Here's Howe: Shemp Howard and the Ring

Is this worth your time?

Honestly, only if you have twenty minutes to kill and a soft spot for old-school comedy shorts. If you are looking for deep boxing drama, keep walking. This is for the folks who want to see people bumping into furniture and making loud noises.

The whole thing feels like it was filmed in an afternoon. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but you can tell the budget was mostly spent on the coffee for the crew. Everything is centered around the farmhouse, which starts to feel like a very small, very dusty stage.

The Shemp Factor

Shemp Howard is doing his usual thing. He’s the highlight, obviously. Every time he walks into a frame, the movie just wakes up a little bit. He has this way of looking confused that makes the rest of the dialogue feel completely unnecessary.

There is a moment where they are all trying to talk about the upcoming fight, and Shemp is just standing there, looking like he’d rather be literally anywhere else. It’s perfect. It’s the kind of performance that reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in A Nose for News, just less focused on the journalism part.

Boxing and Farmhouses

The romance angle between Palooka and Ann Howe is... well, it’s there. It functions as a plot device to get us to the boxing ring. The dialogue is snappy, but it’s the kind of stuff you forget as soon as the scene cuts. It reminded me slightly of the pacing in His Family Tree, where you just sort of wait for the next gag to land.

• The farmhouse set has, like, three walls and a dream.
• The fight choreography is very much "swinging at air."
• Shemp's timing is the only thing keeping the middle section from dragging.

You can tell the director was just trying to get the actors to hit their marks and move on. No one is winning an Oscar here. It is just pure, unpretentious filler. Sometimes that is exactly what you need on a rainy Tuesday afternoon.

I found myself wondering if they ever actually finished filming the scenes outside the house. It feels like they shot everything in one long, sweaty take. It’s not a masterpiece, but it doesn't try to be. That is the best thing about it, honestly.

If you like this, you might also dig the general vibe of Betty Boop for President, just for the pure, chaotic energy of the era. They don't make them like this anymore, probably because we’ve collectively decided that a boxing match needs more than just two guys dancing around each other in a barn. 🥊