''Three Little Sew and Sews'' is a 1939

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

Del Lord Delmer "Del" Lord (October 7, 1894March 23, 1970) was a Canadians, Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films. Career Delmer Lord was born in the small town of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada. Interested in the the ...

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 36th 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 sailors employed in a naval base tailor shop. Curly steals Admiral Taylor (

James C. Morton James Carmody Lankton (August 25, 1884 – October 24, 1942), known professionally as James C. Morton, was an American character actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1922 and 1942. Career Born in Helena, Montana, Morton is be ...

)'s uniform in order to pursue and flirter women. While pretending to be an

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

, Curly and his "aides" (Moe and Larry) are tricked into stealing and hijacking a

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

by a pair of evil spies, Count Alfred Gehrol (

Harry Semels Harry Semels (November 20, 1887 – March 2, 1946) was an American film actor. He appeared in over 315 film between 1917 and 1946. Career Semels appeared in his first film in 1917. He began to achieve fame after arriving at Columbia Pictu ...

) and Miss Olga Arvin (

Phyllis Barry Phyllis Barry (born Gertrude Phyllis Hillyard; 7 December 1908 – 1 July 1954) was an English film actress. Born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to Seth Henry and Bertha (née Giles) Hillyard, Barry appeared in over 40 films ...

) who work for a fictional government from a fictional country. The Stooges eventually capture the spies, but whilst reenacting the capture for the real Admiral, Curly accidentally detonates a bomb. The short ends with the Stooges, now angels ascending to heaven, being chased by an angry Admiral, who is also now an angel.

Cast

Credited

Production notes

''Three Little Sew and Sews'' was filmed on March 21–24, 1938, and was the last entry to utilize "

Listen to the Mockingbird "Listen to the Mocking Bird" (1855) is an American popular song of the mid-19th century. Its lyrics were composed by Septimus Winner under the pseudonym "Alice Hawthorne", and its music was by Richard Milburn. It relates the story of a singer dre ...

" as the Stooges' official theme song. It was filmed directly after ''

Violent Is the Word for Curly ''Violent is the Word for Curly'' is a 1938 short subject directed by Charley Chase starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 32nd entry in the series released by Columbia Pict ...

'' but before ''

Flat Foot Stooges ''Flat Foot Stooges'' is a 1938 short subject directed by Charley Chase starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 35th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starri ...

'', the latter being the first film to employ "

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 ...

" as the Stooges' official theme song.''Three Little Sew and Sews'' at threestooges.net
/ref> The title ''Sew and Sew'' is a euphemism on "so and so," a softly worded insult for a person one finds unimpressionable.Solomon, Jon. (2002) ''The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion'', p. 140; Comedy III Productions, Inc., (generally a "son-of-a-bitch"). ''Three Little Sew and Sews'' is one of several Stooge shorts in which a sofa spring manages to become attached to someone's backside. This gag was also used in ''

Hoi Polloi Hoi polloi (; ) is an expression from Greek that means "the many" or, in the strictest sense, "the people". In English, it has been given a negative connotation to signify the masses. Synonyms for ''hoi polloi'' include "the plebs" (plebeians) ...

'', ''

An Ache in Every Stake An, AN, aN, or an may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Airlinair (IATA airline code AN) * Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy * AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey * Anime North, a Canadian a ...

'', ''

Hugs and Mugs ''Hugs and Mugs'' is a 1950 short film, short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 121st entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures st ...

'' and ''

Have Rocket, Will Travel ''Have Rocket, Will Travel'' is a 1959 American science-fiction comedy film released by Columbia Pictures and starring the Three Stooges, consisting of Moe Howard, Larry Fine and new addition Joe DeRita ("Curly Joe"). The film was produced to cap ...

''. In addition, footage of war scenes were later used in ''

Boobs in Arms ''Boobs in Arms'' is a 1940 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 52nd entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the ...

'' and '' They Stooge to Conga''. The short is also the fifth of sixteen Stooge shorts with the word "three" in the title. Unlike most Stooge films, ''Three Little Sew and Sews'' ends with the trio being killed. This plot device was only used in a handful of their shorts, among them being ''

You Nazty Spy! ''You Nazty Spy!'' is a 1940 comedy film directed by Jules White and starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard). It is the 44th short film released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedi ...

'', ''

I'll Never Heil Again ''I'll Never Heil Again'' is a 1941 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 56th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starr ...

'' and ''

Half Shot Shooters ''Half Shot Shooters'' is a 1936 short subject directed by Preston Black starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 14th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures star ...

''.

References

External links

* * 1939 films The Three Stooges films American black-and-white films 1939 comedy films Military humor in film Films directed by Del Lord Columbia Pictures short films American slapstick comedy films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{short-comedy-film-stub