''Fiddlers Three'' is a 1948 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team

The Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

(

Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges. Early life Fine was born to a Russian Je ...

and

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Litvak accent. He is best known as the ...

). It is the 107th entry in the series released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges are fiddlers at the court of

Old King Cole "Old King Cole" is a British nursery rhyme first attested in 1708. Though there is much speculation about the identity of King Cole, it is unlikely that he can be identified reliably as any historical figure. It has a Roud Folk Song Index num ...

(

Vernon Dent Vernon Bruce Dent (February 16, 1895 – November 5, 1963) was an American comic actor, who appeared in over 400 films. He co-starred in many short films for Columbia Pictures, frequently as the foil and the main antagonist and ally to The Thr ...

). They are forbidden by the king to marry their sweethearts until Princess Alicia ( Virginia Hunter) weds Prince Gallant III of Rhododendron "when the flowers bloom in the Spring." Evil magician Murgatroyd (

Philip Van Zandt Philip Van Zandt (October 4, 1904 – February 15, 1958), sometimes billed as Phil Van Zandt, was a Dutch-American actor of stage, film, and television. He made nearly 250 film and television appearances between 1939 and 1958. Life and career ...

) has his own plans to marry Alicia, and promptly abducts her. While the Stooges are trying to apply new horseshoes to their horses, they accidentally fall through the floor where they find the Princess bound and gagged. The Magician meanwhile gets the King's agreement that if he can recover the Princess he can marry her. His assistant leaves his magic box by climbing through a hole, the plan being to push the Princess through it. Moe and Larry insult the guards, making them run out. Shemp frees the Princess, but he and the others are captured. However the guards are distracted when the magician's assistant walks past, following her. The Stooges escape up the rope ladder into the box, which Murgatroyd is sawing through and then sticking swords into, hurting the Stooges. Finally the box breaks and the Stooges fall out, just before Alicia runs in and tells her father who abducted her. The Stooges attacks the magician, but stop when the assistant walks past, they, Murgatroyd and Cole following her, save for Shemp, who asks for water. When the Princess gives him water it spurts out of him due to the magicians' swords.

Production notes

''Fiddlers Three'' was filmed on May 26–29, 1947.''Fiddlers Three'' at threestooges.net
/ref> Like ''

Squareheads of the Round Table ''Squareheads of the Round Table'' is a 1948 short subject directed by Edward Bernds starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges ( Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 106th entry in the series released by Columbi ...

'' and ''

The Hot Scots ''The Hot Scots'' is a 1948 short subject directed by Edward Bernds starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 108th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring th ...

'', it was filmed on the existing set of the feature film ''

The Bandit of Sherwood Forest ''The Bandit of Sherwood Forest'' is a 1946 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Henry Levin & George Sherman and starring Cornel Wilde, Anita Louise, Jill Esmond and Edgar Buchanan. Plot Robin Hood's son (Cornel Wilde) returns to s ...

''. This is the 13th of 16 Stooge shorts with the word "three" in the title. ''Fiddlers Three'' was remade in 1954 as ''

Musty Musketeers ''Musty Musketeers'' is a 1954 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 154th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring ...

'', using ample stock footage.

References

External links

* * 1948 films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films Fiction set in Roman Britain Arthurian films Films directed by Jules White 1948 comedy films Columbia Pictures short films American comedy short films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films {{short-comedy-film-stub