Spooks! (1953)

This is the continuing blog of the Blu ray 3D Mad Magician,which include this short.Back in 75 I had gotten the 8mm 50 foot version.This was the first time I saw the movie in 3D at home .I saw the full sound version in 3D on t.v. back in 82.This version ,the print, was so digitally cleaned up that it revealed the special effect techniques that the film maker did not want you to see.In the Anaglyph version,in the beginning title,you saw a black black ground and the three stooges heads floating to the camera and back.In the digital version their bodies wearing black sheets are revealed ,in three Dee ,and you see that they are walking up to the camera and walking back.I did not see this in that Anaglyph version.That is what I call clarity.It's a typical story about kidnapped girls and the boys being detectives, with mad scientist and gorilla added to and a 3D pie throwing .The scene where the mad scientist, played by Philip van Zandt, is chasing the boys with a needle.I did not realize until I saw this clear version that it was large one for the 3d effects It had the typical burlesque violence in a 3d coming out at you style.It was shot in Vitascope ,actually 1:85:1Presnted this way in it's ratio.Fun. 01/15/16

Moe, Larry, and Shemp have decided to take up detective work and they get their first client when a man reports that his daughter has been abducted.With the highly original disguise of people giving away free pies as a promotion in the neighborhood, the boys start knocking on doors hoping to locate the missing young lady, Norma Randall. A few well chosen screams give the idea that something is amiss at one location.Spooks is a combination of the Bela Lugosi/Ritz Brothers film The Gorilla and Abbott&Costello Meet Frankenstein. A couple of scientists Philip Van Zandt and Tom Kennedy are working on transferring the woman's brain into their body. Why they would want to do that to a pretty young thing like Randall shows how mad these scientists are. She's not happy and the gorilla is real resistant to the idea.Don't forget about those pies, saved for the climax. Spooks is ripped off from those other classics, yet the Stooges bring their own unique brand of burlesque humor. It's even in 3-D.

The Stooges play detectives hired by a rich man to find his missing daughter. They go to a run down (read haunted) house dressed as pie salesmen (I don't know) and search the house. In the basement a mad doctor, his assistant and a gorilla are holding the young woman captive. Its a thread bare plot which purely an excuse for haunted house mayhem and for things to be thrust at the camera. As with all 3-D films some of the effects work better than others with things like Moe's fingers, his foot or a thrown pen not working well, while pies (They are pie salesmen) and other objects fare better. For the most part this is the better of the two 3D shorts since there is at least some attempt at a plot. In all fairness this probably would have been better longer since the film never amounts to more than an excuse for mayhem. I've only seen this as a 3D film (I had this as an old 8MM high light reel) and I doubt this would work as anything other than a 3-D film. Worth a look for 3-D fans.

On a local Television station I saw this funny Three Stooges in true 3D! There was another one in 3D called Pardon My Backfire! Spooks! was really already in 3D like when Moe would do his stuff like kicking Shemp or when one of the bad guys did something it would come right into the screen! What I mean by true 3D is that it had the color like the famous colors! It was a cool experience!Spooks! is a good one! Philip Van Zandt and Tom Kennedy played their parts very good! The gorilla is funny! It has a very spook nature like some of the other Three Stooges shorts which like them, Spooks! is great to watch around Halloween time! Like the other 3D short, this too has the different introduction with the stooges doing it live instead of the usual intro! With the 3D experience or without it Spooks! is a very funny Three Stooges to short watch!