''Oil's Well That Ends Well'' is a 1958

short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

directed by

Jules White Jules White (born Julius Weiss; hu, Weisz Gyula; 17 September 190030 April 1985) was a Hungarian-American film director and producer best known for his short-subject comedies starring The Three Stooges Early years White began working in mo ...

starring American

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

comedy team The Three Stooges ( Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Joe Besser). It is the 188th 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 have lost their jobs. Adding insult to injury, they received a letter from Dad with the news that he requires surgery. To help pay for the operation, the father suggests the boys search for

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

on his mining property. The boys locate the uranium, but run afoul of a load of dynamite. Then, when they are trying to fix the water pump, it starts gushing oil. Joe tries to cork it by sitting on it, but he is sent flying into the air. When he wishes it would stop, it does, much to Moe and Larry's dismay. Joe manages to get the oil started again, and the boys are in the money.

Production notes

Though technically a reworking of '' Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise'', none of the original plot is featured in this short. In addition, the only recycled footage utilized in ''Oil's Well That Ends Well'' is the shot of

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 ...

riding the oil gusher up into the sky. In addition, the concept of Joe wishing for things that come true was borrowed from ''Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise''. The film was shot over two days on August 26–27, 1957. It is also one of two Stooge films that does not have a supporting cast, the other being 1950's ''

Self-Made Maids ''Self-Made Maids'' is a 1950 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 124th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the ...

''. ''Oil's Well That Ends Well'' contains a rare instance where the Stooges break the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

, and directly address the camera audience. Joe, after being chastised by Moe and told to sit down, turns around to the camera and mouths "I hate him!" to the audience before walking off-screen. The title ''Oil's Well That Ends Well'' is a pun of "all's well that ends well."

References

External links

* *
''Oil's Well That Ends Well'' at threestooges.net
{{The Three Stooges 1958 films 1958 comedy films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films The Three Stooges film remakes Films directed by Jules White Columbia Pictures short films Films with screenplays by Felix Adler (screenwriter) Works about petroleum 1950s English-language films 1950s American films

Plot

Production notes

See also

References

External links