False Alarms (1936) User Reviews

incompetent, idiotic, and selfish

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 19 May 2020]

Larry, Curly, and Moe are incompetent firemen. The Captain is furious that they missed the fire. He gives them their last chance but the boys keep screwing up. Curly sneaks out to visit his girlfriend. She has two friends who need boyfriends. Curly makes a false alarm to bring in his firemen friends.

Incompetent, idiotic, and selfish is the best of the ugly Stooges. This is one of the best ugly Stooges. One still roots for them despite themselves. I love Curly fighting the girl although he could lose worst. When he slaps her, he should act like he hurts his hand. I also love that this is one story and not disjointed. This is loads of fun.

Why is Curly always first in line?

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 27 August 2017]

Curly Howard (Curly), Moe Howard (Moe), Larry Fine (Larry), Stanley Blystone (gruff but soft-hearted fire chief), June Gitelson (Minnie, the plump, pushy girl who wants a boy friend), John Grey (fireman).

Director: DEL LORD. Screenplay: John Grey. Photography: Benjamin Kline. Film editor: Charles Hochberg. Producer: Jules White. Copyright 17 August 1936 by Columbia Pictures of California. U.S. release: 16 August 1936. 2 reels. 18 minutes.

NOTES: Number 17 of the one hundred and ninety Columbia shorts made by The Three Stooges. ("Yes, that's right: 190! Weep for your missed opportunities, Abbott and Costello!")

COMMENT: The boys play firemen in this remarkably well-produced Three Stooges' two-reel effort, which features a stand-out chase climax that would not be out of place in an expensive "A" feature.

Not only do the Stooges themselves ride to the occasion, all the players are likewise in top form. Until recently, it was a shame that we could only attach a name to one of the three extraordinary girls, Maisie, Mimi and Minnie, but now, thanks to IMDb we know that Maisie was indeed played by Beatrice Curtis, Minnie was impersonated by June Gittelson, and Mimi was equally well portrayed by Beatrice Blinn.

A note for railroad and railway buffs: Streetcars figure in two key sequences actually filmed on the streets of Los Angeles.

Another funny Three Stooges short

[rbverhoef · 7/10 · 20 January 2004]

Curly, Larry and Moe are with the fire brigade. They mess things up and almost get fired. They get one last chance. Later that day are suppose to go to a birthday party with some girls but are not allowed to leave. Only Curly sneaks out and arrives at the party. He must find a way to get his friends there as well and therefore he sets off the alarm. You can imagine what can go wrong.

This is a pretty funny short with some very nice physical jokes as well. By watching too much Three Stooges shorts the violence, especially from Moe, gets a little irritating. There are also very funny violent moments so I am not really complaining. It is just that after one punch in the eyes it is enough, in my humble opinion. Still, this is a very entertaining movie.

Minnie: 'You Know I Grow On People.' Curly: 'Yeah, So Do Warts!'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 25 August 2008]

This is one of those "classic" Three Stooges shorts that is funny no matter how many times you view it. You get some good sight gags, a few hilarious lines of dialog, a Keystone Kops-type wild ride in the city and the usual assortment of Stooge jokes and slapstick.

The boys are pretty new at being firemen but, of course, they are pathetic and are "fired" for sleeping on the job (among other sins, such as never helping to put out a fire). They plead with the chief, played by Stanley Blystone, to give them one more chance.

The ironic part of the story is that there never is a fire to be put out, only at the very end when the boys drive away in a big truck with the contents on fire in the back! Unfortunately, the contents happen to be the chief's brand-new car.

Much of the story centers around Curly trying to find a "fella" for fat girl "Minnie" who is one of three girls at a birthday party the Stooges were invited to, but only Curly could attend. (Why that was, you'll have to watch).

June Gittlelson, who plays the big woman, is very good. Every man she runs into, she asks, "Will you be my fella?" To Curly, she adds, "You know I grow on people." Curly answers, "Yeah, so do warts!"

Minnie wants a man in the worst way, or she wants to go somewhere and eat. I suppose fat people will be insulted with movie. Near the end, she and Curly take turns slapping each other. It's wonderful stuff you'd never see today! The goofy antics at the fire hall, at the birthday party with the women and the mayhem in the streets all make this a very entertaining Stooges film .

Great Three Stooges short!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 5 August 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 a very funny Three Stooges short. Its extremely hilarious. Curly is so different in this one. Stanley Blystone is very good in this one and his fire chief character is a good one. The scenes with Curly and the women is very funny. There is another fire fighter Three Stooges short called Flat Foot Stooges which it is pretty good. I recommend this one!

Very Funny

[Michael_Elliott · 25 February 2008]

False Alarms (1936)

*** (out of 4)

The Three Stooges are about to be fired at their fire fighting jobs but the Captain gives them one more shot, which they take advantage of by destroying his new car. This is certainly a step up from the previous couple shorts as this one here returns to the fast paced roots of the earlier movies. The stuff with the fat girl was very funny and the boys antics are a lot funnier here including a great sequence where the wreck the car.

Now available on Columbia's 2-disc set, which features over 20 shorts, all digitally remastered and looking better than ever.

