Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Bubble Trouble" is an American 16.5-minute live action short film from 1953, so this one has its 65th anniversary next year and if you take a look at the people who worked on it in front of as well as behind the camera, then you will find names that make it obvious that here we got another Three Stooges short film and I am not just talking about the lead trio. This is from the days when Shemp had not only taken over from Curly, but Curly had already died sadly and Shemp's death wasn't too far away either. All the Stooges are in their 50s in here. It is a remake of an older Stooges short with some alterations here and there, but as a whole it is really close. In here they are in trouble with the guy they got their lease from, but his wife is more fond of our three "heroes". And an invention may actually bring them glory as they may have come across a miraculous elixir that provides its user access to the fountain of youth. No surprise the antagonist wants his share of it too. Comedy here is typical Stooges and there are some okay moments in here I guess. However, as a whole it was simply done in the past already and comes short in terms of innovation. Besides, it needs to be said that the effects here, such as the woman's transformation, are extremely disappointing. Méliès had done better half a century earlier. So all in all the flaws are bigger than the pros I must say and while I am not one of those Shemp haters, I cannot give the gang a thumbs-up here. I may be a bit biased as I have probably never been the greatest Stooges lover, but this one gets a negative recommendation. Only watch it if you love the Stooges.

louis-heyman 1953 marked the beginning of the decline of stooge shorts, mainly due to cost cutting measures taken by director/producer Jules White, who started taking footage from stooge shorts made in the late 1940s and editing them with some new footage & then selling them off to theaters as "new" 3 stooges films.Good work if you can get it, I suppose, not to mention a good way to rip off the theater owners back then who thought they were getting new stooge films. But back in the days long before VCRs and DVD players were the fashion, people going to the movies back then probably didn't feel like they were getting ripped off.As for this short, how anyone can say it's better than the original is beyond me. More than about 90% of this short is "All Gummed Up" and the little bit of new footage at the end is nothing to write home about. If I had to be brutally honest, the whole ape angle is downright lame. And I'm a big Shemp fan, but honestly the remakes were for the most part, forgettable & this is definitely one of the worst, right along with "Hot Ice" or "Flagpole Jitters".3 out of 10.

jack_leiber It's these type of remade dogs from the mid-50's that makes me wonder why Jules White even bothered. This short should have been titled "All Gummed Up part deux: The Director's cut" or something. But I guess this short could be worth something to those who haven't seen the original since it basically "borrows" nearly all the old footage, and Columbia has released this short on VHS & DVD (why, instead of a much better remake like 'Loose Loot' I have no idea)?!?Grade: D-

csweetleaf2 Even though I haven't seen this stooge short in about 2 years, it's a pretty short even though we don't get to see the new footage until the last 4 or 5 minutes of the short and that's when it becomes a classic (I never cared for All Gummed Up and I think that short was Shemp's weakest of the 1940's).In the original Emil Sitka shrank after trying to drink the fountain of youth but in this short, he becomes a gorilla and grabs Moe and starts banging his head on the floor and his head becomes a squashed pancake and Moe and Larry suggest that the gorilla needs a mate and they get Shemp to try it and Shemp shoves it inside Moe's mouth and he does a chimp impersonation.Not of one of the better remakes from the 1953-56 period but the gorilla scene makes it a classic, 2.25 out of 5 stars.