Fuelin' Around (1949) User Reviews

Same Jokes, Same Cast....But Still Funny

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 17 April 2010]

A professor who has possibly invented some new type of rocket fuel has three German-type spies outside his house waiting to pounce. Also inside the prof's house is his wife and, of course the Three Stooges who are doing some carpet-laying work....and screwing up with the normal slapstick results. The spies decide to capture the "prof" when he leaves the house. Unfortunately, they think Larry is the scientist and the other two guys must be his assistants. They kidnap the Stooges to the "State of Anemia." How well this will be received by you folks probably depends upon how may prior Stooges movies you've seen.

Almost all of the jokes and sight gags in here have been used before, except Curly was in them in earlier days. Heck, even if you've seen them they are still pretty funny. Shemp was always great at making facial reactions, so he can draw lots of laughs.

The usual cast is in here, too. It's amazing how many Three Stooges films in this period had Christine McIntyre, Emil Sitka, Vernon Dent, Philip Van Zant and even Jock Mahoney, who always played a handsome young guy with zero brains. Fortunately for Jock, he went on to bigger and better things, starring in his own western at one time.

I always liked Sitka, who was great at playing nerdy old professors. Actually, he was only about 35 years old when he made this but he was convincing as an older senile guy in a number of other Stooges shorts. Mahoney was also 30, but looked about 18 years old.

By the way, if you are a big Three Stooges fan, I really recommend these "Collection" edition DVDs that feature the boys in the films they did during three-year periods. The transfers are tremendous. I can't believe what a clear picture this is for something 60 years old.

Shemp Stooges

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 30 April 2020]

Spies are looking to steal the rocket fuel formula from Professor Sneed who's working with his daughter Hazel Sneed. Larry, Moe, and Shemp are laying carpet in the professor's home. The spies mistake Larry for the professor and kidnap the Stooges to Anemia.

It's rather standard Shemp Stooges. It's the Stooges without the comedic genius of Curly. It's fine but nothing to blow up about.

Simply Hi-Larry-ous!

[crusefamily · 12 October 2001]

FUELIN' AROUND is one of the funniest shorts I have ever seen. Larry is funny, especially since he's the most important stooge in the short. It's much better than it's remake HOT STUFF (1956).

My Rating: A+

One of Shemp's best (Ah, heck...one of the best, period)

[Raine-8 · 9/10 · 10 October 2001]

"Fuelin' Around" (1949) is one of the Stooges best and one of Ed Bernds' best directing jobs. It is easily one of the best 3 Stooges films with Shemp (not that other films with Shemp are necessarily bad; I strongly disagree with those who say that the Stooges without Curly are not worth watching). Anyway, in this great film, a man named Professor Sneed (played by wonderful Stooges bit actor Emil Sitka) has perfected a rocket fuel which enemy agents who desire the fuel's formula try to steal. The problem is Larry and Sneed have matching hairstyles so HE (and the other Stooges) are kidnapped instead. Eventually, the real professor is also kidnapped at which point the Stooges are revealed as frauds and must make their escape before their doom hits. Great acting performances by EVERYONE in this film (the stooges, Sitka, McIntyre, Van Zandt, Dent, Mahoney) and, as stated earlier, great direction. This film adds another feather to the Stooges' cap of wonderful films. They seldom get better than this. RECOMMENDED.

Great one!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 15 August 2005]

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

This is one of My favorite Three Stooges shorts with Shemp! All Appearing in this short are Jock Mahoney, Emil Sitka, Vernon Dent, Christine McIntyre, Philip Van Zandt, Tiny Brauer, and Andre Pola! This one is so hilarious! Shemp has a great performance here and in My opinion its one of his best. There is a similar one like this called Hot Stuff and I strongly recommend both of these Three Stooges shorts!

Solid plot, but otherwise fairly forgettable

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 10 April 2017]

"Fuelin' Around" is an American 17-minute live action short film from 1949, so two more years and this one has its 70th anniversary. Director is Edward Bernds and writer is Elwood Ullman and these two received an Oscar nomination a couple years later for another collaboration. But in this one here they are not the stars. The stars are of course the Three Stooges in their 116th short film apparently. Cast includes people like McIntyre and Sitka who played in several other Stooges short films as well. As usual, it runs for 17 minutes approximately and Shemp had already replaced Curly by 1949. He even got first credit, which showed that they wanted him to become the star of the gang like Curly was. But even if I like Shemp and I am not a huge Curly fan like many others, it wasn't working out here. Slapstick is a bit on the lackluster side and nothing in this little film is on par with the interesting story about the Stooges being abducted and forced to produce a miraculous fuel which they obviously cannot as they were mistaken for scientists of course, but are just simple handymen. So yeah, acting-wise and comedy-wise this wasn't a revelation sadly. Nowhere neat the trio's best material and a bit shocking on the negative side they even remade this one some time later. I give it a thumbs-down and even if I may be a bit biased as I have never been a really huge Stooges fan, I think this is only worth seeing for the very biggest fans of the legendary trio.

Stooges and chemistry don't mix, so to speak.

[slymusic · 10 June 2008]

Directed by the wonderful Ed Bernds, "Fuelin' Around" is a fine, yet convoluted, Three Stooges comedy. Larry is mistaken for a famous scientist who has invented a top secret rocket fuel, thus prompting several spies from the State of Anemia to capture the Stooges and force them to recreate the fuel.

Highlights: Moe crawls underneath a carpet while Larry & Shemp nail it to the floor; they both then spot a huge "lump" in the carpet, and they unknowingly wallop Moe as they struggle to straighten the carpet out. In the jail cell, the professor's daughter (Christine McIntyre) is able to obtain the keys by wooing a bashful guard (Jock Mahoney). Up above, in the laboratory, Larry burns a hole in the floor, and before he knows it, he comes crashing down into the prison cell below. After Moe jumps down, he and Larry have great difficulty in pulling Shemp through the hole, resulting in some unbelievable sight gags!

"Fuelin' Around" is a funny Stooge film with plenty of violence. The supporting cast, in addition to Christine McIntyre and Jock Mahoney, includes familiar Stooge foils Vernon Dent & Philip Van Zandt as Anemain government officials, and lovable character actor Emil Sitka as Prof. Snead. Christine McIntyre portrays Snead's daughter, although in real life she was a few years older than Emil Sitka, thus proving that Sitka had a wonderful knack for his portrayals of older men even when he was only in his thirties!