SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 15:37 Min. (Black & White)
Produced and directed by Jules White off Felix Adler’s script, this 1952 Stooges misadventure spoofs both Harvey and evidently, to some degree, A Streetcar Named Desire. Living as fugitives aboard a stolen train car, sisters Roberta & Lenore implore Larry to budge blissfully boozing Shemp into semi-sobriety, so the two couples can be married. Meanwhile, railway detective Moe stumbles upon the foursome’s hideout, especially as he is Roberta’s ex-boyfriend.
Broken into three segments, the hijinks include an extended lunchtime encounter with a skunk and Shemp’s imaginary romance with a human-shaped canary. No longer chasing thieves Larry & Shemp (which isn’t explained), Moe is incredulous (as is Larry) that the sisters romantically opt for an inebriated Shemp. Of course, Shemp prefers a bizarre fantasy world with his own would-be lovebird.
Moe: Moe Howard
Larry: Larry Fine
Shemp: Shemp Howard
Roberta: Victoria Horne
Lenore: Patricia Wright
‘Carrie the Canary:’ Reggie Dvorak
REVIEW:
This dreck-fest is a mighty strange Stooges caper where neither logic nor laughs are to be found. A few snippets of this eyesore might be watchable, but even the lengthy skunk sequence fails to generate an ounce of hilarity. If anything, Shemp’s oblivious romance with the ‘canary woman’ is a misguided show-stopper in all the wrong ways.
Unless one applauds unfunny absurdism (i.e. a tank-topped Larry’s impression of Streetcar’s Marlon Brando), “Cuckoo on a Choo-Choo” deserves to remain caged in obscurity.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 1½ Stars
