Topic: Matri-Phony (1942)

[metaldams]

http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/63
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035047/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Man, what an interesting short for me.  In the past I have stated personal experiences and points of view can have a big impact on how one views comedy.  I go through life loving redheads.  I also love taller women, so the next short has a gag for me as well!  Octopus Grabus would have to be my favorite Vernon Dent character in a Stooge short.  I am definitely not the tyrannical type, but if I was a monarch, I'd not take your money, I'd not send your son off to some foreign land, but I may go after your redheaded daughter.  But why stop where Octopus Grabus does? 18 - 22?  That's where I take issue.  I'd go for 18 - 45, nyuk nyuk nyuk.   .  Only kidding, of course, but I do love redheads, and I also can't see a darn thing without my glasses.  Vernon Dent does a wonderful job, being a tyrant in the right spots and a playful oaf in other spots.  The man's a comic god as far as I'm concerned.

The boys themselves are pretty high energy in this one.  We get an early version of Curly doing the "ras ban as ya ti benafucci..." bit that is later perfected in TIME OUT FOR RHYTHM and THREE LITTLE PIRATES.  I also love the wine tasting bit, thinking it's clever the way they pour the wine into the sleeping homeless guy's mouth from a story above.

This would be one of two Stooge shorts Harry Edwards directs.  He also has some writing credits as well and my theory as to why he works at Columbia is that Harry Langdon, who was starring in his own comedy shorts at Columbia, got him a job.  Harry Edwards wrote and directed some of Langdon's best silent work, and I don't think it's coincidence that as soon as Langdon passed away in December of 1944, Edwards Columbia short career ended.  Both The Three Stooges and Vera Vague, according to the highly recommended book linked below, specifically requested never to work with Edwards again.  According to the threestooges.net page listed above, this short was shot on and off for three weeks, and it is believed Del Lord finished off the short, not Edwards.

One beef I do have with this short is some bits of realism where it's not called for.  A more minor offense is that Larry sells the clay in the ear a bit too well.  A more major offense is the poor red head being dragged off to the king sells her plight extremely well and for an extended period, making it feel more like a rape than a light comedy.  The overselling of pain in a Stooge short, like in HALF SHOT SHOOTERS, does not work well for me.  I wonder if this is due to Harry Edwards direction, because this has not been a problem for a while.  Also, the ending just flat out sucks.  We're in the middle of a chase scene, the boys jump out a window, and it suddenly ends as they're stuck on the spears of the royal guards.

1942 is a definite drop overall from previous years, though next week is one of the better shorts of the year.  Also, this short marks the one third point, so we're through the beginning, and onward to the middle of our quest to discuss all 190.

http://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Comedy-Shorts-Hollywood-1933-1958/dp/0786405775/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404482064&sr=1-1&keywords=columbia+comedy+shorts

8/10

[Shemp_Diesel]

The Harry Edwards angle is an interesting one to me. He only directed 2 shorts and both were very good imo, so it's a mystery to me why he seemed to rub the stooges the wrong way.

Matri-Phony is a solid 8 to me.

[metaldams]

The Harry Edwards angle is an interesting one to me. He only directed 2 shorts and both were very good imo, so it's a mystery to me why he seemed to rub the stooges the wrong way.

Matri-Phony is a solid 8 to me.

Supposedly alcoholism was the issue.

[Paul Pain]

I am glad I am not the only one who takes the ending personally; it's just weird.  The seeming-rape is also weird.

 Larry does an excellent job trying the gyp the guards, however.

metaldams said it all for me, for once, but this is still a great short nevertheless.  9/10

[JazzBill]

As far as the short goes, I like it. Vernon Dent gets some good quality screen time and  the boys are in good form. The drawback to this short is some bad editing, which is not the fault of the boys. There's a shot of Larry drinking out of the goblet for no apparent reason. At the end of the short you can hear Harry Edwards barking instructions to Larry. (Hey Larry, grab the pole.) I do find it kind of funny that towards the end of the short Vernon Dent informs Moe and Larry that "we're married", Larry says "married" and Moe replies, "that's impossible". Well Moe, not any more. I still think the short is very good and rate it an 8.

