Christine McIntyre Movies
Although she starred in scores of B-Westerns opposite the likes of Buck Jones, Buster Crabbe, and Johnny Mack Brown, blonde American actress/singer Christine McIntyre is almost solely remembered for her energetic appearances opposite that zaniest of comedy teams, the Three Stooges. With a Bachelor of Music degree from the Chicago Musical College, McIntyre began her professional career on radio. She entered films around 1937, graduating to leading roles the following year opposite singing cowboy Fred Scott. Appearances in a large number of B-Westerns followed and McIntyre would probably have remained just another prairie flower had she not caught the eye of Columbia producer Hugh McCollom. Not so different at first from the host of pretty girls who decorated the Columbia comedy shorts, McIntyre soon developed into a first-rate comedienne, with an operatic voice to boot. The erudite McCollum persuaded Stooges director Edward Bernds to create Micro-Phonies (1945) for her, with McIntyre was perfectly cast as an aspiring vocalist whose rendition of "The Voice of Spring" is spoiled by the irreverent trio. Micro-Phonies proved one of the year's best Stooges shorts and the die was cast. Alternately playing ingenues and femme fatales, Christine McIntyre was almost regarded as the fourth Stooge and stayed with the department until 1954, longer if one counts her many subsequent appearances via stock footage. "Of all the people I worked with, Christine was one of my favorites," Stooges veteran Emil Sitka said, not long before his death in 1998. Director Edward Bernds concurred: "She was so nice, so sweet; a real joy. She had the rare ability of indulging in the zany antics and still remaining a real lady, which is what she was." The seemingly indefatigable McIntyre also managed to squeeze a series of Johnny Mack Brown Westerns into her busy schedule, but mainstream stardom eluded her and she retired in the mid-'50s to marry J. Donald Wilson, a radio director/producer. Although she relished talking about her many B-Westerns, McIntyre flatly refused to discuss her work with the Stooges. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1958
Joe Besser's French wartime girlfriend, Fifi (Vanda Dupre), moves in next door to the boys in this Three Stooges comedy two-reeler, a remake, with plenty of stock footage of Love at First Bite (1950). Christine McIntyre, who had retired in 1954, and Heinie Conklin appeared courtesy of the old footage. Fifi Blows Her Top was filmed in 1957. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Ostensibly a remake, this Three Stooges comedy was basically stock footage from the earlier Who Done It? (1949) with a few new scenes added for good measure. Emil Sitka, Christine McIntyre (who had retired in 1954), and Duke York all appear in the old footage only. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1956
A remake -- with plenty of stock footage -- of Brideless Groom (1947), Husbands Beware once again asks the burning question: Can Shemp of the Three Stooges find himself a wife in a matter of hours and qualify for a 50,000-dollar inheritance? Columbia stretched the plot rather thin this time, hiring Lu Leonard and Maxine Gates as Shemp's ferocious sisters who marry Larry and Moe. Christine McIntyre, appearing in a delightful slugfest with Shemp, and Emil Sitka appear courtesy of the stock footage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1956
The Three Stooges play plumbers searching for a diamond ring in this two-reel comedy which added footage from the earlier A Plumbing We Will Go (1940), Vagabond Loafers (1948), and Half Wits Holiday (1948) to a few newly filmed scenes. In a desperate effort to keep the series alive, Shemp Howard, who had died of a heart attack in November of 1955, was doubled by veteran Stooges player Joe Palma. Christine McIntyre, Kenneth MacDonald, Dudley Dickerson, Symona Boniface (who had died in 1950), and Emil Sitka all appeared in the stock footage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1956
Containing a wealth of stock footage from the earlier Fuelin' Around (1949), this Three Stooges two-reeler features a gang of spies who mistake Larry for the inventor of a top secret rocket fuel. Christine McIntyre, who had retired from films in 1954, Philip Van Zandt, and Jock Mahoney all appeared in the stock footage, while new scenes were filmed featuring Gene Roth, Connie Cezan, Evelyn Lovequist, and Andre Pola. Producer/director Jules White should have stuck with the comedy's working title: "They Gassed Wrong." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1955
As had become their habit, the Three Stooges revamped their old comedy shorts -- in this case 1948's Shivering Sherlocks -- by adding a couple of new scenes featuring the boys only, thus saving on almost everything including the supporting cast. As in the original comedy, the boys run amuck in Christine McIntyre's haunted house. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1955
In this two-reel comedy, released as a remake of Crime on Their Hands (1948), the Three Stooges are novice Scotland Yard detectives searching for a valuable diamond. In reality, Hot Ice actually is Crime on Their Hands, with added scenes from The Hot Scots (1948). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1954
