‘Don’t Throw That Knife’ (1951) was the 131st short comedy made by The Three Stooges for Columbia Pictures. It was photographed from Tuesday, June 20 through Thursday, June 22, 1950 and was released on Thursday, May 3rd, 1951 (the 123rd day on the Gregorian calendar). I think this is one the best of all the Shemp entrees and could not disagree more with a man named Michael Fleming who, in his book ‘The Illustrated Three Stooges’, refers to the film as ‘the first truly poor entry in the series.’ Contrary to this opinion, I find it one of the most refreshingly tight, well-executed and genuinely and inventively funny shorts of the Shemp era. The wonderful Dick Curtis (who sadly died a year after making this film) is a terrific foil as the jealous husband and the very lovely Jean Willes is a delight as well. The pacing is top-notch–it feels more Del Lord-like in its assurance of execution than Jules White-ish (he was the director of the film) whose work frequently felt forced and overly reliant on increasingly mechanical and distasteful violence. The material is genuinely farcical in conception as opposed to a cooked-up situation comedy which, as the years went on, the Shemp movies tended toward. All in all a worthy contender with any of the best Curly entrees and a damn good way to kill twenty minutes on a Sunday in July.