Fifi Blows Her Top

Here I go again, if you've read any of my other reviews on these "late" era Stooge shorts. First of all, a lot of this story actually goes way back to one of Laurel & Hardy's first sound two reeler, "Unaccustomed As We Are", which dates to about 1928. The gags involving a woman in a trunk and her husband discovering her in the boy's apartment suggesting something not quite right is used again here with the Stooges giving their version. BTW, L&H used this story yet again in "Blockheads" from 1938, so this story was pretty well worn by time the Stooges got ahold of it in 1958. That was usually the case with the Columbia Studio writers who did most of the Stooge shorts anyway. They certainly had a penchant for merely "stealing" material and gags that had been done earlier in the silent era of the 1920's by comics like Chaplin, Lloyd, and Keaton, and then "refitting" it for the Stooges to use.That brings up an interesting point. What if the Stooges had serious writers assigned to their shorts in the very beginning? Maybe Hollywood would've taken them much more seriously than they did. Be that as it may. This short is not too bad considering Joe Besser's constant blubbering and "childish" antics. I say this knowing that he actually was a very good comedian and had done excellent work out on his own during the 1940's but he and Moe and Larry just never did click together. Bad choice for a "third stooge". Another thing which bothers me about this short is why wasn't there more screen time given to Christine McIntyre? She certainly was a "stooge veteran" by this time and would've have been much funnier in the part of "Fifi". Fifi must have been some producer's little "item" on the side so she got the main part. That's all I can assume. All in all, however, this is one of those rare shorts with Joe that you really don't have to run into the hills to avoid. It's tolerable but not overly funny. Strictly kiddy fare.