Soup to Nuts (1930)

Directed by Benjamin Stoloff
Starring Ted Healy, Charles Winninger, The Three Stooges
Produced by Fox Film Corporation

So here it is: The debut of the comedy trio we all know and love as The Three Stooges. Moe (billed here as Harry Howard), Shemp Howard and Larry Fine make their first appearance on the big screen. 

It turns out that even in the beginning they were really entertaining.  Their characters here are more subdued than we may be used to, but you can see the beginnings of the comic stylings of the team.

Of course, the problem in Soup to Nuts is they are relegated to the background for almost the entirety of the piece.

It's clear at the beginning here, the writers and producers are going for a Marx Brothers vibe more than anything.  The star of the piece for all intents and purposes is Ted Healy's character (creatively named "Ted"), who is basically an imitation of Groucho without the glasses or moustache.  He's followed around by a mute fireman (Fred Sanborn) who poorly fills the Harpo role.  The Stooges collectively are playing Chico (interestingly, with Shemp, not Moe, in the alpha dog role).

While you can see the beginnings of what will become the Three Stooges bread and butter, Healy and Sanborn are painful to watch.  Healy's every line delivery feels forced and over-written and Sanborn's eyebrows move as though they are aliens from another planet in the most distracting of ways.

None of this even touches on the film's "A" plot which follows costume shop owner Otto Schmidt who is more interested in inventing useless and overly complicated machines (the film was written by Rube Goldberg and features some of his designs).  The man's shop is taken over by a creditor, who dispatches his son Carlson to oversee the operation. 

Carlson immediately falls for Otto's daughter Louise and tries to win her heart.  She of course cannot love the man she sees as taking her dad's shop.

Ted works for Schmidt and loves hanging out at the local firehouse, populated by the Stooges and the mute fireman. 

In the end, Ted and Carlson concoct a way for the latter to win Louise's hand at the fireman's ball.  The plan goes awry and their is a very nicely-shot fire sequence featuring the inept Stooges trying to rescue Carlson and Louise.

I can't say Soup to Nuts is a good movie.  It's boring and tedious and inconsistent in its camerawork and sound design.  It is however worth it as a curiosity.  Every time Shemp, Moe and Larry come onto the screen, the film crackles and pops.

I just wish there was a bit more of them.

** out of *****