“A Gem of a Jam” (1943) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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A Gem of a Jam (1943)

Director:  Del Lord

Writer:  Del Lord

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Dudley Dickerson and Al Thompson.

Tagline:  Crammed with rib-tickling comedy!

The Plot…

The boys are night shift janitors working their way through a floor of offices.  They’re about to clean a doctor’s workspace when crooks on the run from the law bust in.  One of the gang members has been shot.  Thinking our boys are doctors, the crooks say if they don’t fix up their pal, it’s lights out for Larry, Curly and Moe.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Curl was injured when the gurney gag tilted too far and he busted his head requiring several stitches.

The boys accidentally drop the wounded crook out of the office building window.  Curly gets under the blanket and the boys act as if they are about to operate.  One of the thugs threatens that if any harm comes to their friend, he’ll shoot them.  Moe responds, “Don’t worry, when we get through with him he’ll be a different man.”

As the boys are running for their lives they hide in a dark storage room filled with creepy stuff.  Curly trips into a trough filled with plaster.  He’s covered from head to toe and looks scary.  Curly playing like a statue and his interactions with the night watchman (Dickerson), Larry & Moe and the crooks are classic!

A Gem of a Jam (1943) rates 5 of 5 stars.

Rambo by Tim Shinn!

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Tim Shinn is a freelance artist. He’s known for his storyboarding, advertising and comic work. Tim’s done art for Hasbro, Disney, Dark Horse and Fun Publications. Tim takes commissions and regularly posts art for sale. When I saw this sketch of Sly Stallone as Rambo,  I didn’t hesitate. Hopefully there will be more Tim Shinn art in my future.  You can see more of Tim Shinn’s art on his Instagram page and his Twitter feed.

“I Can Hardly Wait” (1943) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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“I Can Hardly Wait” (1943)

Director:  Jules White

Writer:  Clyde Buckman

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Bud Jamison, Adel Mara and Al Thompson.

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

The boys decide on a midnight snack before night-night.  While Larry and Moe share a single slice of ham and an egg, Curly gets the whole ham bone and the whole egg shell.  Sadly Curly breaks a tooth eating his meal. Now it’s up to Larry and Moe to fix Curly’s broken tooth.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

A classic Stooge sight gag that leads to slapstick appears in “I Can Hardly Wait” – the boys sleep in triple bunk beds with Curly on the top!

Of course everything Larry and Moe try to help ease the pain of Curly’s broken tooth fails.  Moe suddenly says, “I’ve got it!”  Curly replies, “Every time you got it, I get it.”

“I Can Hardly Wait” (1943) rates 5 of 5 stars.

“Hidari” – The Stop-Motion Samurai Film Teaser is Here!

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Hidari is a short stop-motion proof of concept video designed to get funding to create a feature film.  The trailer is mesmerizing.  I’d love to see a Hidari feature film.

After being betrayed by his peers and lost both his father and his right arm, legendary craftsman “Jingoro Hidari” is on a journey of revenge with his partner “Sleeping Cat” and his mechanical prosthetic arm. Finally, Jingoro faces one of his adversaries “Inumaru” in a fight to the death…

This is a pilot version of the stop-motion samurai film that tells the story of “Jingoro Hidari,” a legendary Edo-era craftsman. All the characters are made by wood and animated frame by frame, just like how Jingoro’s wooden sculptures came to life in his many anecdotes. We hope you enjoy this film, which mixes dynamic actions as seen in Japanimation, and the rich analog expressions of stop-motion animation.

Our intention is to use this pilot film as a starting point to create a full length feature film. We have started activities to raise the necessary partners and funding to achieve this goal.
Please contact us here for any inquiries: info@hidari-movie.com


Source: Check This Out: Stop-Motion Samurai Project ‘Hidari’ in Development at FirstShowing,net

“Back from the Front” (1943) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Back from the Front (1943)

Director:  Jules White

Writer:  Jack White, Ewart Adamson

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Stanley Blystone, Heinie Conklin, Vernon Dent, Bud Jamison and Adele Mara.

Tagline:  Any resemblance between the characters in this picture and other human beings is a dirty shame.

