Customer Reviews

The Three Stooges - I'm a Monkey's Uncle [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'M A MONKEY'S UNCLE, MUMMY'S DUMMIES, and SQUAREHEADS OF THE ROUND TABLE. There's no best short on this tape. All three are equally funny.

I'M A MONKEY'S UNCLE is so funny, especially Shemp with Dee Green. She tackles well. She'd make a good football player. A priceless short. Remade as STONE AGE ROMEOS.

MUMMY'S DUMMIES is also very funny, especially the supporting cast. This could not have been better, but the quality could.

SQUAREHEADS OF THE ROUND TABLE is possibly the best Three Stooges short set in medevil times. This was great. The quality of the three is best on this one. A great short.

Notice that all three of these shorts take place in a different time period. The quality of the tape comes out darker than usual. I give this 4 1/2 stars.

"I'm a Monkey's Uncle" is the Three Stooges' version of the Flintsones, only much funnier. Great, but average for the Stooges.

"Mummy's Dummies" is a bit better. The King's tooth plucking is pretty funny, and the chase through the palace is OK. Another average short(for the Stooges.)

"Squareheads of the Roundtable" is a good spoof on opera, but the stupid serenade is funny. Their timing has been better.

A back-in-time themed video tape, and all shorts ironically come from the same year:

I'M A MONKEY'S UNCLE (1948) is disappointing. Set in the Stone-Age. With the Stooges set as cavemen for the whole short, your expectations are high for a great, unique short, but they really wasted the premise. What we get is a lot of weak scenes, another 5 minute scene with Moe doing another poor Curly imitation (see also SHIVERING SHERLOCKS), and a weak ending. Although the interaction between Shemp and Baggie (Dee Green) is funny. But they didn't do much with this premise as they should've. Same thing with SELF MADE MAIDS, which casts the Stooges playing all the parts, even the supporting roles - and that clever premise wasn't handled well at all. Still, worth seeing the Stooges as cavemen.

MUMMY'S DUMMIES (1948) is a better short. Set in ancient Egypt. Some great scenes, and my favorite part is where the guard is quickly unraveling the mummy bandages wrapped around Shemp, sending him spinning though the whole room. Incidentally, this is the only pre-1950's Shemp short that was not remade with the Stooges later on.

SQUAREHEADS OF THE ROUND TABLE (1948) is a wonderful short. Set in Medieval times. Great writing and direction, with a great supporting cast, topped off with a wonderful castle scene makes this one of the best shorts the Stooges ever did.

Starts out bumpy, but the shorts on the tape progessively gets better as it goes along.

Unfortunately, the only short I remember well enough to review is "I'm a Monkey's Uncle". This one was funny, especially when the Stooges use their slapstick strength in defeating three oh, shall we say, superior intellect cavemen, who want their girlfriends.

This is fun short, and it proves you don't need a lot of face slapping to be funny. I did a take off of this picture with 3 girls doing the Stooges parts with my best friend playing the Moe role. She was a little uncomfortable when we had to put a piece of string on her big toe (In the sleeping sequence Moe is catching breakfast with his big toe so she had to have her bare feet poking out of the fur blanket)It was hysterical as she nailed the part talking in her sleep about her boyfriend and all the girls snoring in tune blowing off the leaves of the tree. We had a lot of fun doing it.

I'M A MONKEY'S UNCLE, MUMMY'S DUMMIES, and SQUAREHEADS OF THE ROUND TABLE. There's no best short on this tape. All three are equally funny.

I'M A MONKEY'S UNCLE is so funny, especially Shemp with Dee Green. She tackles well. She'd make a good football player. A priceless short. Remade as STONE AGE ROMEOS.

MUMMY'S DUMMIES is also very funny, especially the supporting cast. This should could not have been better, but the quality could.

SQUAREHEADS OF THE ROUND TABLE is possibly the best Three Stooges short set in medevil times. This was great. The quality of the three is best on this one. A great short.

Notice that all three of these shorts take place in a different time period. The quality of the tape comes out darker than usual. I give this 4 1/2 stars.

Three costume comedies with the Stooges. I'M A MONKEY'S UNCLE has the Stooges as cavemen in a typical slapstick outing. MUMMY'S DUMMIES has "Honest Moe, Honest Shemp, and Larry" as used-chariot salesmen in a funny spoof of sword-and-sandal epics. SQUAREHEADS OF THE ROUND TABLE is a clever comedy pitting Ye Stooges against The Black Prince; there's a memorable musical interlude with soprano Christine McIntyre and the Stooges. Columbia's video releases are technically fine as a rule, using 35mm theatrical masters, but not this time -- the tape is taken from darker-than-usual, 16mm TV prints! It's about the same quality as seen on some smaller labels, and it's watchable, but a few notches below Columbia's usual technical standard. Shemp deserves better.