Shivering Sherlocks

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.

Plot

The Stooges are accused of robbing an armored car and interrogated by the police, but their good friend Gladys Harmon (Christine McIntyre), an attractive curly-haired blonde and the kind owner of the Elite Cafe, vouches for them. When the Stooges discover Gladys is having financial problems, much of which is due to the Stooges not paying their cheques, they immediately volunteer to work for free. The Stooges are later questioned by Captain Mullens (Vernon Dent) and later identify "Lefty" Loomis (Kenneth MacDonald) from a photograph as the ringleader of the armored car robbers.

Gladys receives an offer for her old country homestead and is anxioux to accept as she needs the money but the Stooges, thinking sometime might be trying to swindle her, decide to inspect it first before letting Gladys sell the property. After a long drive they reach the decrepit and abandoned farmhouse, which unknown to them is the hideout for the bank robbers. Lefty and his partner are angry their clean getaway was ruined are discussing how to find and eliminate the Stooges when they hear Gladys and the Stooges arrive at the front door. Gladys tries the key but cannot unlock the door so the Stooges fan out to find a way in, leaving Gladys all alone at the front door. The crooks aim a shotgun outside a peephole but Shemp stumbles across the gun barrel which he mistakes for a length of pipe and tries to grab it, ensuing in a tug-of-war. While the Stooges are distracted Gladys is kidnapped and taken prisoner by the robbers. Returning to the front door the Stooges realize Gladys has disappeared and finally manage to enter the house in search of her.

Lefty decides to send Angel, a mutated hunchback (Duke York) to finish off the Stooges. While wandering through the house in search of the intruders, Angel enters a cluttered and darkened storage room in the back of the house. Angel then discovers Gladys tightly bound and gagged, thick ropes securing her to a heavy armchair. Struggling to escape Gladys hears an ominous grunting behind her, and when she gets a good look at Angel she frantically tries to call for help but her muffled whimperings go unheard.

Angel raises his machete but before he can strike he hears the Stooges and leaves with Gladys still tied up and watching helplessly. In the hallway Angel chases the Stooges. Moe and Larry run through a back hallway, and when Angel follows he is bombed by a barrel dropped from the top of the doorway by Shemp. Lefty and his partner give chase blasting away but are also captured by Shemp. Gladys has freed herself and watches as the criminals, still trapped in their barrels, crash through a window and are arrested by the police. Moe and Larry are bombed by Shemp's last barrel and covered in flour.

Notes

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

External links

• Shivering Sherlocks at the Internet Movie Database
• Shivering Sherlocks at AllRovi