Perhaps if Columbia and Jules White had used this form of cost-cutting instead of using old footage all the time (though this short does have a small amount of reused footage) the Stooges might have aged gracefully instead of doing embarrassing remakes of previous shorts.
The whole short takes place on one set, a police station. While the slapping and physical gags remain, there's a new emphasis on verbal humor that makes it funnier. Moe's conversation with the mayor, Larry's complaint that a female co-worker "forgot something," and the questioning of Phil Arnold add to a steady stream of gags. On top of it is a running gag about the phone sounding inexplicably like a fire alarm and driving Moe into further stages of madness. It's never remarked upon but it escalates the humor value of the short.
There are some slow spots. Shemp's battle with a monkey is sluggish and adds nothing. And the short ends in a ridiculous shootout with Murray Alper shooting a gun with approximately 90 rounds, making the finale rote and repetitive. But the rest of the short is a clever way to exploit Columbia's shrinking budgets. When you can't get production values, up the writing game.
The whole short takes place on one set, a police station. While the slapping and physical gags remain, there's a new emphasis on verbal humor that makes it funnier. Moe's conversation with the mayor, Larry's complaint that a female co-worker "forgot something," and the questioning of Phil Arnold add to a steady stream of gags. On top of it is a running gag about the phone sounding inexplicably like a fire alarm and driving Moe into further stages of madness. It's never remarked upon but it escalates the humor value of the short.
There are some slow spots. Shemp's battle with a monkey is sluggish and adds nothing. And the short ends in a ridiculous shootout with Murray Alper shooting a gun with approximately 90 rounds, making the finale rote and repetitive. But the rest of the short is a clever way to exploit Columbia's shrinking budgets. When you can't get production values, up the writing game.