For their final two-reel comedy of 1954, the Three Stooges remade their earlier The Hot Scots (1948), playing detective school graduates shipped of to Scotland's Glenheather Castle to guard a treasure. Christine McIntyre, Theodore Lorch (who had died in 1947), Herbert Evans, and Charles Knight all appeared courtesy of stock footage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1954
A remake of the Three Stooges' earlier Squareheads of the Round Table, this two-reel comedy features the boys as troubadours attempting to save Princess Elaine (Christine McIntyre) from a fate worse than death. Miss McIntyre, who had retired by 1954, and Jock Mahoney as the romantic leads appeared courtesy of stock footage. New footage featured Ruth Godfrey. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1954
This two-reel Western spoof is a remake with plenty of stock footage of The Three Stooges earlier Out West (1947) and Goofs and Saddles (1937). The Stooges journey West and rescue three gals from the notorious Barker gang. Norma Randall and Ruth Godfrey appear in added 1954 footage. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1951
Gasoline Alley was based on Frank King's popular comic strip of the same name. The strip's central characters, service station owner Walt Wallet (Don Beddoe) and his adopted son Skeezix (James Lydon), take a back seat to newlyweds Corky (Scotty Beckett) and Hope (Susan Morrow). Hoping to establish his independence from his family, Corky opens up his own restaurant, which results in nothing but headaches. The film tries as best it can within 76 minutes to recreate the 30-year continuity of the original comic strip. Director Edward Bernds, a graduate of Columbia's short-subject department, relies upon a couple of his 2-reeler colleagues, Dick Wessel and Gus Schilling, to provide a soupcon of slapstick. Because of legal entanglements, neither Gasoline Alley nor its sequel Corky of Gasoline Alley are available for TV showings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Scotty Beckett, Jimmy Lydon, (more)
- 1951
As was customary in his late Monogram westerns, Johnny Mack Brown plays an undercover agent in Colorado Ambush. Brown is sent to Colorado to stem the activities of a particularly vicious outlaw gang. The leader of the gang is played by Myron Healey, who also wrote the script. The best sequence involves Healey and saloon gal Christine McIntyre; it's the standard "We're neither one of us any good," dialogue exchange, but it's played with depth and finesse. Myron Healey also wrote and co-starred in the subsequent Johnny Mack Brown oater Texas Lawman (1951). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Mack Brown, Myron Healey, (more)
- 1951
No relation to the TV series of the same name, Wanted: Dead or Alive is a Monogram "B" western, vintage 1951. Its star is the studio's answer to PRC's Lash LaRue: Whip Wilson. Riding into a small town, a stranger (Whip) is accused of being a fugitive criminal. He eventually clears himself, but not before several displays of his remarkable whip-wielding skills. Andy Clyde, as ever, is on hand as Wilson's grizzled saddle pal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1950
This Three Stooges short opens up with the boys happily cleaning house in anticipation of the arrival of their fiancees (not unlike the beginning of 1952's Corny Casanovas). This time they're engaged to three different girls, who they all met in Europe while in the service. They nostalgically reminisce about meeting their sweethearts in a flashback sequence -- Larry met his girl in a restaurant in Italy, Moe found his washing a floor in Vienna, while Shemp first encountered his on the Rue de Schlmiel in Gay Paree. They drink a toast by downing huge mugs of Old Panther whisky and immediately get soused. After winding up in a drunken argument, Moe and Shemp decide to "fight a drool." They squirt each other with seltzer bottles and when Shemp blacks out, Moe and Larry think he is dead. To get rid of the "corpse," they decide to encase his feet in cement and dump him in the ocean. They only accomplish the first half of this before falling asleep. When they wake up, they have no idea how Shemp's feet got stuck in a tub of cement (with a round bottom, which makes him bob up and down like a punching bag). Dynamite won't free him, but it does send them flying to the docks, where the girls are waiting. The feet-in-cement-tub joke was used in 1936 by yet another famous comic team, Laurel and Hardy, in their film Our Relations. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1950
Everybody is a comic in this Three Stooges picture. The killer Dillon clan are shooting up a Western town and Nell (Christine McIntyre) sends her handsome, but clumsy oaf of a sweetheart, Elmer, off to get help. Help comes in the form of the Stooges, who are playing a trio of cavalrymen so incompetent that their frustrated sergeant sends them on the mission only because he believes they won't return alive. The boys dress up as desperadoes and enter the town's saloon, doing their best to appear tough. While ordering drinks, Shemp asks for a milkshake "made with sour milk!" Their lack of prowess in all things Western is immediately apparent, and on top of that, the gang's leader (Kenneth MacDonald) figures out they are spies. The Stooges attempt a different kind of disguise. This time they're waiters, but their fake mustaches give them away in almost record time. Eventually they do emerge victorious over the bad guys, but it's only with Nell's help (she's upstairs, cold-cocking every bad guy who has the misfortune to enter her room), and Shemp's winning battle with two of the bad men and a stick of dynamite. Elmer shows up eventually and when he tells Nell that cowboys don't settle down, she beans him with a piece of crockery. This knocks some sense into him, ending the picture on something of a romantic note. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1950