[falsealarms]

Matri-Phony (1942) is just middle of the road for me. There's nothing especially bad about it, but also nothing especially great.

Matri-Phony marks the end of one of the Stooges' highest periods, one that began with Calling All Curs (1939) and continued until What's The Matador (1942). There would be a brief rebound with Three Smart Saps before 1942 finishes with a couple below average offerings in Even As IOU and Sock-A-Bye Baby.

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

To bonk Curly like that, that sign must have been all of four-foot-eight off the ground.  Really.  Think about it.  It would hit me in the belly.  These were some little guys.

[luke795]

I really like the intro theme that plays from 1942-1944.

[Lefty]

I really like the intro theme that plays from 1942-1944.

This is my favorite version of the Stooges' themes, with this short being the first one to use it (based on release dates).

"Matri-Phony" itself is a fair show, middle of the road as it were.  The ending did seem to be quite rushed.  The part with the Stooges maneuvering Cy Schindel was funny, later repeated in "Fright Night."

[metaldams]

The part with the Stooges maneuvering Cy Schindel was funny, later repeated in "Fright Night."

That really did turn out to be a Stooge staple of sorts.  I've always liked that gag.

[stoogerascalfan62]

Was going to ask if it was the first short to use the 1942-44 version. May have also been the first to end with the Columbia logo that had "The End" and "A Columbia Short-Subject Presentation" in script form.

[Kopfy2013]

Redeeming values: shaking the head of the unconscious guard; the wine tasting scene; and Larry's line "it's a royal Mickey "

I give it a seven. I do not like the cigar in the ear. No one in their best but still watchable

[vomit]

The crab nipping at Curly is THE highlight for me.  Great short!

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

It's funny sometimes how different people find different things notable in a given short. My favorite bit in this short is a sequence that occurs very quickly and that no one has mentioned. It occurs after the Stooges, fleeing the guards of Octopus Grabus, have taken refuge behind a curtain, but before they use the guard played by Cy Shindell as a ventriloquial dummy.

Curly, resting a stone hammer on his shoulder, peers through the opening of the curtains and discovers the guard seated on a bench immediately below and in front of him. Leaning back, he accidentally hits Moe in the face with the head of the hammer (which, I notice, magically transports itself between shots from Curly's right shoulder to his left—a detail not caught in the "Stooge Goofs" for this short), sending Moe's head back to knock against Larry's. He then shushes Moe to stop him making a noise that might give away their presence. Moe, unable to give Curly an adequate punishment in the circumstances, does something that I don't recall him doing in any other instance: he claps his hand flat against Curly's face and draws it slowly downward. Curly responds by doing the same to him. Moe uses both hands to give Curly's face a rapid-fire downward paddling with both hands. Curly responds with some hand-waving magic, which doesn't touch Moe, but offends him sufficiently that he winds up to give Curly an eye-poke, but Curly anticipates this and thwarts it by laying his hand vertically along his nose. Moe pretends to shrug the matter off, causing Curly to lower his guard, then gives Curly a blow to the belly and an upward-swung conk on the forehead. Curly raises the hammer again but is pressed by Moe and Larry to get back to the business of dealing with the guard.

Of course, my verbal description is dull to read and cannot capture either the fluidity or the rapidity of the action. I provide it just to make clear how much happens in a short time. The whole business takes less than fifteen seconds, and exhibits a steady accelerando and crescendo—I have to use musical terms because it flows like music—with Moe's capping belly-blow and forehead-conk looking as if done in fast-motion photography, though they aren't. The fact that the Stooges are constrained by the need to be silent intensifies the comedy. Yet this is not silent-movie comedy, for the sound effects are an integral part of it. The near-silence—the absence of speech, but not of sound—is itself a part of the action.

Moe and Curly exhibit their collaborative funny-making skills here with an intensity that occurs in only a few shorts, I think.