FALSE ALARMS (Del Lord, 1936) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 9 February 2008]

This one finds The Three Stooges as firemen – though, of course, they prefer to sleep their way through work…or else attempt to keep appointments with their girls (one of whom is obese and highly irritating)! Many a film or cartoon has dealt with this theme, poking fun at a serious subject via the mayhem caused by either incompetent firemen or the engine's various equipment – such as water-hoses and ladders. As always, The Stooges manage to fall foul of their boss – especially when, at the climax, they borrow and wreck his brand-new automobile! In essence, this vehicle – like much of The Three Stooges' work (at least, from what I've seen so far) – is harmless but, at the same time, unsympathetic…and, besides, has little rewatchability value for me.

funny firefighter short

[movifan1785 · 8/10 · 5 August 2002]

In this short the stooges are firefighters that always get into trouble and are never on time when the alarm rings. There are some funny moments in here like when Moe locks himself and Larry in a room so they won't leave work early and go to a house where Curly and some girls are and Moe drops the key down the sink and there trying to get it, also Curly says some good stuff ex: woman: Curly sit down take a load off your feet. Curly: its not my feet that hurt. A funny short.

Rare Long Moe and Larry Sequence Without Curly

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 14 August 2023]

Early movie comedians, from Charlie Chaplin to the Little Rascals, played roles as firemen. The Three Stooges were no exception. In the trio's 17th episode, August 1936 "False Alarms" our heroes are firefighters who cause mayhem inside and outside the firehouse.

Del Lord resumed directing the Stooges after Black White relinquished the chair after a few shorts. Lord favored filming outside, a departure from White's more interior studio settings. Moe and Curly's father, Solomon, who made a spot appearance in the Stooges previous film, makes his cameo at about the 15 minute mark standing on the sidewalk towards the right in a striped suit with a light-colored hat. Another exterior scene contains the three unwinding a couple of fire hoses to clean them. Trouble was as they lay out the hoses, they fail to recognize the street car tracks. When the train slices the hoses in three, Curly picks up each piece separately and gives them girl names, Marie, Yvonne, Annette. Those names were part of Canada's Dionne quintuplets, born a year before "False Alarms," and were the first quints to have survived infancy, all living to be adults. Contemporary viewers would have been familiar with those names Curly used.

"False Alarms" also contains a rare Larry and Moe sequence without Curly, who was busy wooing three ladies. When Moe tries to squeeze Larry down a sink pipe to retrieve a room key, they end up breaking down a door of a closet, causing a seamless chain of events where the two slide down the fire pole. Larry lands on his head, compacting his head deep into his torso. Moe reaches inside Larry's fireman's uniform and grabs him by the hair to straighten him out. Many Stooges' experts claim Moe and Larry should have been just a duo after Shemp's death in the mid-1950s, instead of filling in the third role with Curly lookalikes.

Plenty of violence, but the plot is just okay

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 16 June 2007]

Once again the Stooges are firemen. While this isn't the first time they've been in these roles, this isn't one of the best due to a plot and jokes that just don't seem to have a lot of energy or zip. Fortunately, while this is a problem, the mindless violence that many enjoy in their films is present--with some of the most painful-looking gags I've seen. Larry really has a tough time of it and I don't know how they did the one scene with Moe holding him by the hair as he dangled on the fire pole--could this have been real? Also, although it may offend some, I liked where Curly and the lady at the end of the film slap each other around--especially since in the 1930s you almost never saw a guy slap a lady--unless he's a Stooge! Overall, it's an amiable time-passer and not a lot more. Fans of the team will no doubt love it, while others will probably find it all a tad tiresome.

"Where are those three missing links?"

[slymusic · 1 September 2009]

"False Alarms" is a wonderfully wacky Three Stooges comedy directed by Del Lord. Larry, Curly, and Moe play firemen who are neglectful of their duties, much to the irateness of their captain (well played by Stanley Blystone).

My favorite scenes: Moe delivers an eye-poke to Curly through a telephone. Locked inside a washroom, Moe and Larry make a hilarious escape to respond to a fire alarm. After the Stooges wreck the fire captain's new automobile, they try to stop it from speeding all over the neighborhood; the captain shouts, "That's my car!", and he & the other firemen chase the Stooges to end the short.

By the time "False Alarms" ends, the Stooges are in deep doo-doo!

Stooges at their least entertaining

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 11 April 2017]

"False Alarms" is a 16.6-minute live action short from 1936, so this one had its 80th anniversary last year. The people working on this one are all obviously long gone, but thanks to the Stooges' popularity, it is still really easy to find access to their works like this one here. Sadly this is nowhere near their best. It is one of their earlier works where they aren't political yet and World War II is still a couple years away. The director is Del Lord who worked with the trio on many many occasions and writer is John Grey and it is also not his only work with these three. The trio pose as firemen in here, but of course if there is anybody you don#t want in charge in case of a fire, it is Moe, Curly and Larry.

But you also don't want them in charge of your entertainment in terms of this one here. It is a very loud film, but there is little to it in terms of story, wit and creativity. Curly is out on a date, but he needs to find a way to get the other two out as well, so they can date his date's female friends. That's really all there is to it. Slapstick wasn't funny either and the story would have been fine for half the runtime. I have to give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommend unless you really really adore the Stooges.

So Where's The Fire?

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 1 May 2012]

There isn't any firefighter I've ever known who doesn't despise False Alarms and the people who set them. I'm not sure this Three Stooges short might have been received in the firehouses around the nation when it came out in 1936.

And of course you have to question the sanity of any municipal fire department that would hire Moe, Larry, and Curly. The brief plot line of this short involves Curly with a girlfriend, gargantuan June Gittelson and he goes to meet her. And he finds she's got dates for the other Stooges. What to do to get the others out there, Curly sends a False Alarm. Moe and Larry through their Stooge brand of ineptness miss the truck going out and they steal the captain's command car to catch up to what they think is a fire.

I do love the Three Stooges, but setting False Alarms is a really bad message for the young juvenile audience that loves them so as well.