We Want Our Mummy
| We Want Our Mummy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Del Lord |
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by |
Searle Kramer Elwood Ullman |
| Starring |
Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Dick Curtis Bud Jamison James C. Morton Eddie Laughton Ted Lorch John Tyrrell |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 16' 27"[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
We Want Our Mummy is the 37th short subject starring American slapstick team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.
Plot
Two museum curators (Bud Jamison, James C. Morton) hire the Stooges (as private detectives) to locate Professor Tuttle of Egyptology, who went missing while attempting to find the mummy of Egyptian King Rootin'Tootin' in Cairo. The Stooges check the basement and help a man take a box onto a truck, not aware that Tuttle is bound and gagged inside. They are then told by the curators to find the tomb and bring back the mummy, for which they will be paid $5000. They hail a taxicab in New York City, and inform the bewildered driver they are bound for Egypt.
Once in Egypt the boys, under the duress of a mirage, believe an empty patch of sand is a lake of cool water and dive in, inadvertently diving right into a series of underground tunnels that may lead to the tomb of Rootin'Tootin. They begin to investigate, but end up separated and Curly runs afoul with a living mummy. He takes off running, and he and his pals reunite.
Upon their arrival, the Stooges learn that Tuttle is being held hostage by a group of thieves. While the Stooges wander around in the underground tunnels, the thieves have the professor bound and gagged. Curly finds what the Stooges believe to be the mummy of Rootin'Tootin' in a secret room, activated by a trap door. When Curly tries to pick it up he clumsily drops it, crumbling it to dust.
Then they hear the boss of the gang (Dick Curtis) threatening the professor to get him to tell where the mummy is. The frightened professor tells them, and is told if the mummy is not there he and the Stooges will be killed. The Stooges realise they will get killed if the crooks discover the crushed mummy, so Moe gets the idea to make a mummy out of Curly. Curly's reply to this is "I can't be a mummy, I'm a daddy!", but he relents. He lies on the stone slab when the crooks arrive. The boss decides to search for the jewels by cutting Curly open, causing Curly to open the bandages on his chest when the boss isn't looking. The boss searches in Curly's jacket, pulls a newspaper out and reads " 'Yanks win World Series'—can you beat that!" Curly blows his cover by replying, "Yeah, and I won five bucks!" The thief says, "No kidding? I had the Cubs and..." realizing he has been tricked, he charges Curly, but in the process of chasing the Stooges he and his cronies fall into a well Curly had fallen into earlier and hid using a carpet. The Stooges admit to the professor that Curly had destroyed the mummy, but the Professor says, "That was his wife, Queen Hotsy-Totsy!" He holds up a small mummy case, containing the real mummy of Rootin'Tootin', who was a midget. As the men discuss about all the trouble for a midget, an alligator comes out of the hole in the wall. Curly turns and sees the gator and thinks it is a mummy alligator and tries to take it home to hang it on his wall. When Curly reaches for a piece of rope, the gator bites his buttocks, Curly cries in pain and tells the fellas the gator bit him. Nobody believes him until they see the gator snap its jaws at them. The men scream and run for their lives to the taxi.
Production notes
We Want Our Mummy is the first Stooge film to employ "Three Blind Mice" as the Stooges' official theme song (the song also appeared somewhat prematurely in 1938's Flat Foot Stooges, due to some confusion in that film's release date). This version of "Three Blind Mice," often known as the "sliding strings" version, would be used regularly up to and including 1942's What's the Matador?. An alternate version of the 'sliding strings' version would be used for a brief period starting with 1945's If a Body Meets a Body.[1]
The reference to the 1938 World Series between the Yankees and Cubs is a rare acknowledgement of a real-life sporting event.
In popular culture
We Want Our Mummy was one of four or five Stooge shorts included in the TBS Halloween special The Three Stooges Fright Night both in 1992 and 1995.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Solomon, Jon (2002). The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion. Comedy III Productions, Inc. pp. 129, 146. ISBN 0-9711868-0-4.
