Flat Foot Stooges (1938) User Reviews

The Keystone Firemen

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 2 September 2014]

In this short subject the boys are firemen who succeed in burning down the fire station. Not that in this case they started the fire, but their response time leaves a lot to be desired even for the Three Stooges.

It all starts innocently enough for the boys, they're told the fireman's picnic is coming and to get things spic and span even their two white horses. Only Moe, Larry, and Curly would think of sending the horses and themselves to get cleaned up.

This short subject is something of a Keystone Kops reunion with brothers Chester and Heinie Conklin in the cast. With Chief Chester leading the response to a fire in their own station is hilarious.

One wonders if the ancestors of the Three Stooges were part of the Rome Volunteer Fire Department when Nero burned the city.

Stooges Return to the Fire House for Some Fun

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 14 February 2024]

In the Stooges' final short of 1938, December's "Flat Foot," they revisit the fire house in their 35th short film. Shady salesman Mr. Reardon (character actor Dick Curtis in his film debut) drops a keg of dynamite inside the horse-driven fire truck because he's frustrated he was unable to sell the fire chief (Chester Conklin) a motorized vehicle. Meanwhile, the chief's daughter catches him in the act. She follows him upstairs at the firehouse, only to have both knocked out while a duck who's ingested the dynamite powder leaking from Reardon's keg lays an explosive egg at the window, setting off a fire. The Stooges as resident firemen, respond to the fire, thinking it's blocks away as they did in their earlier 1936's "False Alarm." They scamper away in their horse-drawn fire truck--without the horses but manned by a group of civilian volunteers-only to see their truck blow up.

Charley Chase was an efficient yet hasty director of the Three Stooges when filming their shorts. There's a couple of slipped lines said by Moe and Larry that the perceptive viewer can spot which Chase left in rather than reshoot. Larry also says Curly's trademark line, "I'm a victim of circumstance" for the first time. "Flat Foot Stooges," whose title was gleaned from the 1938 popular jazz song 'Flat Foot Floogee' by Slim and Slam, was filmed after "Three Little Sew and Sews," but released a month before. The tune 'Three Blind Mice' was first used in this Stooges' opening credits.

As the fire chief, actor Chester Conklin was a comedian in silent movies for Mack Sennett beginning in 1914, appearing in Charlie Chaplin's first short, "Making A Living." Chaplin and he became good friends for life, with Conklin acting alongside The Tramp in more than a dozen shorts as well as in 1935's "Modern Times" and 1940's "The Great Dictator." The 1950s were not kind to Conklin, who was unable to find work. He resorted during the holidays to play Santa Claus in a department store. He died in 1971 at 85, six years after his last film appearance, 1966's 'A Big Hand for the Little Lady.'

off the top

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 28 January 2021]

The fire chief is unwilling to buy any modern equipment from salesman Mr. Reardon. Larry, Curly, and Moe are firemen at an old firehouse which still uses a horse-drawn fire engine. Reardon sabotages their fire engine and the chief's daughter Crickett catches him.

This is a fine Stooges short. It's fun for the most part. The Turkish bath would be funny except I think horses don't like lying on their sides which only happens when they're distressed like being pregnant. It doesn't make scene any funnier. As for the fire, the real danger also makes it less funny. All of it takes a bit of fun off the top.

Good Three Stooges short!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 5 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. Its hilarious. The Stooges are a little different in this one. Dick Curtis is very good in this one and his character is a good one. Chester Conklinand and Lola Jensen perform well as father daughter! The scenes with the fire house mouse and the bulldog is very funny. There is another fire fighter Three Stooges short called False alarms which it is a great one! I recommend this one!

Firehouse insanity!

[slymusic · 24 November 2006]

The first Three Stooges short at Columbia Pictures in which the boys portray fireman is "False Alarms" (1936), and if you thought THAT particular short was weird, wait until you watch "Flat Foot Stooges"! It is arguably the wackiest and noisiest Three Stooges film ever made, and no wonder: it was released in 1938, which was probably the peak year for screwball comedy. (Don't read any further until after you have seen this film.) Here's the gist behind the entire wackiness of "Flat Foot Stooges": a crooked salesman named Mr. Reardon (Dick Curtis) seeks revenge with Fire Chief Kelly (Chester Conklin), who is quite adamant that motorized fire engines will never take the place of the dashing horse-drawn engines, hence he refuses to conduct any business with Reardon.

My favorite scenes from this short include the following. When the Stooges awaken from their slumber, they strap on their trousers and suspenders...until they notice that something's amiss! When the boys take the fire station's two horses (named Annie and Fannie) to the Turkish bath, Curly has a certain coyness about him as he remarks to one of the horses, "You know we're not supposed to flirt with the customers." And at the end of this film, Chief Kelly, the Stooges, and a group of helpful bystanders grab a safety net in order to rescue Reardon from atop the burning firehouse; when the rescue party also spots Kelly's daughter (Lola Jensen) on another windowsill, they decide to save her instead as Reardon plunges to the ground!

Directed by Charley Chase, "Flat Foot Stooges" is simply wacky from start to finish, no question about it! Everything from the Turkish bath for the horses, to a duck eating gunpowder and laying an egg that sets the firehouse on fire, to a mouse attacking the Stooges' bulldog Butch, to a group of volunteers helping the Stooges pull the fire engine when Annie and Fannie run away, to the engine blowing up, to everybody commandeering a horse & buggy and holding it up with a fence post, etc., etc., might be a little too much for the average viewer.

