Absorbing Junior (1936) User Reviews

Not all that bad

[thefensk · 6/10 · 30 December 2023]

Madcap 30s short featuring past and future stiooge Shemp Howard. The script was a bit derivative but Shemp pulls off the material with ease.

This is a very rare film, but it illustrates Shemp's obvious talent. As the original third stooge, he had a long career with Moe and Larry and that extended into a solo career with shorts like this.

The weak part in this was his partner, Johnnie. He just didn't sell the part.

Spoiler: the best bit was the partner putting the cleaned plates away in the blinds. You could see the result coming a mile away yet it was still funny when the inevitable happened.

Avoid Absorbing Junior, it's stinks.

[Larry41OnEbay-2 · 1/10 · 10 December 2010]

I love comedy, I love shorts, and I love comedy shorts. I've seen hundreds made before WWII. But this overlong short is one of the worst I have ever seen. It looks as if it was made by non-professionals who saw an average Three Stooges short and said to themselves, "Ah heck, we can do that!" And then proceeded to make it up as they went along, paused to allow time for laughter (but there was none) and then awkwardly moved on to the next gag. Bad script, bad cast, bad directing, even bad lighting & sound effects! SPOILERS: Shemp is seen in the first scene stealing his nephews piggy bank so he can go bet on the horses. His brother, sister-in-law and his brother's mother-in-law catch him so he schemes to get $2 elsewhere. The kid then needs his tooth pulled so he's sent to the dentist with $2 and guess who has to take him… guess who gets their teeth pulled… guess who the mother-in-law beats up.

Ah, you got ahead of me there. If you've seen similar plots you've seen it done better elsewhere. I vote for you to save your time and go re-watch a Charley Chase, Laurel & Hardy or Three Stooges short again instead of discovering this candidate for the film obliteration society (a club for folks who think not every inch of film should be saved, but that the limited resources for film preservation should be spent on films that move you not bore you to distraction.)