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
Jerry 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 eighth 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
Set during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, the short begins with a Northern General (
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 ...
) assigning Larry, Moe, and Curly, as Operators 12, 14 and 15, respectively, (but no
Operator 13
''Operator 13'' is a 1934 American pre-Code romance film directed by Richard Boleslawski and starring Marion Davies, Gary Cooper, and Jean Parker.
Based on stories written by Robert W. Chambers, the film is about a Union spy who impersonates a ...
, a reference to a Civil War movie of the previous year) to sneak behind enemy lines and obtain secrets. Disguising themselves as southern officers and taking the names Lieutenant Duck (Larry), Captain Dodge (Moe) and Major Hyde (Curly), they insinuate themselves into the mansion of southern officer, Colonel Butts (
Bud Jamison
William Edward "Bud" Jamison (February 15, 1894 – September 30, 1944)Okuda, Ted, and Edward Watz. 1999. The Columbia Comedy Shorts: Two-reel Hollywood Film Comedies 1933–1958'. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. . was an American film actor. ...
).
During preparations for a dinner party at the mansion, Curly, more interested in the Colonel's daughter, Judith Butts (
Phyllis Crane
Phyllis Crane (August 7, 1914October 12, 1982) was a Canadian-born American film actress. She appeared in over 45 films between 1928 and 1937.
Career
Crane signed with Columbia Pictures in 1934.potholder for a cake, resulting in a feather-coughing scene. The short concludes with an episode in which Larry and Curly disguise themselves as, respectively, Captain Dodge's father and wife. This leads to a controversial gag in which Major "Bloodhound" Filbert (
Ted Lorch
Theodore "Ted" Lorch (September 29, 1873 – November 12, 1947) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 140 films between 1908 and 1947.
Biography
Born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1873, Lorch appeared in several Three Stooge ...
) inquires about Captain Dodge's baby. Moe runs off and brings in a swaddled infant, which is revealed to be black, thus giving away the Stooges' charade.
The three of them run for their lives and hide in a "log" — which turns out to be a hidden
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
— which is fired by the Confederates. The Union General wonders aloud where the three spies are. At that moment, the trio promptly land on the General from the sky.
Cast
Credited
Production notes
''Uncivil Warriors'' was filmed on March 13–18, 1935. It is the first short in which the Stooges mention "Good Time Charlie". When the Stooges meet a guard, they often reference Charlie. The guard asks who Charlie is, and a Stooge replies that "everybody knows Charlie. He walks like this." The Stooges then demonstrate a silly walk until they get clear of the guard, at which point they take off running. This is a recurring joke in the Stooge shorts. In ''Uncivil Warriors'', they actually meet a soldier named Charlie, who asks the Stooges, "Are you all looking for me?"
The potholder gag would later appear in the Shemp-era short ''
Three Hams on Rye
''Three Hams on Rye'' 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 125th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring t ...
'' during a live theatrical production. A similar sequence also appears in the 1947 short ''
All Gummed Up
''All Gummed Up'' is a 1947 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 103rd entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the c ...
'', also featuring Shemp. The scene is nearly identical, with bubblegum being used in the place of a potholder, the stooges coughing up bubbles rather than feathers as a result.
When Moe brings the black baby into the Colonel's office he attempts to explain how the baby got his dark complexion ("We had him down the beach all summer...he got quite sunburned!"); this is sometimes deleted for U.S. television broadcasts.
The introductory music over the titles is a medley of "
Battle Hymn of the Republic
The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" or "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" outside of the United States, is a popular American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe.
Howe wrote her l ...
" (most popular marching song of the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
) and "
Dixie
Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas shift over the years), or the extent of the area it cover ...
" (which had the same status in the
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...