One of the Best Stooges Shorts to be Helmed by Charley Chase

[aka-45316 · 10/10 · 11 May 2020]

In all honesty, this episode was another one of the Stooges's funniest installments. Based on some of the reviews I found on IMDb, it's also surprisingly underrated.

Charley Chase is definitely no Del Lord or Jules White. But, helming the chairs of writer and director for this short, he created perhaps one of the liveliest Three Stooges episodes ever made. Whoever said that this episode wasn't funny must have cotton for brains, because I found it to be hilarious. The comedy landed with amazing fluency and timing throughout the short, and the plot tied together nicely. While I do admit that there may have been a sense of disorganization in the short, Chase nevertheless made it all work and actually made something fun out of it all.

The performances of the cast were as entertaining and spritely as ever, if I may say. I mean, yes, the cast often spent a majority of the time interrupting or talking over each other, sometimes the Stooges even corrected themselves with what they're saying. In the long run, though, it made their performances funny, and it enhanced them with a human sense of accuracy. The Stooges themselves still had the best moments out of everyone, and it looked like they were having great time working on this short.

In the end, "Flat Foot Stooges" was another member of the Three Stooges filmography that provided a really great time.

OK, Not Really One Of The Stooges Funnier Ones

[ccthemovieman-1 · 5/10 · 16 May 2007]

Fire Chief Kelly is the old-fashioned type, preferring horse-drawn fire engines "because there is nothing more thrilling than seeing....blah, blah, blah." I guess looks are more important than putting out the fire, eh Chief?

Anyway, after arguing with a salesman trying to get the old guy to switch to modern machinery, his daughter comes in with a trophy that the boys - Curly, Larry & Moe - won for selling the most tickets to a picnic.

We then get our first glance at the Stooges as firemen. As you can guess, they aren't exactly proficient in their job. We get a corny skit of them trying to put on their duds and then trying to hitch up the horses to get to a fire....only to discover it's an alarm clock ringing, not the fire bell. It's pretty lame stuff, not the greatest of Stooges humor.

The Stooges are told there's a prize for the best-looking horses at the picnic, and since there is no fire, the boys decide to take two horses, Annie and Fannie, to the Turkish baths in town. (Don't ask.) Next, the boys give the horses a rubdown. The horses lie on a table!

All of this silliness is interrupted when, all of the sudden, the scene changes to some crook (that previously-mentioned salesman) holding a can of TNT and trying to get into a building. He's spilling it and a duck following is eating the stuff! Except for cartoons, where else can you see insane things like this?

From this point on - the second half of the story - it gets better, with genuinely funny sight gags, like the duck laying eggs that explode, or the safety net to save a guy jumping from the ledge. It even gets suspenseful with a raging fire - at the firehouse! Overall, however, it's slightly below-average material. It's a little too silly and definitely too loud.

How do they come up with the plot?

[crusefamily · 8 October 2001]

FLAT FOOT STOOGES is a very weird plot. How did they come up with the idea of a duck laying an egg with gunpowder to start a fire. The stooges also play firemen in SOUP TO NUTS, FALSE ALARMS, & IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD. Watch one of those films instead.

** out of 4 stars.

The fighters you definitely (don't) want in case of a fire

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 25 January 2018]

"Flat Foot Stooges" is an American 16-minute live action short film from 1938, so this one has its 80th anniversary this year. This is one of the really rare occasions where the title already includes the word "Stooges" for one of the Three Stooges short films. Like all their others, this one is in black-and-white and it is another effort directed by pretty famous silent film actor Charley Chase, the other Charlie if you want to say so. But the rest is the typical. The trio (including Curly still of course) are clumsy fools, yet even in the profession of firefighters they somehow manage to become unlikely heroes eventually. The boss character as well as the damsel in distress and the main antagonist are the usual Stooges stuff and you can find pretty much the exact same characters in many other short movies from the trio. Same applies to the story. The comedy isn't too great either despite a decent cast that includes prolific western actors and Chaplin co-stars. It's all about the script and this one's simply not good enough. So as a whole, this film gets a thumbs-down from me because neither the comedy nor the more dramatic moments are essentially working. Not a failure, but really only worth checking out for the very biggest fans of the gang. I give it a thumbs-down.

Fair Stooges Short

[Michael_Elliott · 24 May 2010]

Flat Foot Stooges (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent short has the Three Stooges working at a fire company that still uses a horse and buggy to go to the fires. A salesman tries to make them come current but the owner refuses so the man accidentally starts a fire at the firehouse. It's hard to believe one could say that a Stooges short was just too silly for its own good but that's pretty much the case here. Have you ever seen a duck that eats some gun powder and then lays an egg that explodes? You'll get to see that here as well as another scene where bulldog fights a mouse only to get beat up. Those two items aren't really funny and that's pretty much the story from start to finish. We get a few nice gags but even the best ones will only put a smile on your face and none of them will have you laughing at out. The entire second half of the film deals with the firehouse being on fire but the Stooges manage not to realize even though they're downstairs from the blaze. This leads to a rather amusing scene where they must try to get the wagon around town without any horses.