Vernon Dent Movies

Make Believe Ballroom is a feature-length derivation of the popular LA-based radio series of the same name. Hosted by Martin Block and then by Al Jarvis, the original Ballroom was a combination disc-jockey program and quiz show. Jarvis plays himself in the film version, introducing such musical artists as Frankie Laine, the King Cole Trio,Jack Smith, Kay Starr, Charlie Barnet, Jimmy Dorsey, Jan Garber, Gene Krupa and Pee Wee Hunt. The barely relevant plot concerns two carhops, Gene Thomas (Jerome Courtland) and Josie Marlow (Virginia Welles), who participate in the question-and-answer portion of the radio series. Though competitors on the air, Gene and Josie eventually fall in love. The supporting cast is filled with such stock Columbia players as Sid Tomack, Adele Jergens, and Vernon Dent. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While this Three Stooges short meanders with little rhyme or reason, it does contain a number of good gags. The cops are on the lookout for a trio of armed car robbers. Instead they find the Stooges in a trash can. They drag the guys in for a lie detector test but the biggest liar turns out to be the police captain (Vernon Dent). The Stooges have fibbed that they work at the Elite Cafe but when they discover that its owner, Gladys (Christine McIntyre), can't make ends meet they offer to work for free. Once again the boys prove that they should never be left alone in a kitchen. After a few minor disasters, they sit down to eat, and over a bowl of clam chowder (with a very "fresh" clam), Moe virtually plays homage to Curly, who had retired from the group two years before. He even imitates Curly's bark. Gladys receives a letter from someone who wants to buy the old homestead for a thousand dollars. The Stooges think she's being cheated, so they go with her. It turns out that the crooks (led, as usual in the Stooges shorts, by Kenneth MacDonald) are using the place as a hideout. The Stooges find their way into the house only to be pursued by a freakish, humpbacked killer named Angel. But Shemp manages to capture all the crooks by standing on a ledge over a doorway and dropping barrels on them as they come through. The cops show up and cart the bad guys off, but Shemp isn't done dropping barrels -- the last one, filled with flour, lands on Moe and Larry. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard unleash their unique blend of comic chaos in this collection of three vintage Three Stooges short subjects. In Heavenly Daze, Shemp dies and meets his maker, who informs him that if he wants to get into heaven, he must first get con men Moe and Larry to clean up their act -- at the moment, they're selling a bogus fountain pen that they claim can write through whipped cream (and who wouldn't need a pen that can do that?). The Stooges are moving men in The Ghost Talks, and as they haul furniture out of an old house, they're shocked when a suit of armor comes to life. It seems that the spirit of its owner, Sir Tom, still walks, and would like a reunion with his old friend, the beauteous Lady Godiva. Hocus Pocus finds the Stooges falling under the spell of stage hypnotist the Great Svengarlic; he convinces them to do a high-wire routine from a 20-story building, but the boys are plenty startled when the spell is broken mid-way through their walk. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Alan Ladd and Robert Preston star as Joe Madigan and Jim Davis, rival grain harvesters in the Midwest's wheat country. The animosity between Joe and Jim intensifies upon the arrival of duplicitous Fay Rankin (Dorothy Lamour). Choosing Jim, Fay demands that she be supported in the manner in which she is accustomed, leading Jim inexorably into a life of crime. A cathartic fistfight between Joe and Jim results in their undying friendship and the hasty departure of the troublesome Fay. All this, plus seemingly endless shots of wheat-harvesting teams at work. Alan Ladd and Robert Preston were both better served the following year in Whispering Smith. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

James Thurber wasn't too happy with the Sam Goldwyn film adaptation of his 1939 short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, but the Technicolor musical comedy proved to be a cash cow at the box office. Danny Kaye stars as Walter, a milquetoast proofreader for a magazine publishing firm. Walter is constitutionally incapable of standing up for himself, which is why his mother (Fay Bainter) has been able to arrange a frightful marriage between her son and the beautiful but overbearing Gertrude Griswold (Ann Rutherford). As he muses over the lurid covers of the magazines put out by his firm, Walter retreats into his fantasy world, where he is heroic, poised, self-assured, and the master of his fate. Glancing at the cover of a western periodical, Walter fancies himself the two-gun "Perth Amboy Kid"; a war magazine prompts Walter to envision himself as a fearless RAF pilot; and so on. Throughout all his imaginary adventures, a gorgeous mystery woman weaves in an out of the proceedings. Imagine Walter's surprise when his dream girl shows up in the flesh in the person of Rosalind van Horn (Virginia Mayo). The girl is being pursued by a gang of jewel thieves headed by Dr. Hugo Hollingshead (Boris Karloff), a clever psychiatrist who manages to convince Walter that he's simply imagining things again, and that Rosalind never existed. At long last, Walter vows to live his life in the "now" rather than in the recesses of his mind: he rescues Rosalind from the gang's clutches, tells his mother and Gertrude where to get off, and fast-talks his way into a better position with the publishing firm. Substituting the usual Danny Kaye zaniness for James Thurber's whimsy, Secret Life of Walter Mitty works best during the production numbers, especially Kaye's signature tune "Anatole of Paris." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