[GreenCanaries]

I think I spotted a couple more guards: Jack Parker (other guard holding Diana with Charlie Phillips) and Joe Garcia (guard w/Stooges who isn't Cy Schindell nor Jack Hill).

That said: I can't find Garcia in MATADOR?

[MrsMorganMorgan]

I love this one more than I can describe. C'mon; Vernon Dent doing the squinty thing before Monty Collins hands him his glasses? "Ixnay acking-cray the oad-bray in the ase-vay ha ha ha ha ha!" Hey, what's behind those drapes? The back of the drapes! And how many vases slide down that table, and for how long they fall, at the fadeout before the palace scene....gravity must have worked differently in the 40s. The ass-kicking Marjorie Deanne lays on those guards is epic; it seems like she's really hitting them / stomping them. She does seem like a redhead. But the scene in her chambers is just fantastic. Moe: "Let me redden your cheeks" (pinches Curly really hard). "Kelpfish.....go on, get sexy!" The crab under the table pinching the Emperor and Curly; priceless. Okay; the cut-in of Larry drinking the drink again is sloppy. And the bit with the crab eating Curly's olive and pickles....eh; so so. But otherwise, I love this one; it is one of my favorites. A rare bouquet, so to say.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

Hey, what's behind those drapes? The back of the drapes!

That is one of my favorite bits in the short, not least of all for Curly's delivery. I just hope that some dyspeptic member doesn't step in to tell us that it is the fourth-oldest joke in human history.

[MrsMorganMorgan]

That is one of my favorite bits in the short, not least of all for Curly's delivery. I just hope that some dyspeptic member doesn't step in to tell us that it is the fourth-oldest joke in human history.

Even if it is; even if Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers and Keystone Kops and Charlie Chaplin all did it before, I don't think anyone did any old bits or old jokes better than our Stooges.

[GreenCanaries]

Yes, that is Jack Parker.

Thanks for confirming.

Do you think the third guard with our boys is Joe Garcia, though? I think I have the same fella in several other shorts from 1942-1946 as well.

EDIT: Or maybe Joe Garcio?

[MrsMorganMorgan]

Thanks for confirming.

Do you think the third guard with our boys is Joe Garcia, though? I think I have the same fella in several other shorts from 1942-1946 as well.

EDIT: Or maybe Joe Garcio?

Okay Green Canaries and everyone else. IMDB states that Ethelreda Leopold is Miss Syracuse in this one. I scoured this short twice over the weekend. WHERE is she???

[GreenCanaries]

Okay Green Canaries and everyone else. IMDB states that Ethelreda Leopold is Miss Syracuse in this one. I scoured this short twice over the weekend. WHERE is she???

Her scene was cut, according to the filmography page.

[MrsMorganMorgan]

Her scene was cut, according to the filmography page.

Gaaaah!!!! I didn't get that far. Thank you!!! My next question is on Rockin' Thru the Rockies; come on over to that page!

[BeAStooge]

IMDB states that Ethelreda Leopold is Miss Syracuse in this one. I scoured this short twice over the weekend. WHERE is she???

• IMDb is incorrect
• Ethelreda played 'Miss Carthage'
• 'Miss Carthage' and a scene involving a parade of Roman bathing beauties auditioning to be Octopus' bride were lost in editing, and a virtually complete rewrite of the script added scenes, lost scenes, and switched Larry & Curly's roles... the original script cast Larry as Octopus' bride.
• There are a few publicity stills featuring Ethelreda and the other actresses, from before the film's overhaul; one was used in the film's 1-sheet and a lobby card.
• Transcriptions of the dropped scenes, from Jules White's script file at the Motion Picture Academy's Herrick Library, were presented in The Three Stooges Journal # 116 (Winter 2005)

[metaldams]

Judging by the picture, a shame the scene was deleted (insert bulging wolf eyes and whistles from a Tex Avery cartoon here).

[GreenCanaries]

Judging by the picture, a shame the scene was deleted (insert bulging wolf eyes and whistles from a Tex Avery cartoon here).

I'm always all for more Ethelreda.

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