User Reviews

By 1952, the production costs of the Columbia shorts skyrocketed, so Jules White decided to remake a lot of Stooges shorts using both old and new footage. Even though everybody thinks remakes are not as good as the originals, this is one of the rare occasions where it's actually enjoyable.

The short is a direct remake of 1947's HOLD THAT LION!, but instead of tracking Icabod Slipp to a moving train, they spot him at a local theater where they are cornered by him and his burly henchman (Tom Kennedy). They manage to hide in a nearby dressing room where they trap Slipp's head in a chair and pelt fruit and eggs on his face. The final, surreal gag has a portrait of Napoleon actually stealing the duffel bag of money. Moe manages to knock him out with a brick and the Stooges actually climb inside the portrait to retrieve the money.

Be forewarned, BOOTY AND THE BEAST, a later Stooges short, uses the train sequence from LION!, but it's not a remake of it, just stock footage.

"Loose Loot" is probably one of the wildest Three Stooges shorts with Shemp Howard as the third Stooge. The first half of this film is mostly stock footage from "Hold That Lion!" (1947), in which the boys consult with their attorney (Emil Sitka) and show up at the office of the crooked Icabod Slipp (Kenneth MacDonald) with the hopes of retrieving their inheritance. This leads into the much more exciting second half of the film (new footage), in which the Stooges are in for a wild adventure at the Circle Follies Theatre before they recover their money from Slipp.

Highlights: Shemp performs his famous "fighter's dance" in Slipp's office, only to receive the first punch! At the theatre, Slipp and his burly assistant Joe (Tom Kennedy) pursue the Stooges in a lengthy corridor chase. When the boys barricade a dressing room door with a mattress, Moe accidentally ends up on the other side of the barricade; believing that Slipp broke through the door, Larry and Shemp unknowingly beat the daylights out of Moe through the mattress. When Slipp gets his head stuck in a hole in the door, Moe and Larry throw all kinds of fruit at his face while Shemp acts as a barker at a carnival. And finally, the ending gag is very clever as the Stooges climb through a picture frame to retrieve their bag of money taken by Napoleon!

Some have said that "Loose Loot" is not as good as the original "Hold That Lion!", but I strongly disagree; "Loose Loot" is quite a merry adventure with plenty of hilarious hijinks and energy that never really lets up! Jules White directed both the original and the remake, and while he may not exactly have been the Stooges' greatest director (he often forced too much slapstick), he deserves credit for how well he handled such a wonderful comedy like "Loose Loot."