Numskull's Review:
A great short. I love that this is the very first episode that featured the boys billed as "The Three Stooges." This short also carries extra-special weight with me due to the fact that the boys actually wrote this short. This is the only time this has happened. Moe had a lot of creative freedom in working with the writers and editors in the history of Stooge short films, but only once did he write the script by himself.
You can tell that the boys were having a lot of fun with this short. They were having fun finally doing what they'd always wanted to do. The plot is perfect, the acting was dead on and the Stooges were at the top of their game with a huge future in the wings. Little did they know that this short would mark the beginning of the longest marriage between Columbia and any performing cast in the companies history (roughly 26 years).
Stooge's Review:
I always thought this should have been the first Stooge short instead of WOMAN HATERS. It feels like a typical "first episode" of a series - It starts out with the boys as complete strangers, then they all meet each other; The pathway for each of the Stooges' personalities was really layed down in this short (Curly as the wild one, Moe as the boss, Larry as the one in the middle). The plot is great and Stooge-like. The routines in Stooge shorts with Curly going crazy when he sees or hears something is classic. A great excuse for Curly to go nuts! Larry, even in his middle-man role, gets in a good amount of attention and funny bits in this episode - mostly subtle stuff (such as his two-piece hat when he greets the restaurant manager, his awkward walk when he enters the arena, his frantic outside running to find a radio) And of course, Moe is great at the "leader" of the group, and his wisecracks and insults are constant in this short. This really should have been the first Stooge short.