User Reviews

"Who Done It?" is an American black-and-white comedy short film starring the Three Stooges. Curly was already out in 1949, but still alive. Shemp took his place. The Stooges are known to have touched all kinds of genres in their seemingly endless body of work and in this one here they give us their take on film noir and crime. A gang of crooks lets a millionaire disappears and the Stooges are investigator who come to the scene in order to find out what happened. Chaos ensues obviously and the trio manages to take out not only the bad guys, but all three of themselves too. The film runs for roughly 16 minutes, usual runtime for the Stooges and was written and directed by Edward Bernds, who worked on many other Stooges short films too. Obviously, here they tried to make Shemp look like the star who was supposed to take out Curly's place. But while I like Shemp, he did not have Curly's charisma and the result is that this is a fairly disappointing short film. Surprised to see this among their most known and highest-rated works. It really wasn't that funny and they should have tried to find a different approach for Shemp, one that fits him better, than the Curly routine. I do not recommend "Who Done It?".

"Who Done It?", directed by the very capable Edward Bernds, is a hilarious entry in the Three Stooges catalogue of films. In addition to the Stooges - Shemp Howard, Larry Fine, and Moe Howard - this short boasts an excellent supporting cast: the lovely Christine McIntyre, equally adept at playing glamorous villains as well as friendly, generous young ladies; the hilarious Emil Sitka, one of the most beloved character actors ever to work with the Stooges; Duke York, able to play his share of monster-type roles with the slapstick trio; and Ralph Dunn & Charles Knight, who portray, respectively, the leader of the Phantom Gang and a sinister-looking butler. The Stooges work for the Alert Detective Agency when they are summoned to the mansion of the elderly Mr. Goodrich (Sitka), who is fearful for his life knowing that the Phantom Gang is on the loose.

Highlights from "Who Done It?" include the following (DO NOT read any further if you have not yet seen this short). After Shemp swallows a poisoned drink, he does a series of absolutely wild flipping, falling, and circle-spinning. After Larry accidentally whacks Moe's head with a desk drawer, Moe crushes Larry's hand in the drawer. Moe unknowingly smashes the camera on the goon's (York's) head; later on, the goon repeatedly slaps Moe's head, and Moe believes that it's Shemp and Larry who are slapping him. In the mansion corridors, the goon takes turns chasing after Moe, Shemp, and Larry, with Larry's reaction (upon spotting the goon) being the funniest. During the fight in the dark, Mr. Goodrich says, "My furniture! Be careful!", after which he gets a vase smashed on his head!

"Who Done It?" ranks among the best and funniest Three Stooges shorts featuring Shemp Howard as the third Stooge. As usual, justice prevails at the end of this short, but the crime-stopping Stooges must deal with villains in their own slapstick manner, resulting in a heap of hilarity!