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{{short description|1945 film by Jules White}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = If a Body Meets a Body
| image          = IfABodyMeetsABody 1945 lobbycard.JPG
| caption        =
| director       = [[Jules White]]
| screenplay     = [[Jack White (film producer)|Jack White]]
| story          = [[Gilbert Pratt|Gil Pratt]]
| starring       = [[Moe Howard]]<br>[[Larry Fine]]<br>[[Curly Howard]]<br>[[Theodore Lorch]]<br>[[Fred Kelsey]]<br>[[Joe Palma]]<br>[[Al Thompson]]<br>[[Victor Travers]]<br>[[Dorothy Vernon (actress)|Dorothy Vernon]]
| cinematography = [[Benjamin H. Kline]]
| editing        = Charles Hochberg
| producer       = Jules White
| distributor    = [[Columbia Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1945|08|30|U.S.}}
| runtime        = {{duration|m=18|s=11}}
| country        = United States
| language       = English
}}
'''''If a Body Meets a Body''''' is a 1945 [[short film|short subject]] directed by [[Jules White]] starring American [[slapstick]] comedy team [[The Three Stooges]] ([[Moe Howard]], [[Larry Fine]] and [[Curly Howard]]). It is the 86th entry in the series released by [[Columbia Pictures]] starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.
==Plot==
The Stooges, currently unemployed, sift through job listings in search of employment. While preparing a meal, Curly inadvertently includes a horseshoe in the soup, mistaking it for a juicy bone, prompting frustration from his companions. Their ire escalates when they discover a newspaper article announcing Curly's inheritance from his deceased uncle Bob O. Link. At the reading of the will, the lawyer overseeing the proceedings vanishes, along with the will itself, only to be later discovered murdered. Suspected of foul play, the Stooges, alongside other potential heirs, are confined to the mansion overnight.
During the night, eerie incidents unsettle the trio, including encounters with a parrot nesting within a [[human skull]], ominous sounds, and the discovery of Link's corpse. In a moment of panic, the Stooges expose the killer, disguised as the maid, whose identity is unveiled when their wig dislodges, revealing the concealed will.
Upon perusing the will, the Stooges and Curly learn of the disproportionate allocation of inheritance, with Curly receiving a mere 67 cents compared to his niece's substantial bequest, much to their chagrin.
==Production notes==
The film title is a pun on a line from the traditional Scottish song by [[Robert Burns]], "Coming Through the Rye"<ref name="Solomon">{{cite book | last = Solomon | first = Jon | title = The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion | publisher = Comedy III Productions, Inc | year = 2002 | pages = 129, 146, 262 | isbn = 0-9711868-0-4}}</ref> (as in "Should a body meet a body/Coming through the rye/Should a body kiss a body/Need a body cry?").<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/coming_through_the_rye.htm |title="Coming Through the Rye" lyrics |access-date=2008-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080418075914/http://www.worldburnsclub.com/poems/translations/coming_through_the_rye.htm |archive-date=2008-04-18 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is a remake of ''[[The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case]]'' (1930), which also features actor [[Fred Kelsey]] as the detective.<ref name="Solomon"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.threestooges.net/filmography/view/86 |title="TheThreeStooges.com Filmography"}}</ref>
===Curly Howard's decline===
''If a Body Meets a Body'' was filmed on March 9–13, 1945.<ref name=stoogenet>[http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/86 ''If a Body Meets a Body'' at threestooges.net]</ref> It was the first film produced after [[Curly Howard]] suffered a mild [[stroke]]. As a result, his performance was marred by slurred speech and slower timing. Though the trio did not know it at the time, Curly's health would gradually deteriorate, resulting in languid, sickly performances through his final film with the Stooges, ''[[Half-Wits Holiday]]''.<ref>Fleming,  Michael (2002) [1999]. ''The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons''. New York: Broadway Publishing. p. 211. {{ISBN|0-7679-0556-3}}</ref>
''If a Body Meets a Body'' premiered the final version of "[[Three Blind Mice]]" as the Stooges' theme music, an updated rendition of "sliding strings" version previously used regularly from 1938's ''[[Flat Foot Stooges]]'' until 1942's ''[[What's the Matador?]]''. This revamped version was arranged by John Leipold and Nico Grigor.<ref name=finegan>{{cite journal | last = Finegan | first = Richard | title = More Stooge Shorts Music Identified (1939-1942)  | journal = The Three Stooges Journal | issue = 91 | pages = 3, 14 | publisher = The Three Stooges Fan Club, Inc. | location = Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania | date = Fall 1999 | url = http://threestooges.net/journal/view/91 | access-date =4 April 2016 }}</ref> Due to the timing of this theme's usage, it is often associated with the "ill Curly" period, as this revamped version coincidentally made its debut in the same film that Curly's illness became apparent.<ref name=stoogenet/><ref name="Solomon"/> This version of "Three Blind Mice" would also be utilized for the first four shorts produced during the [[Shemp Howard]] era: ''[[Fright Night (1947 film)|Fright Night]]'', ''[[Out West (1947 film)|Out West]]'', ''[[Squareheads of the Round Table]]'' and ''[[The Hot Scots]]''.<ref name=finegan/>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0037813}}
* {{AllMovie title|140211}}
*[http://www.threestooges.net/filmography/episode/86 ''If a Body Meets a Body'' at threestooges.net]
{{The Three Stooges}}
{{Stooges Filmography (1934–1946)}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1945 films]]
[[Category:1945 comedy films]]
[[Category:1945 short films]]
[[Category:The Three Stooges films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Jules White]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures short films]]
[[Category:American comedy short films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:Remakes of American films]]
[[Category:Films about inheritances]]
[[Category:Films set in country houses]]
[[Category:Films about murder]]
[[Category:English-language short films]]