The Plot…

Larry, Curly and Moe are merchant marines during World War II.  After some misadventures they end up on a German war ship!  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

Moe disguises himself as Adolph Hitler (as he did in 1940’s You Nazty Spy and 1941’s I’ll Never Heil Again – I never get tired of this) and tells the German officers, “Use your heads and shoot out your brains.”  The commandant replies, “But mein Führer, we’re Nazis. We have no brains.”

The Nazi warship our guys sneak aboard is the the SS Schicklgruber.  “Schicklgruber” is Adolph Hitler’s father’s real last name.  He changed it to Hitler later in life.  The British often referred to Hitler as Schicklgruber for propaganda purposes and it is the only name the Stooges would use when referring to him.  “Schicklgruber” pops up in other Stooges shorts.

There’s a dog named Terry on the ship. This dog also played Toto in The Wizard Of Oz.

When the boys sneak aboard the Nazi warship, Moe says, “If we’re discovered, we’re lost.”  Curly responds, “You’re crazy. If we’re discovered, we’re found.”  NYUK-NYUK-NYUK.

Back from the Front (1943) rates 4 of 5 stars.

“What’s the Matador?” (1942) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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What’s the Matador? (1942)

Director:  Jules White

Writer:  Jules White, Saul Ward

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Suzanne Kaaren and Al Thompson.

Tagline: World’s Champion Bull Throwers!

The Plot…

Larry, Curly and Moe are comedians headed to Mexico.  After a few chance encounters with a beautiful woman, and her very jealous husband, our boys are in for it.  Then when suitcases get mixed up, our guys decide to sneak into the woman’s house to get theirs.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

There’s a scene with Moe, Curly and Larry trying to get directions from a Mexican citizen that’s not typical Stooges’ humor, but is funny.

What’s the Matador? (1942) rates 4 of 5 stars.

“Nutty But Nice” (1940) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Nutty But Nice (1940)

Director:  Jules White

Writer:  Clyde BruckmanFelix Adler

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Vernon Dent, Lynton Brent,  Charles Dorety, Ned Glass, Ethelreda Leopold and Harry Wilson.

Tagline:  Calling all laugh lovers!

The Plot…

Larry, Curly and Moe are bumbling waiters.  Their antics amuse two doctors having a meal.  The docs think that our boys might be able to bring a little girl out of her depression.  The girl’s father was kidnapped while delivering a huge sum of money.  When our guys are unable to change the girl’s mood, they vow to find her father.  After a few false starts our boys find her father.  To free him they will have to go against a rough group of gangsters.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The boys perform an extended scene in drag.  It didn’t bring the girls out of her depression, but it almost put me in one.  Our guys do NOT make good looking dames.

Saved by the Belle (1939) rates 3 of 5 stars.

RIP: Harry Belafonte

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Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.), the singer, actor and activist died today from congestive heart failure.  Mr. Belafonte was 96.

After graduation from high school Mr. Belafonte served in the Navy.  Following his time in the service he got work as a janitor’s assistant. It was during this period that Harry Belafonte attended the American Negro Theater and decided he wanted to be a performer.  It was also when he developed a friendship with Sidney Poitier.

Harry Belafonte began singing in nightclubs to help pay for his acting classes.  Along the way he performed with Charlie Parker and Miles Davis before getting a record contract.

Harry Belafonte began taking acting classes at The Dramatic Workshop of the New School.  There he studied along with future stars such as Marlon Brando, Sidney Poitier, Tony Curtis and Walter Mathhau.

In 1954, Harry Belafonte received a Tony Award for his part in the Broadway revue John Murray Anderson’s Almanac.  In 1956, Mr. Belafonte’s album Calypso became the first to sell one million copies in a year.  Harry Belafonte would go on to released 49 albums.

In 1953, Harry Belafonte appeared in the feature film Bright Road.  The following year he appeared in his breakout role in Carmen Jones.  For the rest of his career, Mr. Belafonte would perform on stage, recording or performing live and acting in feature films or on television.

Some of Harry Belafonte’s feature film performances include: Bright Road; Carmen Jones; Island in the Sun; The World, The Flesh and the Devil; Odds Against Tomorrow; Buck and the Preacher and Uptown Saturday Night.

