Producer/director Jules White compiled clips of The Three Stooges in 1960 and packaged them together in Stop! Look! and Laugh!, which is now on Blu-ray.

The Three Stooges rank among the greatest comedy teams of all time, celebrated for their timeless slapstick routines. When I discovered that Stop! Look! and Laugh! had made its way to Blu-ray, I was immediately intrigued—how could any fan of classic comedy not be? Unfortunately, the film didn’t quite meet my expectations. The issue isn’t with the Stooges themselves, whose material remains iconic, but rather with the framing device built around Paul Winchell.

Ventriloquist Paul Winchell stars as the responsible father figure to Jerry Mahoney, his mischievous dummy who detests schoolwork. Jerry concocts all sorts of schemes to get out of attending class—darkening his window to imitate night, faking measles with spots on his face, and even tampering with a thermometer to feign a dangerously high fever. His antics highlight the ongoing push-and-pull between Jerry’s youthful rebellion and Winchell’s patient authority.

Stop! Look! and Laugh! stitches together Winchell’s interactions with classic Three Stooges material. When he calls a mechanic about car repairs, the story cuts to a garage scene from Higher Than a Kite. In the finale, Winchell struggles to sleep amid a raucous party. Inserted footage from Half-Wits Holiday shows a pie fight that culminates with new shots of Winchell entering the fray—only to be hit with a pie himself.

Although Jules White is credited as director, he didn’t handle the new material for Stop! Look! and Laugh!. Don Appell directed the Paul Winchell sequences in New York, while Lou Brandt oversaw the Cinderella segments in Hollywood. White’s main role during his month on the project was recutting Stooge footage to fit, with Columbia editor Jerome Thoms—veteran of many Stooge shorts—handling the final assembly.

Stop! Look! and Laugh! also sparked controversy. Producer Harry Romm, longtime agent of the Stooges, was sued for moving forward without consulting them, and Columbia later admitted regret over not securing the trio’s consent before packaging the shorts in a new feature film. At the same time, it’s easy to see why Romm wanted another Stooge feature in circulation. Just the year before, Have Rocket, Will Travel became the first new Stooge film since 1951, introducing the late-’50s lineup with Curly Joe replacing Curly after Shemp Howard’s untimely passing. The project itself was fueled by a surge in the Stooges’ popularity, showing there was still demand for their brand of comedy.

Stop! Look! and Laugh! is at its best when showcasing the Stooges themselves. The filler with Paul Winchell or The Marquis Chimps adds little, though the climactic pie fight works.

Fun fact: Moe Howard and Curly Howard are my 15th cousins once removed.

Segments from the following 11 Stooge shorts are featured in Stop! Look! and Laugh!:

• Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise (1939)
• How High Is Up? (1940)
• Violent Is the Word for Curly (1938)
• Sock-a-Bye Baby (1942)
• Higher Than a Kite (1943)
• What’s the Matador? (1942)
• Calling All Curs (1939)
• Goofs and Saddles (1937)
• Micro-Phonies (1945)
• A Plumbing We Will Go (1940)
• Half-Wits Holiday (1947)

Bonus Feature

• Theatrical Trailer

DIRECTOR: Jules White
CINDERELLA SEQUENCE DIRECTOR: Lou Brandt
PAUL WINCHELL SEQUENCES DIRECTOR: Don Appell
DIRECTORS OF VARIOUS SEGMENTS: Edward Bernds, Charley Chase, Del Lord
CINDERELLA SEQUENCE SCREENWRITER: Sid Kuller
WRITERS OF VARIOUS SEGMENTS: Felix Adler, Edward Bernds, Clyde Bruckman, Monte Collins, Al Giebler, Thea Goodman, Searle Kramer, Zion Myers, Elwood Ullman, Saul Ward, Jack White
CAST: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Paul Winchell, with Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff and featuring The Marquis Chimps, Officer Joe Bolton

Columbia Pictures released Stop! Look! and Laugh! in theaters on July 1, 1960. Grade: 3/5

Please subscribe to Solzy on Buttondown and visit Dugout Dirt.