The Three Troubledoers
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| The Three Troubledoers | |
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| Directed by | Edward Bernds |
| Produced by | Hugh McCollum |
| Written by | Jack White |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dick Curtis Christine McIntyre Victor Travers Hank Bell Ethan Laidlaw |
| Cinematography | George F. Kelley |
| Editing by | Henry Batista |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  April 25, 1946 |
| Running time | 17' 04" |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Uncivil War Birds |
| Followed by | Monkey Businessmen |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Three Troubledoers is the 91st 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.
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[edit] Plot
The Stooges are exhausted cowboys who come upon the town of Dead Man's Gulch. The town's population seems to be shrinking, as evidenced by the sound of gunfire and dwindling numbers on the population sign. Badlands Blackie (Dick Curtis) and his gang are the reason behind this. Six sheriffs have been killed in just five months; plus, the blacksmith has been kidnapped and Blackie is threatening to eliminate him unless his daughter, Nell (Christine McIntyre), agrees to marry him. The locals make Curly sheriff, and Moe and Larry deputies. As Nell has promised to wed Curly if he saves her father, he makes his first order of business to help out Nell. Through a series of misadventures (Curly is locked up like a dog, complete with collar strapped tightly around his neck), the Stooges manage to vanquish the bad guys, and rescue Nell's dad.
[edit] Moe's injury
The script for this short called for a gag in which a bazooka gun was to backfire and shoot black soot into Moe's face. "The special effects man used too much air pressure," says director Edward Bernds. "It blew off so hard that, even though Moe had his eyes closed, the soot shot up under his eyelids. Jesus, we thought he was blinded for life!" The first aid man had to pry open Moe's eyes and actually took chunks of that black powder out of his eyes.
[edit] Curly's illness
The Three Troubledoers was produced after Curly Howard suffered a mild stroke. As a result, his performance was marred by slurred speech, and slower timing. Though Curly's falsetto voice had become more of a hoarse croak by this point, apparently the ailing star was comfortable enough to deliver his dialogue is his regular speaking voice.[1]
Director Edward Bernds later recalled how Curly's condition would have its peaks and valleys:
| “ | ...it was strange the way he (Curly) went up and down. In the order I shot the pictures, not in the order they were released, he was down for A Bird in the Head and The Three Troubledoers, he was up for Micro-Phonies, way down for Monkey Businessmen, and then up again, for the last time, in Three Little Pirates. " [2] | ” |
[edit] References
- ^ Iverson, Paul. The Three Stooges Journal #84; "Curly's Last Dozen Shorts" (2003) pp. 6-7
- ^ Okuda, Ted; Watz, Edward; (1986). The Columbia Comedy Shorts, pp. 66-67, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 0899501818
[edit] Further reading
- Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard [1], (Citadel Press, 1977).
- The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming [2](Broadway Publishing, 2002).
- One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [3], (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).
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