SUMMARY: Running Time: 16:00 Min. (Black & White)
Directed by Jack White (under the pseudonym of Preston Black), this Three Stooges sitcom is among the four of its 190 two-reel Columbia Pictures comedies in the public domain. The others are: 1947’s Brideless Groom and Sing a Song of Six Pants; and 1949’s Malice in the Palace. All four titles are also available elsewhere in a colorized format.
Playing small-time nightclub jazz musicians, the Stooges are the star defense witnesses in Black Bottom Café dancer Gail Tempest’s high-profile murder trial. She is accused of killing local bigwig Kirk Robin. Once sworn in to testify, a befuddled Curly doesn’t grasp courtroom etiquette, so Larry & Moe butt in to help.
Despite the staff’s best efforts, the courtroom can’t contain the chaos that the Stooges rapidly unleash. Between harassing the hapless court clerk and re-enacting the supposed murder scene, the Stooges ensure that slapstick justice is ultimately served.
Moe: Moe Howard
Larry: Larry Fine
Curly: Curly Howard
Defense Counsel: Bud Jamison
Prosecutor: Harry Semels
Judge: Edward LeSaint
Gail Tempest: Suzanne Kaaren
Court Clerk: James C. Morton
Court Baliff: Al Thompson
Flirting Juror: Louise Carver
Trivia Notes: Moe & Curly’s father, Sol Horwitz, is seated in the front row laughing with other extras in the courtroom’s public gallery. One gag’s camera effect is evidently goofed: watch as an errant pistol shot blows past Moe & Larry — the Stooges’ boutonnieres inexplicably drop off from their suit jackets in reverse order.
REVIEW:
For an absolute gem in the Stooges’ prime, this zany courtroom calamity fits the bill. Not only are Moe & Larry on their game, Curly’s unique wackiness spells out why he is a comedy icon. Impressively, Disorder holds up well today as a timeless spoof of Hollywood’s infatuation with legal melodramas.
Regular Stooge foils Bud Jamison, Harry Semels, and James C. Morton are given choice moments to shine coping with the trio’s mayhem. Morton’s incensed court clerk, for instance, gets hilarious bits being repeatedly harassed by the Stooges. Edward LeSaint is spot-on as a no-nonsense judge – his uneasy squirming, as the Stooges obnoxiously re-enact Moe’s version of the crime scene, is the episode’s most subtle humor. Throwing in a tap dance routine for good measure, Suzanne Kaaren adds glamor to this courtroom calamity.
Accordingly, the anything-goes Disorder in the Court might be the best legal laugh-fest ever made.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 10 Stars
