Swing Parade (Audio Commentary)

Film Year:  1946
Genre:  Musical, Comedy
Director:  Phil Karlson
Starring:  Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Gale Storm, Phil Regan, Russell Hicks, Edward Brophy, Mary Treen, Connee Boswell, Louis Jordan
Commentator:  Michael J. Nelson

The Movie

Initially titled the more dated "Swing Parade of 1946," Swing Parade is the most circulated film to ever feature the Three Stooges.  This isn't because it's the best but rather because of its public domain status.  Just about anyone can release this movie, and on most releases you'll see "THE THREE STOOGES" plastered above the actual title of the movie, which is usually in a much smaller font (and that's including the Legend Films DVD I'm reviewing right now).  The truth of the matter is that the Stooges only have a supporting role and the film doesn't really revolve around the classic comedy trio.

Swing Parade is actually about a struggling singer played by Gale Storm who gets a job at a nightclub, where she falls in love with the club owner.  Unfortunately the club owner's father has been trying to shut down the club, but is unable to serve the process papers to shut it down through many misfortunes (including hired help Stooges).

As a film itself, Swing Parade isn't much.  It's basically just an excuse to film song and dance numbers while the Stooges bring in the comedy crowd.  The musical numbers are uneven, though Louis Jordan's toe tappers are probably at the top of the enjoyment list.  But other numbers just don't have much energy, and are meant to be more mellow and romantic.  When the film was in pristine condition these songs might have played better, but this film is in rough shape and a lot of the songs are washed out.

The Stooges do some new material mixed with old favorites, including pipe gags that were already done to perfection in the classic short A Plumbing We Will Go.  There's some great stuff with the Stooges as waiters bringing guffaws and some wild slapstick.  Unfortunately this is the final feature film Curly was able to film before the stroke that forced him to retire from the group, so Curly is in somewhat ill-health and a lot slower than he'd normally be.  That said, their routines don't quite suffer that much and laughs are still had.

Swing Parade is barely a movie at all, providing barely a story to string together songs and comedy.  But it's pleasant fluff.  It's not too offensive unless you firmly believe film should be more demanding than this, otherwise you might just look at it and say "Oh Brother!"

The Commentary

My favorite comedy teams collide!  Or at the very least brush against each other.  It's the Three Stooges meets Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Or at least a guy from Mystery Science Theater 3000.  Okay, sure why not?

Mike struggles a lot here.  This feels like a film that was handed to him and told he had to do, and to his credit he plows through it even if he sounds disinterested in it.  The film is a comedy, which is a Riffing 101 no-no.  Making things worse is that he has no backup with him, which means he has to pile his own brand of comedy on top of a different brand of comedy without any sort of support.  I don't quite blame him for feeling lost, because the odds are stacked against him here.

On the plus side is that the film is also a musical, and riffing on musical numbers is usually a lot of fun.  Louis Jordan lights up Mike with his fun numbers "Don't Worry About That Mule" and "Caldonia."  The former song becomes a bit of a running gag with Mike as he constantly refers to mules that might be going blind for a while after the number finishes.  Perhaps he rides on this gag a bit too much, but I'd have to say that given the film isn't giving him much to work with I'll give him credit for latching onto something that does and wringing it for what it's worth.  Not all numbers are a goldmine though.  Gale Storm's first number doesn't seem to spark any fire in him, which he just kind of heckles.  It's not really that funny.

As for riffs on the Three Stooges...he doesn't seem to think they can be riffed.  The two comedy styles don't mesh, and Mike realizes this.  He just kind of lets them do their thing while occasionally putting out a smartass quip.  I'm going to have to say that the Stooge routines are a lot funnier than what Mike puts out during these scenes.

For the most part I try to give these commentaries the benefit of the doubt because of limited resources at Mike's disposal and a lack of control Mike had on the movies he's riffing.  But Swing Parade comes off as a movie he should have left alone.  It's not that it's a great movie, it isn't, but it just doesn't gel with him.  And the sad thing is I think Mike realizes this, and he can't do anything except shrug and accept his fate.  Luckily for him that very fate had something bigger in mind, as this was his last Legend commentary and he would soon develop Rifftrax.

Not Recommended

The DVD

Yet another Legend Films colorization disc, but on this one we have the option of watching the commentary with either the colorized or black and white versions of the film.  I chose to watch it colorized, because I actually hadn't seen the colorized version before now.  And whew boy, is it ever garish.  There are so many ugly, mismatched colors being stylized in this version that I almost switched back to the black and white because it seemed healthier for my retinas.

If you're into vintage comedy, this disc might be worthwhile to pick up for the special features, all of which are vintage comedy material loosely related to the film itself..  We have a rare Columbia short starring often Stooge foil Dudley Dickerson, along with El Brendel and Tom Kennedy, called Phoney Cronies.  It features a group of hired hands who accidentally smuggle a thief into a museum.  While it's not up to the standards of the average Columbia Stooges short, it's fine and fairly funny.

Next is a clip from the Abbott and Costello film Africa Screams, which featured alternating Stooges Shemp Howard and Joe Besser.  The clip features Shemp and Joe trying to catch Costello in the middle of a native chase.  It's also colorized.  It's funny, but the film is in the public domain so just hunt down the full thing.  It's quite a fun movie.

Up next is a New 3 Stooges cartoon called Souper Man.  The cartoon features Moe, Larry, and Curly-Joe DeRita thinking that eating a certain kind of soup turns them into superheroes.  There's also a live action bookend with the trio on motorbikes.  Like most of the New 3 Stooges cartoons, it's fine for what it is.

Our next piece is a clip from the movie Smart Alecks, featuring Gale Storm.  Miss Storm helps the East Side Boys make dinner for an unwanted house guest.  Its fairly funny as well.

Our last vintage piece is an episode of the television series My Little Margie, also starring Gale Storm.  There's a bit of a thematic match at play as like Swing Parade this episode is partially about dodging process servers.  The primary story involves Storm's perky Margie character discovering a diary that she thinks was written by a murderer.  It's charming and typical of a vintage family sitcom like this, though not outright hilarious.

The final bonus features are colorized trailers for Swing Parade, The Three Stooges in Color, Africa Screams, March of the Wooden Soldiers, The Jackie Robinson Story, and The Shirley Temple Collection.