Crime on Their Hands

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Crime on Their Hands
Directed by	Edward Bernds
Produced by	Hugh McCollum
Written by	Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Kenneth MacDonald Christine McIntyre Cy Schindell Charles C. Wilson Lester Allen Heinie Conklin Frank Lackteen George Lloyd Frank O'Connor Blackie Whiteford
Cinematography	Henry Freulich
Editing by	Henry DeMond
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	December 9, 1948
Running time	17' 33"
Country	USA
Language	English
Preceded by	Mummy's Dummies
Followed by	The Ghost Talks
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Crime on Their Hands is the 112th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Notes 3 References 4 Further reading

[edit] Plot

The Stooges are janitors at a newspaper who stumble on a hot story about the priceless Punjab diamond being stolen by a crook named Dapper (Kenneth MacDonald). With dreams of becoming genuine reporters, the trio head for Squid McGuffy's cafe asking for the whereabouts of Dapper. They manage to convince everyone at the restaurant that they are actually police.

While searching several rooms above the cafe, the Stooges stumble on Dapper's moll (Christine McIntyre), who hastily hids the Punjab diamond in a candy dish. The boys refuse to leave, suspecting Dapper will eventually show his face. While killing time, Shemp starts to flirt with the moll, and manages to swallow the ice along with some mints from the candy dish. The gal nearly has a nervous breakdown but quickly discovers the Stooges are nothing more than reporters. She calls in Dapper and his henchman Muscles (Cy Schindell) and frantically try to pry the diamond out of frazzled Shemp.

After all else fails, Dapper decides to cut him open. Moe and Larry are locked in a closet by Muscles while Shemp is tied down on a closeby desk-turned-operating table. As luck would have it, there happen to be a bag of tools in the closet, which Moe and Larry use to saw their way out of the closet, and right into a gorilla's cage on the other side of the wall. The gorilla knocks Moe, Larry, Dapper, and Muscles cold. The beast, however, befriends Shemp, and helps him cough up the diamond. As a revived Moe and Larry retrieve, they stumble upon Shemp and his "buddy," the gorilla.

[edit] Notes

• The press room scene was recycled in 1956's Commotion on the Ocean, while the remaining portion of Crime on Their Hands was utilized in 1955's Hot Ice.
• The title Crime on Their Hands is a parody of the expression "time on their hands."^[1]
• Crime on Their Hands marked the final appearance of longtime Stooge supporting actor Cy Schindell. Drafted in the marines during World War II, Schindell developed a severe case of jungle rot while on Guadalcanal, which eventually developed into terminal cancer. Knowing he was dying, Schindell worked constantly during his illness to assure his family would be financially secure after his death. Excessive makeup was used during the filming of Crime on Their Hands to mask Schindell's cancer-ridden face.^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard, (Citadel Press, 1977).
• The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg (Citadel Press, 1994).
• The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming (Broadway Publishing, 2002).
• One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry, (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).

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