Listen, Judge (1952) User Reviews

Here Come the Judge, there go the Stooges

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 7 July 2011]

Listen Judge finds Moe, Larry and Shemp before Judge Vernon Dent on a chicken stealing and vagrancy rap. Later on the boys decide to go into home repair as itinerant workers, usually the kind in the real world that are labeled scam artists. Anyone that hires these guys ought to have their head examined.

But a woman who does all of a sudden is thrown for a loop by a surprise party she has to throw for her husband. Naturally the boys are ever willing to help.

Some really good gags are Shemp getting charged up and then having Moe short circuit him. Also Larry and Shemp try to deal with a floating cake that these geniuses reflate with gas.

The finale is when said cake explodes on TV's Perry White from the Superman series, John Hamilton. Seeing that always dignified man dripping in cake remnants is a great laugh.

Stooges fans the world over will love this one.

Judge "Listen, Judge" for yourself

[jimtinder · 7/10 · 27 February 2005]

"Listen, Judge" is a sort-of remake of the Stooges' 1941 film "An Ache in Every Stake." This film features tried and true Stooge gags, along with a few surprises.

The Stooges are in court before a judge (Vernon Dent) and are released from vagrancy and chicken stealing charges. The Stooges get into their usual trouble after getting off the hook, and the judge is not pleased with getting a chicken in his face after releasing them! Fixer-uppers, they make a mess of Kitty McHugh's home -- and then find the judge is a guest at dinner! Will he recognize them?

"Listen, Judge" presents stalwart gags, including stuffing a turkey stooge-style. One twist: after Shemp puts the obligatory "can of tomatoes" inside the turkey, Moe removes the can's label and then puts the can back inside (Moe says, "paper in stuffing! Ick!")

One surprising gag occurs in this Edward Bernds'- directed film. When Shemp tests the doorbell the Stooges have "fixed," he is charged with electricity. Moe twists a bulb into his Shemp's ear, and the bulb lights up. Larry shorts out Shemp by twisting a screwdriver into his other ear (you can see the screwdriver twist into Shemp's ear by several inches). This is a surprise gag for Bernds, who normally shied away from extreme visual gags such as this(director Jules White tended to go for the cruder gags).

Another surprise is the appearance of John Hamilton, best known as Perry White in the "Adventures of Superman" TV series, which began production around this time. It is his only appearance in a Stooges film.

Good laughs, and a few surprises, gives this film a lift. 7 out of 10.

The Stooges Are Chicken Thieves

[StrictlyConfidential · 6/10 · 29 June 2021]

"Listen, Judge" was originally released back in 1952.

Anyway - As the story goes - When a wealthy woman asks the Stooges to fix her doorbell, she has no idea the ding-a-lings will wreak havoc on her home, and they have no idea her husband is a judge.

"Jiffy Fixers - We Repare Enything"

[slymusic · 8 September 2007]

"Listen, Judge" is an excellent Three Stooges short, one of the last to be directed by the wonderful Edward Bernds. Moe, Larry, and Shemp are brought to court on charges of vagrancy (and chicken stealing) but are quickly released. Struggling to find work, the Stooges try their hand at fixing doorbells and preparing dinners.

Highlights from "Listen, Judge" include the following (but DON'T read any further until after you have actually seen this short). Larry's & Shemp's hilarious attempts to trace an electric wire result in them both pulling Moe through a wall! After the Stooges "fix" the doorbell, Shemp steps outside to test it, with rather bizarre results. Shemp has some unorthodox ways of stuffing a turkey; most everything he says during this scene is likely to be ad libbed. After Larry & Shemp deflate the birthday cake, they fill it up with gas; when one of the party guests (John Hamilton) blows out the candles, the cake explodes!

As I mentioned before, "Listen, Judge" is a remarkably entertaining Three Stooges short with lots of laughs. Watch for familiar Stooge supporting players Vernon Dent as Judge Henderson and Emil Sitka as a French chef.

general Stooges mayhem

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 31 January 2023]

Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard are door-to-door handymen. They are brought in front of Judge Henderson for chicken stealing. They escape the court and barges into a house to fix the doorbell. Of course, the boys' antics cause more damage. It turns out to be the judge's home and he's hosting a party for his political re-election.

There is general Stooges destruction. It's solid work for a Shemp Stooges short. I like the cake premise although I wish it could actually blow up. The room should at least be destroyed. I need some chasing around before the Stooges jump out the window. This is good standard work, but it could be more.

another great remake

[spiders-man2099 · 10/10 · 28 April 2003]

This short creatively combines plot elements from 3 different Curly shorts(A Plumbing We Will Go/Ache in Every Stake/They Stooge to Conga)and the finished product equals what I consider the best remake by the boys. Many of the gags taken from 'Conga' for instance, are even funnier in this short.

Great Moe insult: Go'wan you french poodle, your father's got fleas!

9.5/10

Very good Three Stooges short!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 28 July 2004]

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

This is one of My favorite Three Stooges shorts. Its very funny. Vernon Dent is very good in this one. There are two other Three Stooges shorts called They Stooge to Conga and An Ache in Every Stake with Curly and they are arguably funnier! Emil Sitka, Kitty McHugh, John Hamilton, Chick Collins, George J. Lewis, Gil Perkins are all in this short! This is a very funny one and I recommend it!

Great combination remake...

[simeon_flake · 9/10 · 28 July 2013]

As I'm sure every stooge fan knows, this short creatively combines plot elements from three different Curly shorts & the results are one of the best stooge shorts ever made & one of Shemp's best performances as a stooge.

Things starts off with the always capable Vernon Dent (the greatest Three Stooges foil) playing a judge who oversees the case of the boys being brought up on charges of chicken stealing. I especially enjoyed Vernon's line "I'm not going to make these poor unfortunates the victims of your prejudice & guesswork. You're free boys." Then of course, a live chicken comes flying out of Shemp's jacket.

After that the short takes plot elements from "An Ache in Every Stake" and "They Stooge to Conga" as the boys destroy the house of some poor, unfortunate lady trying to fix the doorbell then get the idea to fix her dinner. Special mention must be made of Shemp's turkey stuffing scene which I thought was equal to Curly's from "An Ache", particularly his method of soaking the bread & all his little ad-libs (this one's got pits).

Even better is Moe's reaction when the turkey comes out of the oven: "Listen, if the cake in that oven turns out like this, you're going to be the next one to broil in it. And I'm going to baste you with nitric acid."

Overall, a great reworking of tried & true stooge material and a film any lover of the stooges should enjoy.

Remakes of remakes and more added ons...why?

[maxcellus46 · 4/10 · 17 December 2005]

First, this particular short is yet another splicing of three earlier shorts all with Curly. The courtroom scene is taken from "A Plumbing We Will Go", the fix the doorbell bits are from "They Stooge to Conga" where they inadvertently infiltrate a Nazi hideout, and then the cooking scenes are from "An Ache In Every Steak". What a mish mash! If during the years that the first three were made, such a concept had been presented, I'm sure it would have been rejected by everyone involved including the Stooges. But now, the lean, cold 1950's, everyone just wants to get this over with and get their money. Jules White is certainly to blame for all this since the man never did display a true sense of real comedy no matter who he was involved with directing, be it the Stooges or Buster Keaton during his fade out years. This short is so disjointed in storyline that an undergrad creative writing student would most likely flunk out if he handed in something as banal. Watch the originals and forget this one. No offense Moe, Larry and Shemp but you really should have known better.