Best movie of this year hands down!
... View MoreWhile it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
... View MoreJust intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
... View MoreIt's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
... View More"Soup to Nuts" is a special treat for Three Stooges fans everywhere. It marks the very first film appearance of Ted Healy and His Stooges, several years before the act was known simply as the Three Stooges. It seems that this film was thought to be lost forever for decades, until the Three Stooges Fan Club, Inc. (of which I am a proud member) was somehow able to locate a print of the film through detective work. Boy, we Stooge fans never knew what we were missing! The plot is nonessential, particularly the sappy romance, but the smart-alecky Healy and his ruffian Stooges (Shemp Howard, Harry "Moe" Howard, and Larry Fine, not counting bushy-eyed Fred Sanborn) get a chance to shine after years of vaudeville experience. Also to be admired is the fantastic Charles Winninger as Otto Schmidt, a fun-loving costume shop owner and an inventor of a handful of wacky gadgets to boot. That's not surprising, since cartoonist Rube Goldberg wrote the screenplay.Here are my favorite scenes from "Soup to Nuts" (and if you haven't yet seen this little gem of a movie, don't read any further). At the film's opening, the Stooges sing a wonderful three-part harmony of "You'll Never Know Just What Tears Are" while Ted and Whispering Willie (Fred Sanborn) try to drop sandbags on top of the trio. (In later years, when the Stooges sang this song in a few of their famous Columbia shorts, they never got past the first couple of lines.) At the climactic firemen's ball, Ted sings "You Can Only Wear One Pair of Pants at a Time", after which the Stooges join him for a complete vaudeville sketch, featuring more three-part harmony and a lot of jokes. The xylophone playing of Whispering Willie is probably Fred Sanborn's only good contribution to the film. Otto Schmidt gets caught in his own unique burglar alarm. And finally, we have a plethora of funny gags when Ted and the Stooges attempt to fight a fire at the end of the picture.The delightfully screwy "Soup to Nuts" may be a little slow at times, particularly when the Stooges are not featured, but that's okay. This film is well worth seeing, in my opinion, and it has fortunately been released to DVD. Do yourself a big favor and watch this movie!
... View MoreThis early talkie's plot deals with--more or less--the unrelated adventures of Ted Healy and some local firemen (Moe, Larry, Shemp and Fred Sanborn). There's very little coherence until the climactic fire, when the Stooges save the day.Two performances stand out, both for the wrong reasons. Ted Healy was a major star in vaudeville and film when this movie was made. If you watch this film, it's hard to understand why, because his routine was just not funny. His offhandedly mean treatment of the Stooges also alienates the viewer. Fred Sanborn provides one of the most bizarre and irritating performances ever captured on film as a mute fireman. He's just so indescribably bad, you have to watch this to believe it.Within a few short years, the Three Stooges were big stars in short subjects and Ted Healy was dead due to a bar fight. This film's worth catching for fans of the Stooges, since it's their feature film debut and historically interesting. Otherwise, stay away.
... View MoreSure, there are some things about Soup To Nuts that aren't really great, but the fact that the Stooges are in it...THAT's great. It's not necessarily based on them, but their appearance every now and then is always funny. And it's worth sitting through the rest of the movie to get to the end. Moe, Larry and Shemp put on a classic Stooge performance. They're firefighters trying to save people, put out the fire, and smack each other around all at the same time. It's excellent. All Three Stooges fans should see it. I could care less about Ted Healy and the other cast members. I just want to see the Stooges!
... View MoreAMC has been showing this stinker for the month of March,2001. Ted Healy gets my vote as worst actor ever on screen. He does a second-rate Jolson impersonation- and that may be an insult to second-rate! In the scenes with the Stooges(of the 3 Stooges fame) Shemp comes across as the leader of the three, but Healy tries and fails miserably at doing slapstick comedy better than the Kings of the art form- The Three Stooges. I understand Healy was eventually murdered. Too bad for him, but great for the world of comedy.
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