According to their storefront, The Three Stooges are "unaccustomed tailors" who do "Cleaning, pressing and altercations." But maybe not for long -- their equipment is in danger of being repossessed. When they hear that bank robber Terry Hargan is on the loose and there's a reward for his capture, Shemp believes that's their way out of debt. Moe is dubious but the crook actually does dash into the store while running from a detective. He poses among a group of mannequins and the oblivious Stooges strip him of his suit. Hargan shows up at his hideout in his underwear, but it's no laughing matter -- the combination to the next safe he has to crack was in his pants. The result of his attempts to get that slip of paper back is a melee between the Stooges and the crooks. The crooks are no match for the Stooges and the detective arrives just in time to handcuff the unconscious Hargan. The Stooges' reward turns out to be tickets to the policeman's ball, but all is not lost -- they ! snatch a wad of hundreds (and a fifty) from Hargan's coat. Much footage from this comedy -- and the whole substance of its plot -- was recycled for the Stooges 1953 picture, Rip, Sew and Stitch. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

This is the first Three Stooges short that Edward Bernds directed. However, Curly Howard had begun suffering the series of strokes that would eventually sideline him, and he wasn't up to speed here. To save Bernds' job, producer Hugh McCollum held the film back until the director and the boys made the far superior Micro-Phonies. That's not to say that this wasn't a fun short; it certainly has its entertaining moments. The Stooges are paperhangers, or at least they say they are. "You won't recognize the joint when you get back," Moe Howard assures his boss. That's for sure -- when the boys are done, the room looks like it was haphazardly papered with napkins. The boss is furious and to escape him the boys dash into the laboratory of the mad Professor Panzer (Vernon Dent). Panzer wants to put a human brain into a gorilla's head, but he hasn't been able to find a brain small enough...until he meets Curly. He entices the boys to stay in his home, but they discover what he plans to do. They also discover the gorilla. Curly finds a kindred soul in the ape and soon they're destroying Panzer's lab. Panzer tries to stop them with a machine gun, which the gorilla snatches away and begins firing. After the professor is knocked cold, the boys beat a hasty retreat -- and Curly makes sure that the gorilla comes along. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

While it was not one of the best latter-day Curly Howard comedies, this Three Stooges short still had enough amusing moments to get by. It opens up with the boys, dusty and worn out, reaching Dead Man's Gulch. The population of the town is rapidly dwindling, as evidenced by the sound of gunfire and ever-shrinking numbers on the population sign. Badlands Blackie and his gang are the culprits -- they've killed six sheriffs in five months (and that doesn't count deputies). Now the blacksmith has been kidnapped and Blackie is threatening to do away with him unless his daughter, Nell (Christine McIntyre), agrees to marry him. The desperate townsfolk make Curly sheriff, and Moe and Larry deputies, and their first task is to help out Nell -- especially since she has promised to wed Curly if he saves her father. The Stooges manage to vanquish the bad guys -- only because Blackie is not any brighter than they are -- and they save Nell's dad. But when the girl informs him that she has promised to marry Curly, the blacksmith replies, "I'd rather be dead!" Curly gives him a stick of dynamite and the Stooges run off. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

In their first released two-reel comedy of 1946, the Three Stooges are jailed for bootlegging. Their combined efforts to escape makes up the bulk of the comedy, which was heavily augmented with stock footage from So Long Mr. Chumps and In the Sweet Pie and Pie, old footage becoming an increasing occurrence in the series. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This was Curly Howard's next to last film as a member of the Three Stooges. He would collapse from a stroke while filming Half-Wits Holiday, and his illness would end his career. Even though he wasn't well during his last few shorts, Curly's comic timing was usually flawless, and he's especially hilarious here disguised as a Rajah. The time is supposedly 1642, but when the Stooges are washed up onto Dead Man's Island from a wrecked garbage scow, they are dressed as sailors circa 1946 (when the film was made). Curly immediately displeases the governor (Vernon Dent) by flirting with his fiancée, Rita (Christine McIntyre), and he sentences all three of them to death. Rita doesn't want to marry the governor, so she gives the boys tools (including an electric drill) so they can escape from their cell. Unfortunately, they choose the wrong wall and wind up right back in their cell. So Rita disguises them as "wayfarers from a strange land" -- apparently somewhere around India. They talk in gibberish and offer the governor a raspberry lollipop, which he mistakes as a ruby (he's delighted because he's never been given the raspberry before). Only after they're gone does he discover that they are the sailors he wants dead. He enlists the help of Black Louie the pirate, and the boys wind up in a tense situation at a saloon. But they battle it out, and with Rita's help they emerge victorious. Moe, however, has decided he wants to stay; he proclaims himself emperor and a mallet immediately comes down and smashes him on the head. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide

Whenever budget-conscious Columbia laid out good money for Technicolor in the 1940s, it was usually for a musical or an "A" western. Renegades falls into the latter category. Fresh from The Jolson Story, Larry Parks stars as the son of a notorious, Scripture-spouting outlaw (Edgar Buchanan). Parks tries to go straight, but eventually succumbs to expectations and becomes a renegade along with his father and brothers. Willard Parker is the peaceable town doctor who guns down Parks in the climax, while Evelyn Keyes is the leading lady, who insists upon finding Parks fascinating despite of (or maybe because of) his reputation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In their first two-reel comedy of 1945, the Three Stooges mistakenly believe that Curly killed a man (actually a store mannequin) and attempt to dispose of the body in, of all things, a pet cemetery. Three Pests in a Mess is actually a remake of El Brendel's 1941 two-reeler Ready, Willing but Unable. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide