Hot Stuff (1956)

You won't be disappointed!

the audience applauded

Fresh and Exciting

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

"Hot Stuff" is a Three Stooges short with a somewhat convoluted plot. A remake of "Fuelin' Around" (1949), with lots of stock footage, this film casts Moe, Larry, and "Shemp" as secret agents posing as carpet layers, hired to protect the famous scientist Prof. Snead (Emil Sitka). I place Shemp's name in quotation marks because he had already passed away before this remake went into production. Joe Palma was used as a double for Shemp in the new footage for this film, and in a couple of instances Palma actually shows his face and imitates Shemp's famous "E-B-B-B-B-B-B!" Here are my favorite scenes from "Hot Stuff" (don't read the remainder of this commentary if you have not yet seen this short). Moe and Larry unsuccessfully try to romance a couple of female Uranian officers. Larry crashes through the floor of the laboratory into the jail cell below. An Anemian government official (Gene Roth) takes a swig of brew, after which we hear a cavalcade of sirens, horns, cuckoos, and bass drums; the gentleman then makes an unforgettable remark: "By golly, that's good! Tastes like rotten eggs!" The Stooges are pretty funny when they make up a list of phony rocket fuel ingredients for their captor (Philip Van Zandt) to write down."Hot Stuff" is not as good as the original "Fuelin' Around", but it's still okay. "The show must go on," as the saying goes, and Moe & Larry were somehow able to make this film without their deceased comrade Shemp. No doubt it must have been difficult for them.

Here's one man's ego getting in the way yet again of an otherwise fantastic comedy team. Jules White tacks on some really non-related "new" footage of the boys as some kind of CIA type sleuths to the original footage of "Fueulin Around" thereby proving yet again his ineptness as a serious comedy director. He apparently had connections at Columbia who simply allowed him free reign to create any kind of "hashed" up film that he wanted. Less anyone forgets, this guy used to direct one reel films of dogs in costume back in the early 1930's and have actors speak the words for them. Quite a qualification for directing top notch comedians like The Stooges or Buster Keaton, whom he "directed" toward the latter's end of his career. This short is just a bunch of clips added on to an already perfect short so don't waste your time with this one. As usual, watch the original first.

This is another Stooge short in which some new footage with Moe and Larry (Shemp had died) was inserted into a previous Stooge short that featured Shemp. The man who doubles as Shemp is badly cast, and the shorts probably should have ended after Shemp's death. However, the new scene in which Moe and Larry try to romance two stunningly beautiful Uranian female officers is very funny, and worth the recycling. The original short kicks off with a lot of great laughs, but the laughs dwindle towards the end, though it is still fun.

HOT STUFF is the second of four shorts shot after Shemp's death in 1955. Joe Palma, with his back to the camera, doubled for Shemp in a few scenes. HOT STUFF is a remake of FUELIN' AROUND, and nowhere near as good. Starting in 1953, director Jules White took footage from old shorts and added in new footage of the stooges, with a minor new story line. The doubles of Shemp are too obvious in this film. For one thing, Joe Palma turns around for a minute and you can see his face.The new scenes were shot in early 1956. I think the Three Stooges should have quit after Shemp died. None of the later Joe Besser shorts are very funny. They should have let FOR CRIMIN' OUT LOUD be their last film. It's the last one Shemp's alive in.If you really want to see anything funny from HOT STUFF, watch FUELIN' AROUND instead. The funniest part of the new footage is a woman in the office biting Larry on the nose.**1/2 out of 5 stars!