Proprietors of the Shangri-La Upholstery Shop, the Three Stooges purchase a chair which comes complete with a concealed necklace. Before they know it, three girls (Christine McIntyre, Nanette Bordeaux, and Kathleen O'Malley) arrive to claim the find as belonging to them. A pleasant enough two-reel comedy, Hugs and Mugs was still a far cry from the team's earlier work. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1950
The sexual dysfunction of a married couple provides the basis of this thought-provoking drama that was originally released in 1950 and was then re-released 11 years later with a prologue tacked on. In the prologue, the couple begin attending a group therapy session helmed by a prominent doctor. Neither the husband and wife are able to enjoy sex. The doctor then tells them a story and this story is the original 1950 film of a sexually repressed and unresponsive bride who ends up trying to kill herself. Fortunately, a psychiatrist helps her to see that her overbearing mother is the cause of her difficulty. This story inspires the first couple to keep working on their problem. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Reed Hadley, Margaret Field, (more)
- 1950
Although this Shemp Howard-era Three Stooges short is rather plot-heavy, it has some particularly funny gags. The boys are termite exterminators who are mistaken for publicity flacks while they're spraying offices at the B.O. movie studio. When the studio head promises them a big bonus if they think up a good stunt for his newest star, Dolly Duval (Christine McIntyre), they suggest that she suddenly disappear. But it's an extremely overused scam -- neither the police captain (Vernon Dent) nor the newspaper reporter believe it. A gang of crooks, however, really do kidnap Dolly and demand ransom. The Stooges arrive at the hotel with money and guns acquired from the prop room. This becomes all-too apparent when they try to shoot the thugs, and Larry's gun shoots out a "bang!" flag, and Moe's turns out to be a water pistol. In the hallway, however, Shemp manages to knock one crook unconscious. While Moe and Larry are being tied up, Shemp finds Dolly in a garment bag in the closet and changes places with her. She frees the Stooges, and Larry acosts the police captain, who is sitting down for a card game with some associates. He pelts the the card players with food to get their attention and they chase after him as he heads for the crooks. Shemp, meanwhile, has wandered out onto the ledge in the garment bag but when he cuts his way out, he panics and falls. While he hangs by a phone from a tenth floor window, Moe and Dolly throw him a rope. The crooks attack and their leader gets his foot tangled in the rope. Dolly and Moe knock out the other two. The police captain and his men arrive and Moe and Larry try to pull Shemp up. But he stops on a balcony where a young woman is sunbathing and the sudden slack sends his pals flying into the bathtub. With nothing better to do, they decide to start soaping up, even though Larry complains that "It isn't Saturday night." ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1950
In this fairly amusing two-reel comedy, the Three Stooges play theater with aspirations to become thespians. They are finally awarded parts in a tragedy ("The Bride Wore Spurs") -- which they promptly turn into a farce. About to be kicked out on their ears, the Stooges suddenly become heroes when a critic pronounces the play a hilarious success. Comedian Jerry Lewis' father, Danny Lewis, appeared as one of the Stooges acting colleagues. A veteran nightclub entertainer, Papa Lewis, according to Stooges producer/director Jules White, "possessed little of his famous son's timing or talent." ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- 1950
Classic comedy is on the menu in this home video collection that serves up a trio of Three Stooges short subjects featuring Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard. In Dopey Dicks, the Stooges happen upon a mad scientist who needs a human head, complete with brain, for his latest creation, a robot. He decides that one of the Stooges will do, apparently assuming that the brain won't be much taxed by the creature's habits. Scrambled Brains finds poor Shemp in a mental hospital, where he's suffering from hallucinations. He delusionally believes that the hospital's head nurse is a beautiful blonde, rather than the stout, severe-looking harridan she truly is -- and Shemp has asked her to marry him! Moe and Larry try to save him, but just get themselves in hot water. And the Stooges become the first dentists in the Old West in The Tooth Will Out, where they find their skills as painless tooth-pullers put to the test by an outlaw with a terrible toothache and no hesitance about using his gun. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1949
