''Matri-Phony'' is a 1942 short subject directed by Harry Edwards 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

Curly Howard Jerome Lester Horwitz (; October 22, 1903 – January 18, 1952), known professionally as Curly Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of the American comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his elder ...

). It is the 63rd 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 live in "Ancient Erysipelas," (parody of Ancient Rome) where they run Ye Olde Pottery shop. The powerful Emperor Octopus Grabus (

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 ...

) is in search for a new wife again, with his sights set on redheads. Lovely Diana ( Marjorie Deanne), who has kindled Grabus' interest, hides out in the Stooges' shop. A palace guard catches onto the scheme and all are brought to Grabus which are condemned to be fed to the lions at the

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world t ...

. The boys help Diana escape, while Moe and Larry convince Curly to dress up as Octopus's prospective bride. These two then destroy the glasses of the nearly-blind Grabus, who cannot see past his nose. The Stooges make a rapid escape by jumping out a palace window, but end getting caught, upside-down, on the spears of palace guards and were taken to the Colosseum to be finally fed to the lions as punishment.

Cast

Credited

as Curleycue (as Curly) *

as Larrycus (as Larry) *

as Mohicus (as Moe) * Marjorie Deanne as Diana *

as Emperor Octopus Grabus

Uncredited

Cy Schindell Seymour "Cy" Schindell (March 4, 1907 – August 24, 1948) was an American actor. He appeared in 37 Three Stooges short subjects, mostly as a heavy, though he was never credited in any Stooge shorts. Career Brooklyn-born Schindell was born Seym ...

as Guard *

Eddy Chandler Eddy Chandler (March 12, 1894 – March 23, 1948) was an American actor who appeared, mostly uncredited, in more than 350 films. Three of these films won the Academy Award for Best Picture: ''It Happened One Night'' (1934), '' You Can't ...

as Guard *

Max Wagner Max Wagner (November 28, 1901 – November 16, 1975) was a Mexican-born American film actor who specialized in playing small parts such as thugs, gangsters, sailors, henchmen, bodyguards, cab drivers and moving men, appearing more than 400 ...

as Guard *

Bobby Barber Bobby Barber (December 18, 1894 – May 24, 1976) was an American actor who appeared in over 100 films. Barber is notable for his work as a foil for Abbott and Costello on and off screen. Biography Barber was born Robert S. Barbera in New York. ...

as Snake charmer *

Monte Collins Monte Collins (also credited as Monty Collins; December 3, 1898 – June 1, 1951) was an American film actor and screenwriter. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1920 and 1948. He also wrote for 32 films between 1930 and 1951. Career ...

as Prime Minister *

Si Jenks Si Jenks (born Howard Hansell Jenkins; September 23, 1876 – January 6, 1970) was an American actor. He was involved in 224 films in a career spanning nearly two decades in vaudeville and films. His best known appearances includes ''The ...

as Wino * Christine McIntyre as Beauty contestant (deleted scenes) *

Gene Roth Eugene Oliver Edgar Stutenroth (January 8, 1903 – July 19, 1976), known profesionally as Gene Roth, was an American film actor and film manager. Early years Roth was born in Redfield, South Dakota. He was the son of a German father an ...

as Middle guard

Production notes

''Matri-Phony'' was the first short filmed in 1942, shot over a period of three weeks between March 5 and March 25, 1942. It is the first Stooge film to employ the accordion-based, driving version of "

Three Blind Mice "Three Blind Mice" is an English-language nursery rhyme and musical round.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 306. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number o ...

" over the opening credits. This faster theme would be used until the end of

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

. The film title is a pun on the word "

matrimony Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

. ''Matri-Phony'' had a difficult gestation. The three-week shooting schedule was unusual for a Columbia short film, as most were completed over four consecutive days. It is not known how many days it took to film, with six being an estimate. There were material script changes, reshoots and deleted footage, with most of the blame aimed at director Harry Edwards who had developed a reputation at Columbia Pictures as the studio's worst director.''Matri-Phony'' at threestooges.net
/ref> His poor directing skills are apparent throughout, with bad staging, awkward jump cuts and several unfocused shots. In the closing scene when the Stooges are hanging upside down from the guards' spears, Edwards inexplicably directed the guards to walk straight into a wall. His voice can also be heard loudly directing

: "Larry, grab the.....". Larry was the only one who was not holding onto his guard's trousers: after receiving his direction, Larry quickly grabbed the pants. This type of exchange would normally be muted during post-production. After his next directoral effort with the Stooges (''

Three Little Twirps ''Three Little Twirps'' is a 1943 short subject directed by Harry Edwards starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 71st entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures star ...

''), the trio requested to never work with him again.

also began to exhibit subtle hints of his slow physical decline.

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

critic Stuart Galbraith IV noted that it is "demonstrated in a scene where he tries to eat a live crab (with snapping claws), a variation of the oyster-in-the-soup gag from the previous year (from ''

Dutiful But Dumb ''Dutiful but Dumb'' is a 1941 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 54th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring th ...

''). It's reasonably funny, but Curly's timing is just a tad off and the two scenes make quite a contrast."

Quotes

Curly: "Oh, food!" (''beholds the spread before him'') "Vitamins A B C D E F GEE, I like food!"

References

External links

* *
''Matri-Phony'' at threestooges.net
{{The Three Stooges 1942 films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films 1942 comedy films Columbia Pictures short films Films directed by Harry Edwards (director) American slapstick comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films