Just a collection of observations under several headings this time instead of one of Dr. Hugo's dissertations (I wrote this last week before going on a trip with a device that makes adding and altering text difficult, so this does not include comments on previous posts; I will say, though, that I agree with Metaldams about Bud Jamison's performance, though not about this being the most un-PC of Stooge shorts; that honor has to go to the wartime shorts in which Japanese characters appear or are assumed by the Stooges):
Bud Jamison's "Pierre" is one of my favorite Stooge foils and one of the best things in this short. Jamison had little aptitude for accents, in the sense that he never makes them sound real, but for some reason I find the accent of his irascible French-Canadian trapper hilarious throughout this short, no matter how fake it sounds. Memorable instances:
--"I think this game, she is crook! I smell the skunk!"
--"Oh! For Indians to steal my wife is pretty bad, but when Indians take my bacon ("backon") and my beans, I take ("tack") Indians' scalp!"
His characterization throughout the short is excellent. One of the things that make the business of his catching the three "Indians" in his cabin so funny is that from his initial surprised reaction, "Oh! Indians!", one can have no idea of what is going to come next. He does not explode in anger as a Vernon Dent character might do, but slowly reveals his vengeful intent. Later, in his dealings with Curly as "the nice fat Indian mama," he makes even quicker transitions back and forth between rage and amorousness.
Moe administering discipline
--Moe and Curly are perched on a tree limb:
Moe: What did you do with the money?
Curly: I threw it away so I could run faster!
His slap sends Curly spinning around the tree limb before they both fall down and hit Larry. I wish that the makers had used a distance shot with dummies falling the whole distance, as in Ants in the Pantry, rather than a medium close-up of Larry with the actual Moe and Curly dropping down on him, but I suppose that would have been more difficult and would have required more expense in production.
--When Moe breaks Curly's found "club" over his head, part of what makes it funny (to me anyway) is the meagerness of the provocation. It may be punishment for the stupidity of his plan of catching fish with chewing tobacco, or it may be just because, any time a subordinate Stooge presents Moe with something that could be used for hitting him on the head, Moe hits him on the head with it.
--The three disguise themselves with pieces of Indian garb and a wig inexplicably available in Pierre's cabin:
Curly: I ain't going to wear this—this is last year's model!
Moe: Maybe you'd like to have an ermine wrap?
Curly: You mean it? SOITENLY!
Moe: (Slaps Curly) That's the rap, now go out and get yourself your own ermine!
Stooge physics and other oddities
--Larry practices Stooge wood chopping, which works according to the principle that what goes up must come down on the head of whoever made it go up.
--Curly goes fishing: Three shots with a double-barreled shotgun underwater kill five fish, which are all attached to a line hanging from the barrel of the gun by the time he wades out of the water.
--The table that breaks into splinters when Pierre brings his fists down on it ("I KEEL all indians!") reminds us that even the actions of secondary characters who are by themselves are governed by the laws of Stooge physics.
--The canoe that seems to propel itself across the lake as if motorized is an odd visual gag, as there is no reason for it whatever. But the studio thought it was good enough to be re-used in Back to the Woods a year later.
--A note on production: When Curly encounters the sheriff coming around the tree and gives him an eye-poke, his fingers actually hit the actor's eyes instead of his forehead.
--How does Curly get into the cabin after running around to the back when the cabin has only one door?
--I have always found the bit in which the Stooges try to hitch a ride back to Lobo City with a man on a horse bizarre. For one thing, the clumsy way in which it is spliced together fails to make it appear as if the rider and the Stooges are in the same place (as presumably the actors were not). For another, there is the sheer oddity of the idea: do they think that a horse can seat four men? The man's grumpy response, "Aah, no riders!", with a downward flick of the hand, reminds me of the similar response of the palace guard to the serenading efforts of Moe, Larry, and Shemp in the much later Squareheads of the Round Table. Luckily, there happens to be a three-person tandem bicycle behind a haystack on a nearby farm. (A farm out in the wilderness?)
Funny Indian business
Sheriff: How!
Larry: How!
Moe: How!
Curly: And how! (Moe gives him a sharp look)
Sheriff: (Speaking very slowly) You see three paleface around here?
Curly: Me no fershtey!* (Moe kicks him) Hmrgh!
Moe: Hunh!
Larry: Hunh!
Moe: Hunh hunh-hunh-hunh hunh!
All three: Hunh-hunh!
*Another instance of the Stooges making passing use of Yiddish.
Pierre: You keep my wigwam?
Curly: You keep your own wig warm!
Disappointing ending to the short, when the Stooges take refuge in a handy jail cell and get locked in by the sheriff.
