Pardon My Scotch," Moe sustained some serious injuries falling off a table.

The Three Stooges are carpenters in "Pardon My Scotch" when they're hired to hang a door inside a drug store as its owner prepares to convert it to a liquor store just as Prohibition is ending. In the scene, Moe is standing on a table working on a wall while he calls for a board to be cut. Larry and Curly place the board lengthways on the same table Moe is on and cut it with an electric saw. Once finished, unbeknownst to them, they had cut the table in two. The studio prop technicians designed the table to collapse inwards. But during filming the table's side where Moe stood failed to drop. As seen in the final cut, Moe lands full force on the upright edge of the table on his rib cage, and hits his head on the floor in the process. He heroically continues the scene, standing up, speaking his line, and slapping the two in the face before, not seen on the film, he passes out. Moe was rushed to the hospital where he suffered several broken ribs as well as a concussion. The production paused for a few days before Moe was able to return to the set. The Stooges picked up where he left off, filming the scene from a different angle to make the edit seamless. In a similar scene scripted years later for another movie, Moe insisted a stunt man perform the fall from the table.

The title "Pardon My Scotch," a variable of the phrase 'Pardon My French,' follows The Three Stooges as they're heralded by a liquor distributor who's impressed by their willy-nilly concoction of a cocktail based on a combination of several potent ingredients they made at the drug store. The so-called scotch has the distributor honoring the Stooges, dressed in kilts, at a formal reception as he introduces the drink for his guests to taste. For entertainment, Billy Gilbert as Signor Louis Cantino belts out an opera tune. To shut him up the trio flick grapes and a banana in his mouth, a gag used in later Stooges' shorts.

"Pardon My Scotch" was the first film the 1850s song 'Listen to the Mocking Bird' is heard in a Stooges opening credits. It quickly became their theme song. As a popular marching tune during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, a big fan of the song, described it "as sincere as the laughter of a little girl at play," apropos for the Stooges' adaptation.

Earlier Stooge work (not really) about alcohol

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 12 January 2017]

"Pardon My Scotch" is an American black-and-white sound film from 1935, so this one is already over 80 years old. It was directed by Del Lord, a longtime Stooges collaborator, and written by Andrew Bennison who isn't really the latter. Like most other Stooges short films, it runs for roughly 18-19 minutes and as one of their earlier works it still features Curly of course. The title already gives away that the focus here is on alcohol, namely scotch and a huge part of the film is exactly about that. But of course, this is just the basic story and this is really almost never what you should focus on when watching a work by this gang. It is the comedy. Sometimes it is good, sometimes not so much. I would say it is not on par with their better/best works here and honestly the plot is also nothing great to be honest, probably also because the element of love is missing in this one (almost) completely and this is always one of the more endearing aspects to Stooges short films. So I am certainly a bit surprised that this one here is among the more known Stooges films. I personally give it a thumbs-down and don't recommend checking it out. It's a drag, even at under 20 minutes.

Classic Stooges

[Michael_Elliott · 25 February 2008]

Pardon My Scotch (1935)

*** (out of 4)

The Three Stooges are mistaken for bootleggers due to a special chemical they made up. There are a few dry spots but overall this is another entertaining shorts that has one of their best jokes. The scene where Moe is standing on a table that gets cut in half is priceless as is another scene with the boys mixing up their scotch. Curley does a roll dance ala Chaplin in The Gold Rush but this here certainly doesn't have the same effect.

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

Buns

[tedg · 6 February 2006]

So many of the Stooge projects run into each other. After all, formula and consistency is part of the game.

That's why comments on then simply will identify something unique to that one: in this case, the injury from a stunt. These guys must have been completely used up physically by the time they left us.

Here's the one thing I'll ask you to look for. In the midst of other hilarity, the guys sit down to a ritzy meal in their kilts. Curly does the roll-dance. That's where you stick forks into two dinner rolls and do a dance with them. This was invented by Chaplin in "Goold Rush." It was huge hit in its day, but I've found it to be a sort of tune that future comics can interpret in their own way. Johnny Depp and Robert Downey did amazing commentary variations on this.

And Curly does here. It is only a couple seconds.

Curly was the Stooge most like his real personality. Most of what you see in the shorts in him is stuff he just naturally did without planning or rehearsal. This little dance is clumsy and inept in precisely the way he was. This is followed by a bit where the rolls (actually a substituted larger one) move from becoming feet to a mouth, so when Curly tries to bit a sandwich, it bites him first.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.