If a Body Meets a Body: Difference between revisions
| Line 34: | Line 34: | ||
==Plot== |
==Plot== |
||
The Stooges are unemployed, and looking through the want-ads for work. when the trios sets the table Curly brings a pail of soup from a meat bone, Larry Curly's soup smells like a dead horse and Moe finds a large horseshoe on his soup, and duos are angry with Curly that he didn't go to the butcher shop for meat and went to glue factory so they kick him out. as Curly is about to leave Moe stumbles on an article stating that Curly's uncle Bob O. Link had died and left his nephew Curly Q. Link a nice inheritance. Upon arriving at the uncle's mansion for the reading of the will, the lawyer disappears along with the will, and is then found murdered. All potential heirs, including the Stooges, are held as suspects and forced to spend the night. |
The Stooges are unemployed, and looking through the want-ads for work. when the trios sets the table Curly brings a pail of soup from a meat bone, Larry notices Curly's soup smells like a dead horse and Moe finds a large horseshoe on his soup, and duos are angry with Curly that he didn't go to the butcher shop for meat and went to glue factory so they kick him out. as Curly is about to leave Moe stumbles on an article stating that Curly's uncle Bob O. Link had died and left his nephew Curly Q. Link a nice inheritance. Upon arriving at the uncle's mansion for the reading of the will, the lawyer disappears along with the will, and is then found murdered. All potential heirs, including the Stooges, are held as suspects and forced to spend the night. |
||
[[File:IfaBody2link.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Moe's hair stands on end when the body of Curly's deceased uncle leans on him.]] |
[[File:IfaBody2link.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Moe's hair stands on end when the body of Curly's deceased uncle leans on him.]] |
||
Revision as of 11:31, 2 June 2014
| If a Body Meets a Body | |
|---|---|
| File:IfBodyMeetsBodyTITLE.jpg | |
| Directed by | Jules White |
| Written by | Jack White Gilbert Pratt |
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Theodore Lorch Fred Kelsey Joe Palma Al Thompson Victor Travers Dorothy Vernon |
| Cinematography | Benjamin H. Kline |
| Edited by | Charles Hochberg |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 18' 07" |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
If a Body Meets a Body is the 86th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.
Its title is a pun on the comically macabre theme of the film, and taken from a line from the old Scottish song by Robert Burns, "Coming Through the Rye"[1] (as in "Should a body meet a body/Coming through the rye/Should a body kiss a body/Need a body cry?").[2] The short has a plot very similar to The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case, which also features actor Fred Kelsey.
Plot
The Stooges are unemployed, and looking through the want-ads for work. when the trios sets the table Curly brings a pail of soup from a meat bone, Larry notices Curly's soup smells like a dead horse and Moe finds a large horseshoe on his soup, and duos are angry with Curly that he didn't go to the butcher shop for meat and went to glue factory so they kick him out. as Curly is about to leave Moe stumbles on an article stating that Curly's uncle Bob O. Link had died and left his nephew Curly Q. Link a nice inheritance. Upon arriving at the uncle's mansion for the reading of the will, the lawyer disappears along with the will, and is then found murdered. All potential heirs, including the Stooges, are held as suspects and forced to spend the night.
While getting a tour of their sleeping quarters, Curly gets spooked when it is revealed his is standing on the exact spot his uncle was murdered. The rest of the night consists of a parrot walking around inside a human skull, howling wind, and uncle Bob O. Link's corpse leaning on Moe.
The Stooges flee down the stairwell and knock over the maid (Joe Palma), who is the killer in disguise, with the stolen will falling out of the killer's wig. After excitedly reading the will, Curly learns that he has been bequeathed a grand total of $0.67 net while Liza Link bequeathed with one million, two hundred, fifty thousand dollars and the stooges are disappointed that Bob O. Link never leave any money for Curly at all.
Curly's illness
If a Body Meets a Body was the first film made after Curly Howard suffered a mild stroke. As a result, his performance was marred by slurred speech, and slower timing. Though the trio did not know it at the time, Curly's health would gradually deteriorate, resulting in languid, almost sickly performances right up to his last film with the team, Half-Wits Holiday.[3]
Theme change
If a Body Meets a Body is the first Stooge film to employ a revamped performance of the 'sliding strings' version of "Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges' official theme song. The original 'sliding strings' version was regularly used from 1938's Flat Foot Stooges until 1942's What's the Matador?. Due to the timing of this theme's usage, it is often associated with the post-stroke Curly Howard era, as the new theme coincidentally made its debut in the same film that Curly's illness became apparent.[1] This version of "Three Blind Mice" would only be utilized in four films during the Shemp Howard era: Fright Night, Out West, Squareheads of the Round Table and The Hot Scots.
References
- ^ a b Solomon, Jon (2002). The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion. Comedy III Productions, Inc. p. 262. ISBN 0-9711868-0-4.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) Cite error: The named reference "Solomon" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ "Coming Through the Rye" lyrics
- ^ Fleming, Michael (2002) [1999]. The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons. New York: Broadway Publishing. p. 211. ISBN 0-7679-0556-3
External links
| Works | |
|---|---|
| Related topics | |
| Associated people | |
