Nonureva Really Surprised!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

mark.waltz If this is what vaudeville was, it must have been rotting by the time this film came out! It was difficult not to give it a bomb, but for historical value and the actual quality of the film's print, it wasn't impossible to watch. Charles Winninger, usually wonderful in films, plays an inventor who creates the most inane burglar alarm in film history. It's obvious that he's going to get caught in it. Frances McCoy, as the secretary, is probably the most annoying character in early talkie history. She would drive El Brendel back to Sweden! The Three Stooges play the most insipid group of firemen ever on the screen, and it is rather insulting to the profession to even see this presented on screen. A six year old Billy Barty is probably the only one to come out good in this film; His cameo is actually a bit amusing, and probably rates the two laughs I discovered in it.

frankebe Well, folks, I dunno' . . . maybe I'm just a little nutty myself, but I really like this film. For the record, I also like the movie "Meet the Baron" and a couple of the Fox Laurel & Hardy movies; on the other hand I think "Dancing Lady" is very BORING, and I think "Swing Parade" is BEYOND boring and a terrible waste of talent, especially in the finale. So that's where I stand... ~ ~ ~ The story moves along briskly with one colorful character popping up after another, with the jokes doggedly marching along. If you don't like one gag, you'll laugh at the next—well, smile anyway... Happily enough, there are indeed a number of Rube Goldberg's "inventions" on display throughout the film. The Three Stooges appear suddenly in the first instant of the first live-action shot of the movie, and the whole scene is very funny. They sing and do the sand-bag routine (later reprised in the 1950s on the Ed Wynn Show. Here it is more logically framed and much better timed with a stronger ending). I find Ted Healey very charming and funny, too. His girlfriend Queenie (Frances McCoy) is perfect: darling and hilarious, and remains one of the great mysteries of film--absolutely nobody seems to know whatever happened to her! There is actually quite a lot of Stooges, and they have as merry madcap a fire department you could please. If you think of the movie being in 3 parts, they are in two-thirds of the film.The quality of the Fox 2005 reprinting is GREAT, both image and sound. Imagine: a 1930 movie that no one cared about, saved at the last minute and looking so good. OK, it's just not a "great" film, so 7 stars out of 10; but the restoration is 9.99 stars. (One curiosity is that the end music is quite long, but there is no picture!) We should be so lucky to see the Laurel & Hardy movies again in such pristine condition. Hallmark should be shot.

yarborough I first caught this movie at four a.m. one night and found it to be insane, pure insanity. The first half hour or so is pretty slow and not very funny, but full of shouting and sight gags. But things get going when the Stooges (with Shemp, of course) go to a restaurant and annoy the waiter. Then their peformance at a firemen's ball is a lot of fun and starts the movie with some good laughs that continue as the Stooges try to fight a blazing fire. A lot of the Stooge elements of later shorts can be found here (the fixed coin tosses, the slapping, the big fat lady) but the movie doesn't focus enough on the Stooges' personalities to create the hard laughs that the shorts have, and the lackluster performances by the supporting cast cause this movie to lag at times. But the slap fight between Shemp and Moe is hilarious.

Scheffer This was an unusual movie. That Fred Sanborn has got to be as strange a comedian as there ever was in a movie. It's really bizarre. The stooges are fireman and do their thing with Ted Healy batting them around. Probably wouldn't seem so bad if you did not know what they would do later.