The Three Stooges play inept detectives in this Columbia comedy. Wealthy Mr. Goodrich (Emil Sitka) is very nervous because the Phantom Gang has been knocking off men just like himself, and he has been informed that he will be next. He frantically calls the Alert Detective Agency because the detectives he has hired are late. It turns out they are the Stooges, who have been robbed and bound. With the help of the security guard, they free themselves and head for Mr. Goodrich's home. Unfortunately, the old man has already been knocked unconscious and they're greeted by the gang, one of whom is Goodrich's butler. The female member (Christine McIntyre) claims to be Goodrich's niece, and sneaks poison into Shemp's drink, sending him into a spasmodic (and very funny) fit. A big goon proceeds to chase the Stooges up and down the halls of the house, but they manage to evade him long enough to find Mr. Goodrich in a hidden panel. "A corpus!" says Shemp. But Goodrich isn't dead, merely stunned -- he's a fine music lover and the gang tortured him by forcing him to listen to singing commercials. The crooks gang up on them and Goodrich turns out the lights. The ensuing melee goes on in darkness, punctuated whenever someone lights a match (generally to say a one-liner). When the lights come back on, the crooks have all been knocked cold, thanks to Shemp's use of a small fireplace shovel. While showing off his moves, he knocks the other Stooges and Goodrich unconscious. Dismayed by what he's done, he knocks himself out, too. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1949
This Shemp Howard-era Three Stooges short borrows quite a bit (both plot- and footage-wise) from 1940's A Plumbing We Will Go, made in the Curly days. The story opens with a wealthy couple throwing a party to celebrate the acquisition of a $50,000-dollar Van Brocklin painting. But there's a leak in the basement, so the wife calls the Day and Nite Plumbers. When Moe, who is reading a book called How to Be a Plumber, picks up the phone, you know the couple is in for a load of trouble. Those who have seen A Plumbing We Will Go know what happens next -- Moe toils in the basement while Shemp cages himself in a labyrinth of pipes in the bathroom and Larry digs up half the lawn in an attempt to turn off the water. The cook is in the kitchen, watching in horror as the stove and a lighting fixture gush water. But there's a new twist -- a couple of guests (Christine McIntyre and Kenneth MacDonald) are thieves who steal the Van Brocklin. The Stooges, surprisingly, are the first ones to identify the robbers and they capture the crooks and retrieve the painting. When the grateful hostess offers them a reward, Shemp says, "We don't want no reward! It'll put us in a higher tax bracket!" ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1949
Shemp fans rejoice! This home video release collects three classic Three Stooges comedies with Shemp Howard starring alongside Moe Howard and Larry Fine. Hot Scots finds the boys traveling to Scotland, where they hope to become crime fighters with Scotland Yard. They have to settle for work as gardeners, but that doesn't stop them from guarding the castle of the esteemed Earl of Glenheather. In Fuelin' Around, the Stooges are laying carpet at the home of Professor Sneed, a rocket scientist working on a secret government project, when Armenian spies break in and take Larry hostage, convinced that he's Sneed (and making a liar of everyone who ever said, "That Larry -- you can tell he's no rocket scientist!"). And Larry, Moe, and Shemp travel to the South Seas in Hula-La-La, in which a movie studio needs to hire three dance instructors for an upcoming musical set in the tropics -- the studio ends up with the Stooges instead. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1948
In this western, a hero prevents a stagecoach robbery and wins the respect and confidence of a mine owner and a pretty woman who is going west to see her sister. Two outlaws next try to jump the miner's claim. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christine McIntyre
- 1948
Even with a combined I.Q. that's in the negative column, The Three Stooges still manage to outwit a gang of crooks. The bad guys, led by Dapper (Kenneth MacDonald), have stolen the famed Punjab diamond and the heist has hit the front pages. At the newsroom, editor J.L. Cameron warns the Stooges, "This is a tough assignment. Can you cover it?" But he's not talking about the heist -- the Stooges are janitors and he is handing them a mangled chair cushion. They're more than happy to do the job, but would rather be cub reporters. While Cameron is out of the office, a tip comes in regarding the diamond's whereabouts and our boys are on their way. They show up at McGuffy's cafe asking for Dapper and convince everyone in the joint that they're cops. In an upstairs room they find Dapper's moll (Christine McIntyre), who has hidden the diamond in a candy dish. Shemp swallows the gem along with some mints and then the moll finds out the Stooges are reporters. She calls in Dapper and his henchman and everyone tries to get the diamond out of Shemp. Nothing works, so Dapper decides to cut him open. Moe and Larry are stuffed into a closet while their pal is tied down to a table. Luckily there happens to be some tools in the closet, and Moe and Larry saw their way out -- right into a gorilla's cage (why the gorilla is there is completely irrelevant to the story). The gorilla storms into the closet and winds up tossing the crooks around like they're rag dolls. In Shemp, however, the beast finds a kindred spirit. By the time Moe and Larry have gotten help, the crooks are knocked out and Shemp and the gorilla have bonded. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
