Shivering Sherlocks

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Shivering Sherlocks

Directed by	Del Lord
Produced by	Hugh McCollum Jules White
Written by	Del Lord Elwood Ullman
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Vernon Dent Christine McIntyre Kenneth MacDonald Frank Lackteen Duke York Stanley Blystone Cy Schindell Joe Palma
Cinematography	Allen G. Siegler
Editing by	Henry DeMond
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	January 8, 1948
Running time	17' 17"
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	All Gummed Up
Followed by	Pardon My Clutch
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Shivering Sherlocks is the 104th 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.

[edit] Plot

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The Stooges are believed to be bank robbers who have just robbed an armored car. The fact they are discovered hiding in a garbage can in an alley near the crime scene does not help their claims of innocence very much. They are taken to the police station, where Captain Mullens accuses them of the robbery. The Stooges are put through a lie detector test but the machine breaks down, and their guilt cannot be proven. While on the "hot seat" (as Larry calls it), they do tell one lie—that they work at the Elite Café on Main Street. However Gladys Harmon (Christine McIntyre), an attractive curly haired blonde with a soft heart and the owner of the Elite Cafe, vouches for the boys as she knows they are innocent. The next day after being released the Stooges go to thank Miss Harmon for saving their necks, and discover she is having problems with the restaurant and particularly finding good help because she cannot afford to hire anyone. Most of Gladys' customers have left unsigned cheques for their meals which enrages the Stooges, until they discover the cheques Gladys has been stuck are because of them— their appetites were not matched by as big a wallet. Out of embarrassment over their actions and a desire to repay Gladys for saving them from prison, the Stooges volunteer to work for free much to Gladys' surprise and delight.

While working in the cafe, upsetting the customers and nearly destroying it with their cooking skills, Captain Mullens comes in and the Stooges try to convince him they are innocent. On a hunch Mullens pulls out a mug shot photo of "Lefty" Loomis (Kenneth MacDonald) whom the Stooges recognize as the ringleader of the armored car robbers.

Later that day Gladys receives a letter from her lawyer stating that someone is interested in purchasing her family's old country homestead for $1,000. Gladys is delighted and plans to accept so she can use the money to pay all her bills and calls her lawyer to accept, but the Stooges decide to accompany Gladys to the home to inspect it and make sure she is not being swindled. After a long drive they reach the decrepit old house just after nightfall, and start to think Gladys is getting a good deal. It just so happens that the house is being used as a hideout by the Loomis Gang who are the real culprits behind the armored car robbery that the Stooges were thought responsible for. Lefty and his partner are upset that their clean getaway has been foiled by the Stooges, and discuss how to find the Stooges and silence them once and for all when they hear Gladys and the Stooges arrive at the front door.

Gladys gives Moe the key from her purse and they try to open the front door, but it is bolted from the inside and will not open. Gladys is completely baffled at this turn of events and tries the door again as the Stooges fan out to find a way in or something to open the door with, leaving Gladys alone at the front door. The crooks, delighted that the only witnesses have shown up for them to eliminate, aim a shotgun barrel outside a peephole and prepare to fire. While trying to find something to open the door with Shemp stmbles across the gun barrel which he mistakes for a piece of pipe and tries to grab it, ensuing in a tug-of-war with the criminals. When the "pipe" vanishes, Shemp panicks and calls for Moe. While the Stooges are distracted, Gladys is overpowered and kidnapped by the robbers before the Stooges are aware of her disappearance. After giving Shemp a hard slap for wasting time ("You had a hallucination - No I had a hunk of pipe !") Moe and Shemp return to the front door but are puzzled to find no trace of the now-missing Gladys Harmon and begin to call out for her. The front door opens to their surprise and Larry emerges with a crowbar he found in the house, which Moe then promptly smacks him with as the Stooges enter in search of Gladys.

Lefty's partner then informs his boss that the Stooges are all inside, and asks permission to finish them off. Lefty instead decides to send Angel, a mutated hunchbacked humanoid monster resembling an ogre (Duke York) who is sharpening a large razor-sharp machete, to deal with the Stooges. Lefty tells his partner "he'll do a nice quiet job", and vividly imagining what Angel will do to the Stooges Lefty's partner gulps and fearfully grasps his throat. On his way to find the Stooges, Angel inadvertently enters the cluttered and darkened storage room in the back of the house where Gladys is being held prisoner by the robbers. Gladys is tied up in a heavy armchair with thick ropes keeping her securely restrained, and has been detective gagged by the robbers with a thick strip of cloth tied tightly over her mouth. Gladys relentlessly struggles and squirms to free herself and loosen her gag when she hears someone enter the storeroom and creep up behind her, causing her to cease moving. Hearing an ominous grunt behind her Gladys fearfully turns her head and on seeing Angel's frightening appearance, frantically tries to squirm out of her ropes and call out for help.

Original poster for Shivering Sherlocks.

Angel raises his machete and prepares to execute Gladys whose muffled whimpering is barely audible, but before Angel can strike he hears the Stooges calling out for Gladys and leaves to hunt them down thus temporarily sparing her life. Angel then leaves out a side door of the storeroom with the bound and gagged Gladys Harmon watching helplessly as he approachs the Stooges from behind. Once in the hallway Angel pursues the Stooges who panic and lead him on a wild chase through the hallways as he tries to cut them to pieces with his machete. Moe and Larry run through a back hallway screaming for Shemp to help them, and when Angel follows them through the doorway he is bombed by a barrel dropped from the top of the doorway by Shemp. Moe and Larry aren't out of the woods yet as Lefty and his partner give chase with their revolvers blasting away but are shortly afterwards also captured by Shemp. Gladys has freed herself and watches in amazement as the three criminals, still trapped in their barrels, stmble past her and crash through a window and are arrested by the police. Moe and Larry end up being bombed by Shemp's last barrel which leaves them covered in flour.

[edit] Notes

Shivering Sherlocks was reworked in 1955 as Of Cash and Hash, using ample recycled footage.
This was the final film directed by long-time Stooge director Del Lord.

[edit] Further reading

Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard, (Citadel Press, 1977). ISBN 0806507233
The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon, (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002). ISBN 0971186804
The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg (Citadel Press, 1994). ISBN 0806509465
The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming (Broadway Publishing, 2002). ISBN 0767905563
One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry, (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006). ISBN 1581823630