Rhythm and Weep (1946) User Reviews

Where were you born, in a hospital.

[csweetleaf2 · 8/10 · 1 April 2003]

Rhythm and Weep was a good stooge short during the 1945-46 era when Curly's health was declining, this wasn't one of Curly's better acting shorts of the era but Moe, Larry, the piano player and the girls did a great job, the best part is when Curly falls off of the building and when Moe constantly gets smacked in the face by Larry and Curly's instruments and when the piano player doubles their salary, they find out that he's a mental patient from the cuckoo's nest, if you love the Three Stooges, then you'll like Rhythm and Weep but I wouldn't recommend this short if you're expecting a great performance by Curly but he was definitely better than If a Body Meets a Body, Bird in the Head and especially Three Loan Wolves.

8/10 stars

Stooges on the roof

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 15 November 2019]

It's the 26th theater that Larry, Curly, and Moe have been thrown out of. The manager tells them to jump off a tall building and they decide to do just that. On the roof, they meet three dancing girls, Wilda, Tilda, and Hilda, with the same idea. They fall in love and then someone starts playing a piano nearby. It's millionaire Mr. Walsh who hires the six performers for his show. This starts a little dark. The story moves a little rough. This is one of those Stooges shorts which rely on some dancing. It's not my favorite aspect of their flicks. This is still pretty good with a late stage Curly.

Charming

[dougdoepke · 14 October 2010]

Okay, with 7 other reviews, why add another one. Because for this Stooge fan, a word I never remotely associated with their work popped into my head while watching Rhythm. In my little book, this is indeed a 'charming' entry—from the wink-and-nod playing to the camera to the absolutely beautiful three girl dancers. But I especially like that sequence on the ledge where the three boys and three girls sweetly find each other more enticing than a leap off the edge, and then celebrate with a charming little dance.

Also, the typical Stooge slapstick is nicely integrated into the girls' dance numbers, especially the hep-cat number. I suspect there's more music and less knock-about because of Curly's declining health. But whatever the reason, the writers and casting director manage to compensate in charmingly unexpected fashion.

Excellent Three Stooges short!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 20 June 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!

I have always liked this Three Stooges short. Its hilarious, it has very good acting, it has three beautiful actresses Doria Patrice, Ruth White, Nita Bieber which dance incredibly in this short film. The scenes where the Stooges play the instruments are funny and the music is fantastic! This is an excellent one! One of My favorites!

Not Bad, But Not Great

[abbazabakyleman-98834 · 4/10 · 31 March 2019]

This latter-day Curly short showcases mostly dancing routines and not very much slapstick. Curly is visibly wooden and sickly due to his declining health. He does get a pie in the face and takes a few hits, but that's about it. The closing sequence where the Stooges perform an army physical skit is decent, though.

Excruciatingly Laughless Three Stooges Short with Curly Howard

[mrb1980 · 3/10 · 8 February 2011]

"Rhythm and Weep" is a late Curly-era short released in 1946. The plot—what there is of it—involves the unsuccessful Stooge acting trio being thrown out into the street by an unsympathetic theater bouncer. They climb to the top of a skyscraper to commit suicide, where they find three gorgeous young women likewise planning to jump. The three couples pair off, then find a millionaire playing a piano in the building. He hires the guys and ladies and offers them fat salaries to perform in his show. After some uninspired dancing by the ladies, the "millionaire" is discovered and hauled off to a mental hospital by the stereotypical guys in white suits.

Curly Howard was in a rapid physical decline when this shoddy short subject was made in the mid-1940s. Edward Bernds directed quite a few of the later Curly shorts, and later said that he would try to catch Curly on an "up" day to film his material. This approach resulted in the tolerable short "Monkey Businessmen" and the classic "Micro Phonies". Jules White, who directed this short, normally would stick an ill Curly in the corner with almost no lines, and emphasize the rest of the cast. Here, a extended dancing number by the female dance team pads the film's running time, and adds nothing to the movie. Moe and Larry perform their material with Curly just blankly looking on most of the time. There are some mild laughs during the boys' musical number, but the whole short is otherwise completely unfunny.

Along with "Three Loan Wolves", this was probably the worst short the Stooges made with Curly. I love the Stooges, but because of Curly's condition I just can't enjoy this film. Instead of being funny, it's just really sad.

The Stooges don't jump -- Leave it to Bieber

[curly-17 · 1 January 2001]

Curly, Moe and Larry are 3 unemployed actors looking for work. After they are thrown out of the 26th theatre, they decide to take the bouncer's advice to "climb the tallest building and jump off!" Before they do, Curly decides to have a big cream pie, "so I can di-gest right." Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Moe splats the pie in his face, and the Stooges go to the top of a tall building. There, the Stooges meet 3 beautiful girls with a dancing act. They are Hilda, Wilda, and Tilda. The boys pair off, and kiss the girls-- they decide not to leap. Then the Stooges and the girls do a hilarious dance number when someone starts playing the piano. The pianist turns out to be a potential sponsor, and asks them if they are musicians. Larry says, "Oh sure-- I play in 5 flats, and get thrown out of all of them." This short has more dance (with the girls doing ballet, and the Stooges in drag) and less slapstick than their 1930s films. The Stooges also do a skit about the Army, perhaps leftover from their WW II material. This short marks the screen debut of beautiful Nita Bieber (the "watch my figure" girl)-- her next appearance was in the Bowery Boys movie "News Hounds" (1947).

Weak entry in late-Curly era

[jimtinder · 5/10 · 9 July 2001]

"Rhythm and Weep" is one of the dozen or so Stooge entries from 1945-46 that shows Curly was not a well man. His actions are noticeably slower, as well as his speech. With this said, however, he looks and sounds better in this film than in others made during this time ("Monkey Businessmen" and "Three Loan Wolves" are examples of this).

