''You Nazty Spy!'' is a 1940
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
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 ...
and 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 44th
short film
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 ...
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 short films for the studio between 1934 and 1959.
Plot
The short begins with a title card disclaimer that reads: "Any resemblance between the characters in this picture and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle."
In the fictional country of
Moronika, three
munitions
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
manufacturers — Messrs.
Ixnay (
Richard Fiske
Thomas Richard Potts (November 20, 1915 – August 10, 1944), known professionally as Richard Fiske, was an American film actor. He appeared in over 80 films between 1938 and 1942.
Career
Born Thomas Richard Potts, Fiske was born to Frank a ...
),
Onay (
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
Amscray (
Don Beddoe
Donald Theophilus Beddoe (July 1, 1903 – January 19, 1991) was an American character actor.
Early years
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Beddoe was the son of Dan Beddoe, a Welsh classical singer, and his wife Mary. He graduated from the ...
) — are upset over their lack of profits due to the country's king, Herman the Sixth and Seven-Eighths (the role is an allusion to the German
Kaiser Wilhelm II
Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and List of monarchs of Prussia, King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication on 9 ...
in exile), pursuing a policy of peace instead of war. They decide to oust the king, implement a
dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...
, and go about finding someone stupid enough to be a figurehead leader. Ixnay volunteers the three
wallpaper hangers simultaneously working in his dining room: The Stooges.
Ixnay, Onay, and Amscray meet with Moe Hailstone, Curly Gallstone, and Larry Pebble and tell them of their offer to run Moronika. Moe is instituted as the
leader
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
(the
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
role), with Curly as Field Marshal "Gallstone" (representing
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
while also mimicking
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
), and Larry as Minister of Propaganda Pebble (a representation of
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
). After his takeover, Hailstone proceeds to give a speech to the masses, cuing Larry to display signs reading "CHEERS", "APPLAUSE", and, accidentally, "HISS."
However, the daughter (
Lorna Gray
Virginia Pound (July 26, 1917 – April 30, 2017), known professionally as Lorna Gray and (after 1945) Adrian Booth, was an American film actress known for her comic roles, and later as a villainess. She is best known for her roles in Columb ...
) of the overthrown king pays Hailstone a visit, going by the name
Mattie Herring (a spoof of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
spy
Mata Hari
Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed by ...
). The Stooges eventually suspect her of being a spy and sentence her to execution, but she escapes.
Larry then saws the corners off of a square table to be ready for a round-table meeting. A ballerina enters and tells them the delegates have arrived for the meeting. In the said meeting, Moe tells the delegates that his country Moronika demands more land concessions from its neighbors, leading the delegates to start arguing with him. Curly manages to silence the delegates by knocking them out with golf balls, but after the meeting, a large mob led by the king and Mattie Herring advance on the palace. The trio quickly abdicates, only to inadvertently flee into a lion's den, and are chased and eaten offscreen.
The lions walk out, each one wearing either Pebble, Gallstone, or Hailstone's respective clothing, as one of them burps, concluding the film.
Significance
''You Nazty Spy!'' satirized the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
and the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and helped publicize the Nazi threat in a period when the United States was still neutral about
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and
isolationist
Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entan ...
sentiment was prevalent among the public. During this period, isolationist senators such as
Burton Wheeler
Burton Kendall Wheeler (February 27, 1882January 6, 1975) was an attorney and an American politician of the Democratic Party in Montana, which he represented as a United States senator from 1923 until 1947.
Born in Massachusetts, Wheeler began ...
and
Gerald Nye
Gerald Prentice Nye (December 19, 1892 – July 17, 1971) was an American politician who represented North Dakota in the United States Senate from 1925 to 1945. He was a Republican and supporter of World War II-era isolationism, chairing the Ny ...
objected to Hollywood films on grounds that they were anti-Nazi propaganda vehicles designed to mobilize the American public for war. According to the Internet Movie Database, ''You Nazty Spy!'' was the first Hollywood film to spoof Hitler. It was released nine months before the
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
film ''
The Great Dictator
''The Great Dictator'' is a 1940 American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the onl ...
'', which began filming in September 1939. ''You Nazty Spy!'' was filmed on December 5–9, 1939.
The
Hays code
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...
discouraged or prohibited many types of political and satirical messages in feature films, requiring that the history and prominent people of other countries must be portrayed "fairly". Short films such as those released by the Stooges were subject to less attention than feature films.
Production notes
*The title is a parody of comedian
Joe Penner
Joe Penner (born József Pintér; November 11, 1904 – January 10, 1941) was an American vaudeville, radio, and film comedian.
