Flat Foot Stooges (1938)

Director:

Charley Chase

Writers:

(more)

Release Date:

5 December 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

The stooges are firemen at a station that still uses horses to pull the engines. A salesman who wants...

Plot Keywords:

Snoring | Horse Drawn Carriage | English Bulldog | Mouse | Face Slap

Cast

Curly Howard	...	Curly (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)
Dick Curtis	...	Mr. Reardon
Chester Conklin	...	Fire Chief Kelly
Lola Jensen	...	Miss Crickett Kelly
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Heinie Conklin	...	Traffic Policeman (uncredited)
Kernan Cripps	...	Fireman at Alarm Console (uncredited)
Harry Myers	...	Man with Binoculars (uncredited)
Al Thompson	...	Volunteer (uncredited)

Directed by
Charley Chase

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Charley Chase		uncredited

Produced by
Charley Chase	....	associate producer
Hugh McCollum	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Ben Oakland		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Lucien Ballard

Film Editing by
Art Seid		(as Arthur Seid)

Music Department
Leigh Harline	....	music arranger (uncredited)
Ben Oakland	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1938) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD) (Cops & Robbers)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Screen Gems Television (????) (USA) (TV) (syndication)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD) (Vol. 2: 1937-1939)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD) (Vols. 1-6)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Vols. 1-8)

Runtime:

USA:16 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The first short to use "Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges' theme music.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Moe very obviously blows a line and momentarily drops character when he says to Curly: "What do you expect a fire mouse...uh...I mean, a fire house mouse to smell like, a petunia?"

Quotes:

Curly:I can afford to lose a few pounds... I'm too pleasingly plump as it is.

Fair Stooges Short

Flat Foot Stooges (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent short has the Three Stooges working at a fire company that still uses a horse and buggy to go to the fires. A salesman tries to make them come current but the owner refuses so the man accidentally starts a fire at the firehouse. It's hard to believe one could say that a Stooges short was just too silly for its own good but that's pretty much the case here. Have you ever seen a duck that eats some gun powder and then lays an egg that explodes? You'll get to see that here as well as another scene where bulldog fights a mouse only to get beat up. Those two items aren't really funny and that's pretty much the story from start to finish. We get a few nice gags but even the best ones will only put a smile on your face and none of them will have you laughing at out. The entire second half of the film deals with the firehouse being on fire but the Stooges manage not to realize even though they're downstairs from the blaze. This leads to a rather amusing scene where they must try to get the wagon around town without any horses.