Some of Harry Belafonte’s television appearances include:  Front Row Center; The Ed Sullivan Show (10 episodes); The Steve Allen Show; Tonight With Belafonte; The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour; The Tonight Show; The Flip Wilson Show; The Muppet Show; Grambling’s White Tiger and An Evening with Harry Belafonte and Friends.

Throughout his life, Harry Belafonte was an humanitarian activist.  He supported Civil Rights causes. Harry Belafonte became a friend and confidant to Martin Luther King, Jr.  Harry Belafonte helped to bring together artists to perform on We Are The World, the Grammy Award-winning song used to raise funds for Africa. He served as an UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for over 35 years, the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues, the cultural advisor to the Peace Corps

Harry Belafonte won three Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award (1960 for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series for “Tonight with Belafonte”), a Tony Award (1954 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical), a Kennedy Centers Honors Award (1989 for lifetime contributions to the performing arts); a National Medal of Arts Award (1994, highest honor given to artists and patrons of the arts by the United States government),  the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (2014, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for an individual’s “outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes”),  and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2022 as an Early Influencer).

Harry Belafonte’s talent was unsurpassed and may only be matched by his dedication to humanitarian efforts.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Harry Belafonte’s family, friends and fans.

“Equalizer 3” starring Denzel Washington – The Poster and Red Band Trailer are Here!

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The poster and red band trailer for The Equalizer 3 starring Denzel Washington is here.  Equalizer 3 looks to possibly be the best of the series.  Deal me in.

Since giving up his life as a government assassin, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has struggled to reconcile the horrific things he’s done in the past and finds a strange solace in serving justice on behalf of the oppressed. Finding himself surprisingly at home in Southern Italy, he discovers his new friends are under the control of local crime bosses. As events turn deadly, McCall knows what he has to do: become his friends’ protector by taking on the mafia.

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua

Written by: Richard Wenk

Based on the television series created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim

Produced by: Todd Black / Jason Blumenthal / Denzel Washington / Antoine Fuqua / Steve Tisch / Clayton Townsend/ Alex Siskin / Tony Eldridge

Executive Producer: David Bloomfield / Tarak Ben Ammar / Andy Mitchell

Cast: Denzel Washington / Dakota Fanning / David Denman

Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe & Archie Goodwin: An Overview by David Bordwell!

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David Bordwell at CrimeReads has written an excellent overview of Rex Stout and his long-running detective/mystery series featuring Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.

Wolfe was a 285 pound genius who leaves his brownstone home only in the most extreme emergencies.  He “breeds orchids, reads, drinks vast quantities of beer, and dines on meals of rare delicacy.”  To support his life’s luxuries, Wolfe works as a private detective.  Since he detests venturing away from his sanctum, Archie Goodwin serves as Wolfe’s assistant. “Slender and strong, reasonably handsome, Archie is attractive to and attracted by women of many ages… Archie fetches clients, witnesses, and suspects to meetings.”

I am a, pardon the pun, huge fan of Nero Wolfe mysteries. If you are as well, check out David Bordwell’s “HOLMES AND WATSON IN MANHATTAN”: MUSINGS ON THE CREATION OF NERO WOLFE AND ARCHIE GOODWIN.  If you’re not a fan, give the piece a look as well.  You might become one.

“Saved by the Belle” (1939) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

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Saved by the Belle (1939)

Director:  Charley Chase

Writer:  Searle Kramer, Elwood Ullman

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Vernon Dent and Al Thompson.

Tagline:  Rings the bell for a laughing knockout!

The Plot…

Larry, Curly and Moe are traveling salesmen in a South American country undergoing a civil war and prone to earthquakes.  How could it get any worse?  They’re trying to sell fur coats!  Our boys are jailed for trying to skip out of their hotel bill.  While in lockup, they are befriended by a revolutionary.  What could go wrong?

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

When the boys are lined up to be shot, Curly thinks it is for a photograph.  He says, “I’m gonna send one home to Elaine”.  Elaine was Curly Howard’s wife at the time.

Saved by the Belle (1939) rates 3 of 5 stars.