Truly Dreadful Film

Beautiful, moving film.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

"Three Little Pigskins" is the Stooges approach to Disney's successful "3 Little Pigs", an Academy Award winning cartoon from the 1930s. This one here runs for 18.5 minutes and is among the longer Stooges short movie. It is in black-and-white and was made over 80 years ago, which was still fairly early, even for the Stooges and, thus, has Curly still on board. Also in terms of cast and the people who made this, it's mostly people who worked on/in several Stooges movies, especially director Ray McCarey, One exception is Lucille Ball, who co-starred in here during the very early stages of her super-successful career. The two other actresses did not become famous. The Stooges run into a trio of young attractive women, but sadly they come with a trio of dangerous gangsters. Many complications and comical situations ensue and in the end we get to witness the Stooges playing ball. Also pretty chaotic. But never really too funny. Even if this one is among the Stooges' most known films, I don't think it is among their best. Not recommended.

THE POPULARITY OF College Football had been a bankable subject for film makers ever since that "Golden Age of Sports" materialized during the 1920's. By that time the Nation was well aware of the Coleges; mainly because of the "Gridiron."AS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED, it was the College Football game which had captured the imagination of the public at large. Mr. & Mrs. Average American were always interested in hearing of the exploits of Jim Thorpe, the Ivy League, the Forward Pass, Notre Dame, Red Grange ("the Galloping Ghost"), Knute Rockne, Pop Warner and the Bowl Games.AS FOR THE Professional Game, the road was much bumpier and it took years for the 'Pros' to gain even a modicum of success and respect. There had been a sort of snobbish attitude that permeated society; branding the Professionals as a sort of superfluous afterthought and a waste of time and athleticism. Why should a player risk his post academic career in what was considered a minor league, bush operation? After all, he'd already starred for State U.,garnering all the accolades and honors in the "Simon Pure" ranks.THIS SHARP DELINIATION between Collegiate and Professional Football was the basis for this 3 Stooges Short Subject, THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS (Columbia, 1934).FROM THE START, we have the Stooges' being victims of a case of mistaken identity. Depression Era unemployment leads the boys into working as commercial sign pilots; who are also costumed as football players. Falling in with three hotties (including a young Lucille Ball), they are in turn introduced to the tough guy/gangster-type owner of the Tigers Professional Football Club.BELIEVING THAT THE Stooges are the "Famous 3 Horsemen of Boulder College". the Owner (Walter Long) promises them big cash to play for the team. To insure that their Amateur Athlete's Status isn't jeopardized, the game will be played before no spectators, in an empty Stadium.WHJAT FOLLOWS IS the usual slapstick fracturing of the game that had been long screen comic fodder; as exhibited by such comics as: Harold Lloyd, The Four Marx Brothers, Our Gang and even Bert Wheeler & Robert Woolsey. he Stooges do manage to bring on the laughs in their own way; managing a balanced attack of both the sight gag and the verbal barbs.ALL OF THE elements that go into the construction of this sports spoof are contemporary "New Deal" Era references. The title is a fracturing of the Walt Disney Cartoon Short, THE THREE LITTLE PIGS: which had proved to have a special significance to those caught in financial straits of the early '30's. The Stooges' ready acceptance of the menial job of carrying the signs for minimal compensation is another indicator.AND TO US, the kicker is the designations of "the Three Horsemen" and "Boulder College", which is an obvious reference to the newly constructed Boulder Dam on the waters of the Arizona River.WHEN VIEWED TODAY, after so many previous screenings, THREE LITTLE PIGSKINS remains an entry of Producer Jules White's Columbia Pictures' Short Subjects Department that belongs right up at the top, not as a "Bush League" also ran.

Maybe it's partly because football bores me to death that this Three Stooges movie doesn't really do that much for me. There are still some laughs here though as Moe, Larry and Curley somehow get mistaken for three star football players who unwittingly become involved with the girlfriends of a gang of mobsters. They ultimately wind up on the football field where they can create havoc there as well. The real interest in this one is not so much regarding the Stooges ... it is to have the opportunity of watching a very young 20-ish Lucille Ball getting a chance to mix it up with the fellas. **1/2 out of ****

The big professional football game between the Cubs and the Tigers is coming up on the weekend and the Tigers' owner is just informed that his three best backs got plastered and rolled over in their car. Now he has to go out and find three players, fast. He's told about some great amateur backs - The Three Horsemen - at Boulder Dam College.Meanwhile, in the college town our boys are on the street panhandling and getting socked in the jaws for their efforts. However, they do get a job holding signs promoting the big college football in town, and they are dressed in football gear.You guessed it. The boys are mistaken for the Three Horsemen - by the men's girlfriends, no less - and are taken back up to their apartment. One of the girls, by the way, is Lucille Ball, but you wouldn't recognize her.The scenes in the apartment are far better than the football game which is only shown in the last three minutes and aren't much. Overall, okay but a little too dumb and not as good as expected out of the guys. However, it was still early (1934) in their careers and they were learning. It was interesting to find out how many people got injured filming this short.