Beer Barrel Polecats (1946)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Jules White

Writer:

Gilbert Pratt (story)

Release Date:

10 January 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

The stooges make a whole batch of homemade beer, but get tossed in jail when Curly sells some to a cop...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Slapstick | The Three Stooges | Bootlegging

Cast

Curly Howard	...	Curly (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)
Robert Williams	...	Guard #1
Vernon Dent	...	Warden
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bruce Bennett	...	Prison Guard (archive footage)
Lynton Brent	...	Guard (archive footage)
Eddie Laughton	...	Pomeroy (archive footage)

Also Known As:

Three Duds in the Suds (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

17 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #10918)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Curly briefly speaks in his normal voice in the line-up scene, when he says "Gee, it's warm in here. I hope the beer don't spoil".

Movie Connections:

Edited from So Long Mr. Chumps (1941)

We all put the yeast in...

As other reviewers have already pointed out, the insertion of archival footage from previous mid-40s Curly shorts is what proves to be the downfall of this particular episode--which is something of a shame, since I found a lot of the new scenes to be quite hilarious; particularly the opening scenes with the stooges making their homemade brew (I'm sorry Moe, the crock skidded).

Of course, the stock footage was probably a combination of events, stemming from Curly's obviously declining health & the old thrift master Jules White showing an early affinity for saving a few dollars (something that came into greater prominence in the '50s).