If a Body Meets a Body (1945)

Curly learns that he is named in the will of his rich uncle, so the boys head for the uncle's mansion to attend the reading of the will. They arrive on a dark and stormy night only to find ... See full summary »

Director:

Jules White

Writers:

Gilbert Pratt (story), Jack White (screenplay)

Stars:

Curly Howard, Larry Fine, Moe Howard

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Curly Howard	...	Curly Q. Link (Q for cuff) (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry Mink (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe Pink (as Moe)
Theodore Lorch	...	Jerkington (the butler)
Fred Kelsey	...	Detective

Storyline

Curly learns that he is named in the will of his rich uncle, so the boys head for the uncle's mansion to attend the reading of the will. They arrive on a dark and stormy night only to find that the lawyer has been murdered and the will and the body have disappeared. All the relatives must stay in the spooky house while the police investigate and the stooges are given the bedroom where the uncle was murdered. After a series of misadventures with a walking skull and the uncle's body, which keeps turning up in strange places, the stooges unmask the butler and maid as the killers and recover the will. Then they learn that Curly has only been left sixty seven cents.

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Plot Keywords:

the three stooges | umbrella | candle | dead body | human skull | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 August 1945 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

18 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This has a plot identical to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's short The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case. Fred Kelsey even plays a domineering detective in both shorts.

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Quotes

Larry Mink: Here's one. "Wanted: Gravediggers."
Moe Pink: No, no, too morbid.
Curly Q. Link: Da morbid, da merrier! Nyuk nyuk nyuk!

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Connections

Referenced in Shivers (1995)

User Reviews

Great scare comedy, marred by an ill Curly

Any Three Stooges fan will tell you that watching Curly Howard's last ten shorts is as painful as root canal. By 1945, Curly was in trouble. He was just getting involved with a young lady named Marion Buchsbaum, whom he married on October 17, 1945, after knowing her for only two weeks. This was Curly's third and most disastrous marriage. He was way overweight, and his blood pressure was too high. When Curly suffered a minor stroke in 1945, it knocked the energy out of him. He would never be the same after this stroke. His actions are rehearsed and nothing came natural to him anymore. IF A BODY MEETS A BODY was a `transitional' short. Curly had been slipping and sliding for a while, but IF A BODY MEETS A BODY is the first time that Curly truly could not hide his condition. The plot revolves around Curly, whose rich Uncle Bob O. Link has died and left Curly an inheritance. The Stooges must then go to the uncle's home to hear the reading of the will. Unfortunately, the will is stolen, and the boys must stay in the home until it is found. The short has some truly funny moments, but it does not take a rocket scientist to realize that Curly is not himself. His condition had crept to the surface occasionally during the previous two Stooge films, IDIOTS DELUXE and BOOBY DUPES. If you watch IDIOTS DELUXE and IF A BODY MEETS A BODY back to back, Curly's change is not as noticeable. Curly's voice is the first sure sign that he had had his stroke. Right from his first line, `the morbid, the merrier,' his accompanying `n'yuks' are strained, and we know there is something wrong. His actions were a little more sluggish, and it marks the start of his gradual downward spiral. What makes this short harder to watch is that much of the action is focused on Curly, except he could not carry the film. Just watch him in 1943's SPOOK LOUDER two years earlier, and the change stands out. Curly tries a few `woos woos' and `nyahs,' as if nothing was wrong. However, he had only begun to lose his grip in this short; here is still some of the old Curly left, but in spurts. For instance, when Ted Lorch says, `Poor Mr. Link, he was murdered in this room, on the very spot on which you're standing,' Curly is strung high over the set to perform a high jump. It is one of the few hysterical moments in the short. It is also the only post-stroke short where it is a true mix of up and down Curly. It looks as if certain scenes were shot during the same period as IDIOTS DELUXE, as Curly still sounds like his old self in certain scenes. However, every short after this would feature a down Curly: it was just a matter of how down he was.