False Alarms (1936 film)

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False Alarms

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	John Grey
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Stanley Blystone June Gittelson John Grey
Cinematography	Benjamin H. Kline
Editing by	Charles Hochberg
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	August 16, 1936
Running time	16' 48"
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	A Pain in the Pullman
Followed by	Whoops, I'm an Indian!
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

False Alarms is the 17th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

1 Plot
2 Notes
3 Quotes
4 Further reading

[edit] Plot

The Stooges are firemen who are constantly getting in trouble. After missing their umpteenth fire call, they are warned that one more incident will cost them their jobs. They then proceeded back to work, in this case, cleaning the fire hoses. In the midst of the action, a new coupé that the chief has purchased is delivered to the station. Curly rolls out the hose into the street. But in the process, the hoses are cut by a passing streetcar. In frustration, Moe wrings Curly’s hand on the wringers.

Meanwhile, Curly sneaks out to visit his girlfriend Mayzie to celebrate her birthday despite the restrictions. She has two friends who need dates, so Curly tries to get Moe and Larry to join him. But due to restrictions, the two are forced to be at the fire station. Larry attempts to go anyway, but is stopped by Moe at the firepole by pulling his hair. Moe then goes to the stock room holding Larry by the hair, and locks the door to prevent Larry from leaving. But Larry fights back, and the key goes into the sink in the melee. Moe then proceeds to use Larry as a plunger to retrieve the key. Just then, Curly realizes that the only way he knows to get Moe and Larry out of the fire station is to pull a fire alarm, so he decides to activate it. The firemen respond to the call, but without Larry and Moe. Realizing the alarm, they force themselves out, and down through the firepole. They found that the firemen have left them, so they decided to use the coupé.

They go to the alarm location, finding Curly and the three girlfriends waiting for them. Moe is irate by the false alarm, but sensing the approaching fire truck (and the chief), all six then ride the coupé and go on a wild joyride, with Curly at the wheel, barely missing cars and streetcars. One unfortunate turn hits the car at a post, forcing them to the boot. Moe retrieves them out of the car, but with their egos bruised, the three girlfriends scoot off in a huff.

The Stooges push the battered coupé out of the accident scene, but forgot to shut it off. The car goes in its own power in the street, back to the fire station. It goes out again, and the chief realizes that it is his car that is in trouble. The car ends up into an open Bekins van, and as they closed the door, the car explodes. The fire truck, with the irate captain, chases the Stooges. Sensing the chief, they escape in the van, smoking car and all.

[edit] Notes

The captain in this short mentions what he would do to the Stooges "if this were the army". The same actor, Stanley Blystone, played the Stooges' army sergeant (Sgt. MacGillicuddy) in Half Shot Shooters.
This short features one of the most unusual eye pokes in the Stooge shorts. Moe and Curly are talking on the telephone, and Curly calls Moe a coward. So Moe pokes the receiver of his phone with two fingers, and Curly reacts in pain when he "receives" the eye poke on the other end of the line.
At one point in the short, Moe sticks out his fist to Curly and says, "See that?", which is a recurring joke in which Moe swings his fist around and bops Curly on the head. But the Stooges are being chased, so this time Curly says, "You ain't got time...here comes the captain!" and the Stooges scurry away. Curly also tries the trick twice in this short, again unsuccessfully.
This is the first instance of Curly having a girlfriend (with her girlfriends anticipating hooking up with Moe and Larry), along with their rhyming names.
Several scenes were shot right on the streets of Hollywood and showed what the mid 30's looked like consisting of businesses—such as Remington Rand, Safeway, Red Lion gas station, tire stores, etc.—many of which do not exist today.

[edit] Quotes

- [The bell at the fire station is ringing.]
- Moe: "Hey, do you hear a bell?"
- Larry: "What?"
- Moe: "I said do you hear a bell?"
- Larry: "What'd you say?"
- Moe: "The bell! The bell!"
- Larry: "I can't hear you on account of the bell!"

The boys debate who should slide down the pole first in False Alarms.

- Curly (to Moe): "I got soap in my eyes! I can't see!"
- [Moe pokes Curly in the eyes.]
- Curly: "Oh, there y'ar."

- Captain: "You're fired! And if this were the army, I'd have you shot at sunrise!"
- Curly: "But you couldn't do that, captain. We don't get up that early."

- Moe: "Aw, captain, give us another chance, will ya? We'll put a fire out single-handed."
- Larry: "We'll put two fires out double-handed."
- Curly: "We'll even start a fire and have you put it out."

- Larry (to Moe): "She's got a couple new girls for us to meet, too!"
- Moe: "Oh, a blind date, eh?"
- Curly: "She ain't blind...she may be a little hard of hearin'."

- [The telephone is ringing.]
- Moe (to Larry): "Don't you hear that bell?"
- Larry: "What?"
- Moe: "You gonna start that again?"
- [Moe slaps Larry.]

- Minnie: "You'll like me after we get acquainted. I grow on people."
- Curly: "So do warts."

- [Curly is at Mayzie's house, along with Minnie, who is very overweight. He calls Moe on the phone.]
- Curly: Moe, you better get over here. You're missing one of the biggest things in your life.

- [Moe and Larry hop in a car.]
- Moe: "Is there any gas in the tank?"
- Larry: "The arrow points halfway...I don't know if it's half empty or half full."

[edit] Further reading

Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard [1], (Citadel Press, 1977).
The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon [2], (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).
The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [3](Citadel Press, 1994).
The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming [4](Broadway Publishing, 2002).
One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [5], (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).