This here "Movie Maniacs" short was filmed in what I would consider the Three Stooges' "anarchistic period", that few years' span in which the boys did just about anything for a laugh. In later years their shorts would start to make a bit more sense and have more in the way of story and plot, and while that was all good as it didn't always get in the way of their slapstick and antics, those mid-to-late-1930s films, in all their nonsensical glory, made for plenty of big laughs on my end. "Movie Maniacs" is one of those fine examples, focusing on the trio's ability to turn all things conventional on their heads in their attempt to make something of themselves, usually resulting in general chaos being unleashed (pretty typical for the Stooges, but we love them for it). I've found many things to humor me throughout, from their arrival at the studio to the eventual madness on the movie set itself, as a result of the group's manic energy that seemed to bubble over on occasion (poor Curly swooning at a starlet's kiss, or his child-like tantrums over Moe's confiscating his many-sized pencils). They don't really show this one as often as others, which is a damn shame if you ask me, and as it stands in this day and age "Movie Maniacs" could be considered a rare treat from the early glory days that makes me chortle every time I see it.

The Three Stooges released two short films within one month, the first "Ants in the Pantry, the second, February 1936's "Movie Maniacs." Sneaking into a film studio lot, the three aspiring movie stars are mistaken for the newly-arrived studio executives. The trio walk in the middle of a shoot and take over from the frustrated director. The actress playing the 'Leading Lady' was Mildred Harris, who earlier was Charlie Chaplin's first wife. As a child film actress at age 10, Harris began her career in 1912, and attracted the attention of Chaplin, 29, when she was 18. The soon married, only to separate a year later. Harris was proliferate in silents during that era, but failed like many of her peers to make the successful transition into talkies.

"Movie Maniacs" contains one of the more controversial sequences in the Stooges' catalogue. Each Stooge demonstrates his kissing technique to the scantily dressed dancing girls on the set. When the short was shown on television in the late 1950s, the scene was sliced because of its suggestive nature to its young TV audience. "Movie Maniacs" used two lions, named Tanner and Jackie, the Stooges find themselves with in a room. Tanner was used in the MGM opening credits logo, who the more rambunctious Jackie was conscripted if more than one lion was needed in filming.

Larry, Curly, and Moe arrive in Hollywood hoping to make it big. They sneak into a movie studio and get mistaken for three expected new executives who are supposed to take over the place.

The first half is standard Stooges with the bad cooking and sneaking past the guard. There's nothing terribly new until they get on set. The kissing is hilarious and one can see the joy in the girls' eyes. They are inches from breaking out laughing. That scene is the best. It's also always fun to get Curly dressed up. All in all, this has some real intriguing laughs in a fun standard Stooges.