''The Three Troubledoers'' is a 1946

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

Edward Bernds Edward Bernds (July 12, 1905May 20, 2000) was an American screenwriter and director, born in Chicago, Illinois. Career While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio clique and obtained amateur li ...

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 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 91st 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 cowboys who come upon the town of Dead Man's Gulch, which is being terrorized by Badlands Blackie (

Dick Curtis Richard Dye (May 11, 1902January 3, 1952), known professionally as Dick Curtis, was an American actor who made over 230 film and television appearances during his career. Early years Curtis was born in Newport, Kentucky, the son of Frank Dye ...

) and his gang. Blackie threatens to kill the town blacksmith unless his daughter Nell (

Christine McIntyre Christine Cecilia McIntyre (April 16, 1911 – July 8, 1984) was an American actress and singer who appeared in various films in the 1930s and 1940s. She is mainly remembered as the beautiful blonde actress who appeared in many of The Three St ...

) agrees to marry him. After an impromptu battle with Blackie the locals crown Curly their new sheriff, and Moe and Larry deputies. Nell then agrees to marry Curly if he rids the town of Blackie. On his way to make the marriage legit, the Justice of the Peace (

Victor Travers Victor Travers (1884 – 26 May 1948) was an English character actor of theatre and film, known for his work in many of the Three Stooges films. During his career, which began in 1938 and ended with his death in 1948, he appeared in more than 8 ...

) is accosted by the Stooges and Curly heads to his office in his place. He attempts to stall the wedding, but is eventually found out and is locked up like a dog, complete with collar strapped tightly around his neck. As a result, Blackie again demands Nell marry him immediately and away from Dead Man's Gulch. Nell promises to arrive by sundown. After breaking Curly free, the trio crash the wedding and defeat Blackie and his gang. Nell's father is freed, and upon learning that Nell plans to marry Curly due to his efforts, claims that he'd "rather die" first. Curly, obliging, hands him a lit stick of dynamite, but Nell knocks it out of his hands and throws it at the boys, who turn high tail and run off.

Production notes

''The Three Troubledoers'' was filmed on May 11–15, 1945, nearly a year prior to its release date. It was the last western-themed short starring Curly Howard and the tenth of sixteen Stooge shorts with the word "three" in the title.

Curly's illness

''The Three Troubledoers'' was produced after

suffered a mild

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

. As a result, his performance was marred by slurred speech, and slower timing. Though Curly's

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

voice had deepened slightly by this point, the ailing star was comfortable enough to deliver his dialogue in his regular speaking voice. Director Edward Bernds later recalled how Curly's condition would have its peaks and valleys:

Moe's injury

The script for ''The Three Troubledoers'' called for a gag in which a

bazooka Bazooka () is the common name for a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the ...

gun was to backfire and shoot black soot into Moe's face. "The special effects man used too much air pressure," says director

, "so some of the soot shot up under his oeeyelids. They had to pry his eyes open and remove these big chunks of black powder from his eye. I was terrified; I thought the poor guy had been blinded." Moe had a similar ordeal while filming 1939's ''

Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise ''Oily to Bed, Oily to Rise'' is a 1939 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges ( Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 42nd entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures ...

'', when gobs of black goo (representing oil) shot under his eyelids.

References

External links

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''The Three Troubledoers''
a
threestooges.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Troubledoers, The 1946 films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films 1940s Western (genre) comedy films Columbia Pictures short films Films directed by Edward Bernds American Western (genre) comedy films 1946 comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films