"The Yoke's on Me," in my opinion, is not one of the better Three Stooges shorts. There are some funny gags, but the major disappointment about this short is its racial content. It places Japanese-Americans in a dim light, and I would like to believe that Japanese-Americans are treated with much more respect today than they were in 1944 as depicted in this short. "The Yoke's on Me" has been blacklisted among television stations, but it has been released on Columbia TriStar Home Video.
I feel that some of the better scenes in this short are ones that do not feature the Japanese-Americans. At the Stooges' farm, Curly makes some childish remarks about geese and Larry has an amusing facial expression during Curly's way-too-long fan dance. And at the film's opening, the Stooges harmonize "The Farmer in the Dell," accompanied by a fresh round of tomatoes!
So "The Yoke's on Me" may not be considered by many to be a good Stooge short. But despite its blatant racism, it has its funny moments. And here is one final interesting sidelight: in Larry Fine's later years when he lived at the Motion Picture Country Home, he obtained a copy of "The Yoke's on Me" in his personal collection of Stooge films, when he wanted to watch "the good stuff," as he called them.
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