Early life
Penner was an ethnic Hungarian born József Pintér in Nagybecskerek, Austria-Hungary, (present-day Zren ...
's catchphrase "You Nasty Man!" as well as the 1939
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
film ''
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
''Confessions of a Nazi Spy'' is a 1939 American spy political thriller film directed by Anatole Litvak for Warner Bros. It was the first explicitly anti-Nazi film to be produced by a major Hollywood studio, being released in May 1939, several ...
''.
*Moe Howard, as "Moe Hailstone", became the first American actor to portray/imitate Adolf Hitler in a released film, although Chaplin's portrayal was shot before the Stooges' film went into production.
*Both Moe Howard and Larry Fine cited ''You Nazty Spy!'' as their favorite Three Stooges short.
*''You Nazty Spy!'' was followed by a sequel, ''
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 ...
'', in 1941. Moronika would also be the setting for ''
Dizzy Pilots'' (1943).
[
*Larry uses the alias 'Moronica' while disguised as a woman in '']Higher Than a Kite
''Higher Than a Kite'' is a 1943 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 72nd entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the ...
'' (1943).
*The parody of the Nazi banner with two snakes in the form of a swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...
is captioned with the phrase "Moronika for Morons" which is a play on the Nazi slogan "Deutschland den Deutschen" (Germany for Germans).[
*The Stooges—all ]Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
—occasionally worked a word or phrase of Yiddish into their dialogue. In particular here, the Stooges make several overt Jewish and Yiddish cultural references:
**The exclamation "Beblach!" used several times in the film is a Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
word meaning "beans".[
**"]Shalom aleichem
''Shalom aleichem'' (; he, שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם, ; ) is a spoken greeting in Hebrew, meaning " peace be upon you". The appropriate response is ("unto you peace") ( he, עֲלֵיכֶם שָׁלוֹם). The plural form "" is used eve ...
!", literally "Peace unto you" is a standard Hebrew greeting meaning "hello, pleased to meet you".[
**In Moe's imitation of a Hitler speech, he says "in pupik gehabt haben" (the semi-obscene "I've had it in the bellybutton" in Yiddish). These references to the Nazi leadership and Hitler speaking Yiddish were particularly ironic inside jokes for the Yiddish-speaking Jewish audience.][
*In a gag when Moe tries to shush Larry and Curly at a table with Mattie Herring, the boys make train noises until a conductor appears and says, "All out for Syracuse!" When Larry leaves and Mattie Herring asks where he is going, Moe replies, "The boy's from Syracuse" — a reference to the musical '']The Boys from Syracuse
''The Boys from Syracuse'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play ''The Comedy of Errors'', as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemp ...
'' (1938).
*A colorized
Film colorization (American English; or colourisation [British English], or colourization [Canadian English and Oxford English]) is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia, or other monochrome moving-picture image ...
version of this film was released in 2004. It was part of the DVD collection entitled ''Stooged & Confoosed''.
*''You Nazty Spy'' was also the first Stooges short to bear a new opening title sequence, with the Columbia logo's torch-bearing woman on the left-hand corner, standing on a pedestal where each step has printed out "Columbia," "Short Subject" and "Presentation," and the opening titles and credits are inside a box with rounded edges. This format will remain in effect through ''Booby Dupes
''Booby Dupes'' is a 1945 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 84th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedia ...
''.
* When asked why they have no lions, Curly replies "Because there are no bones in ice cream." This bizarre and otherwise unexplained non-sequitur is a colloquialism of the period that would be offered as a non-sensical answer to a non-sensical question.
* Two of the lions at the end of the film are known as former MGM lions, "Tanner and Jackie", both of whom had previously appeared in ''Three Missing Links
''Three Missing Links'' is a 1938 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 33rd entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starri ...
'', ''Wee Wee Monsieur
''Wee Wee Monsieur'' is a 1938 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 29th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the c ...
'', and ''Movie Maniacs
''Movie Maniacs'' is a 1936 short subject directed by Del Lord starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 13th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the co ...
''. The name of the third lion is unknown.
References
External links
*
*
''You Nazty Spy!'' at threestooges.net
{{The Three Stooges
American satirical films
American political satire films
The Three Stooges films
1940 films
Cultural depictions of Adolf Hitler
Cultural depictions of Benito Mussolini
Cultural depictions of Joseph Goebbels
Cultural depictions of Hermann Göring
American black-and-white films
Films directed by Jules White
Films set in Europe
Films set in a fictional country
1940 comedy films
American World War II propaganda shorts
Columbia Pictures short films
Films with screenplays by Felix Adler (screenwriter)
American slapstick comedy films
1940s English-language films
1940s American films