This film is a sort-of reworking of "Gents Without Cents" from 1944. Dejected at being thrown out as performers from a theater, the boys decide to commit suicide. On top of a building they meet three beautiful dancers, who also want to off themselves for not finding work. Before they can jump, they meet a millionaire musical producer (Jack Norton) who will bankroll them into his newest production.

The film limps along with protracted musical numbers with the girls. The only highlights of the film are the Army service exam and Larry's classic line, "This I like! And I get paid for it, too!" It's also interesting to see character actor Jack Norton in a role where he doesn't play a drunk! This aside, however, the short is only memorable for being one of Curly's last performances. 5 out of 10.

Maybe the worst Stooge short of all

[michaelmallory-57825 · 1/10 · 18 January 2024]

"Rhythm and Weep" begins with the Stooges being thrown out of a theatre for having the worst act on the circuit, while the theatre manager suggests they commit suicide...so they agree! Funny stuff, huh? They decide to jump off the ledge of a building. But there encounter three beautiful dancers who are also planning on killing themselves. A laff riot so far! Also on the roof is a man who claims to be a filthy rich Broadway producer who can't find a cast, which leads to their salvation. But anyone who can't figure out the punchline the first time the "producer" laughs maniacally should watch Westerns instead. This short shows Curly at his sickest; his timing is gone, and he is virtually incapable of performing the slightest comedy shtick. As a result, most of what would have been Curly business is shifted to Larry. The three dancers are fine, despite the club-footed choreography, but the short over-all has the appalling stink of one of those "Lets-Put-On-A-Show" wartime "Our Gang" comedies. If you love the Stooges, avoid this one like the plague.

Ruth White, and the Three Stooges

[weghalbert · 1 February 2006]

This is a fair short, with Curly Howard having a good week, despite his health problems during this time. The highlight of this is Ruth White in her first feature. Her dancing is good and she proved to be a good asset to three stooges shorts. Ruth got to work with Curly , Shemp and Joe Besser. She is in the best short that Joe did with the Stooges " A Merry Mixup". Ruth became a well respected character actress on Broadway before her untimely death of cancer in 1969. Ruth was quite a talent and she shined brightly in the Stooges shorts she did with the boys ( given the material she had to work with ) And she went on to display her talents in films as well.

Lost in music and dance

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 17 February 2019]

"Rhythm and Weep" is an American 18-minute live action short film from 1946, so this one is approaching its 75th anniversary. If you read the names of director White and writer Adler, you maybe know already that this is another Three Stooges movie we have here at our hands. It is neither one of their earliest or latest, around number 100, but one of their final releases before Curly had to leave the gang due to his poor health and Shemp took over. Also it is one of their works they never remade or pparently used scenes from for further works. The rest is typical Stooges though, with the exception that there is more music slapstick this time, also in terms of dancing. On the one hand we have three pretty talented ladies, on the other we have the Stooges in drag. That is surprisingly something you don#t really see that often with the Stooges, perhaps because it really wasn't too funny. The sequence early on up there on the roof was still okay as a whole, even if it did feel extremely unrealistic honestly that at the same time there's 3 others up there too. But yeah, the really long middle part with all the music references was not satisfying at all. A bit of a shame because Larry was such a talented musician, but yeah he as well as the other two is/are all about the comedy and not about a concert or anything. The ending and the revelation that is spoilered here on imdb already (boo!) is better again, but it cannot really make up for all the mediocrity before that. This is not one of the Stooges' most known short films (nowhere near! but also not one of their least known) and I can see why. The quality and entertainment aspect especially here are fairly underwhelming in my opinion. Only watch if you really dig the Stooges. I give it a thumbs-down.

"Do you know 'Swingeroo Joe'?"

[slymusic · 12 January 2006]

Directed by Jules White, "Rhythm and Weep" casts the Stooges as struggling actors/musicians. The major problem with this short is Curly. He was not a well man by this time; his speech was slurred, his energy was virtually gone, and he just wasn't the Curly that we all know from his classic era of Stooge shorts from 1935 to 1941. In fact, after "Rhythm and Weep," Curly would appear in only two more shorts as a Stooge ("Three Little Pirates" [1946] and "Half-Wits Holiday" [1947]) before he suffered his disabling stroke.

Despite Curly's alarming physical condition, "Rhythm and Weep" still manages to get in a few laughs. The best and funniest scene in the whole short involves the Stooges playing some lively swing music with a daffy millionaire pianist (Jack Norton) on a rooftop; Larry and Curly just can't seem to prevent themselves from accidentally jabbing Moe in the face as they bow their string instruments. The Stooges dance with a trio of pretty ladies atop a skyscraper (to the tune of "Turkey in the Straw"), but Curly cannot move his feet because he nailed his shoes to the roof in order to prevent himself from falling off. Before the Stooges embark to the rooftop that they intend to jump off, Curly whips out a pie and prepares to eat it; when Moe asks him what's with the pie, Curly answers, "So I can die-gest right!" And at the end, when the boys discover that the piano-playing millionaire (who offered them and the girls a spot in his new show) is a lunatic, Curly bangs his head on a wall, and Moe and Larry repeatedly drop sandbags on their heads.

One final piece of trivia for "Rhythm and Weep": When the Stooges and the girls discover the pianist on the rooftop, the song that he plays is "Let's Fall in Love," composed by Harold Arlen. Director Jules White claimed that he loved this song, and it was used in two other Three Stooges shorts: "Punch Drunks" (1934) and "Sweet and Hot" (1958).