''Snow White and the Three Stooges'' is a 1961 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

film. It is the second feature film to star

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 ...

after their 1959 resurgence in popularity. By this time, the trio consisted of

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 Joe" DeRita. Released by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

, this was the trio's take on the classic fairy tale ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection '' Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as ...

''. The film was retitled ''Snow White and the Three Clowns'' in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. This was

Walter Lang Walter Lang (August 10, 1896 – February 7, 1972) was an American film director. Early life Walter Lang was born in Tennessee. As a young man he went to New York City where he found clerical work at a film production company. The business piq ...

‘s final directing film before his retirement. Olympic gold medalist figure skater

Carol Heiss Carol Elizabeth Heiss Jenkins (born January 20, 1940) is an American former figure skater and actress. Competing in ladies' singles, she became the 1960 Olympic champion, the 1956 Olympic silver medalist, and a five-time World champion (1956� ...

starred as Snow White, who must flee her home after The Evil Queen, her evil stepmother, wishes her to be dead. Seeking refuge in the cottage of the seven dwarfs, she accidentally meets the Stooges, who are house sitting for them while they are away.

Plot

Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Fortunia, a noble king and his lovely young queen lack but one blessing to make their joy complete. The queen dies giving birth to a daughter named

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection '' Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

, the king mourning his beloved before he later remarries at his people's pleas. His new

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

is a beautiful but evil woman who soon becomes jealous of Snow White's beauty. On her 17th birthday, Snow White's father dies and the wicked queen immediately imprisons her. Eventually, the queen's jealousy of her stepdaughter becomes so great that she orders her killed. Snow White escapes her hired assassin and finds refuge in the empty cottage of the seven dwarfs, soon to be joined by the Three Stooges, who are traveling to the castle with their ward Quatro. But the boy they have raised since childhood (also narrowly escaping an assassination attempt by the queen) is actually

Prince Charming Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales, includi ...

, who, though he has lost his memory, is betrothed to Snow White. Snow White and Quatro fall in love, but the queen has him kidnapped upon suspecting his true identity. The Stooges attempt to rescue him disguised as cooks, only to flee with Snow White when Quatro fell from a staircase in the palace and is presumed dead. Curly Joe stole a wish-granting magic sword owned by the queen's court magician Count Oga during that time, inadvertently wishing his group out of the country. The queen learns of this and has Oga turn her into a witch to track down Snow White and kill her. But the moment she left, revealed to rescued by loyalists, Quatro leads a coupe to take back Fortunia with Oga killed during the event. Meanwhile, the queen finds Snow White and tricks her into taking a bite from a poisoned apple. The queen encounters the Stooges on the way back to the palace, inadvertently killed by Curly Joe's wish on the sword causes her to crashes her broom into the mountainside. The Stooges then find the poisoned Snow White and realized they exhausted the last of the sword's wishes, placing her on a bed instead of burying her. Quatro, exhausting his resources to find Snow White, comes close to giving up hope when he learns of the Evil Queen's magic mirror. The mirror responds truthfully to the desperate Prince's pleas, and the Prince sets off on his journey. He arrives at the Stooges' cabin just in time to dispel the effects of the poisoned apple. Snow White and Prince Charming are married and live happily ever after.

Primary cast

as Moe *

as Larry * Joe DeRita as Curly Joe *

Edson Stroll Edson Stroll (January 6, 1929 – July 18, 2011) was an American actor who appeared in over 20 film and television programs beginning in 1958. Career Born in Chicago to Charles Stroll and Estelle Rose Stroll in a Jewish family, Stroll enlisted in ...

as Quatro/Prince Charming * Patricia Medina as The Evil Queen/Witch * Guy Rolfe as Count Oga * Michael David as Rolf *

Buddy Baer Jacob Henry "Buddy" Baer (June 11, 1915 – July 18, 1986) was an American boxer and later an actor with important parts in seventeen films, as well as roles on various television series in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1941, he came extremely cl ...

as Hordred *

Edgar Barrier Edgar Barrier (March 4, 1907 – June 20, 1964) was an American actor who appeared on radio, stage, and screen. In the 1930s he was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and was one of several actors who played Simon Templar on '' The Saint'' ...

as King Augustus * Peter Coe as Captain *

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy r ...

as the voice of Quinto the puppet (uncredited) *

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

as the narrator and voice of the magic mirror (uncredited)

Production

Frank Tashlin Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an American animator, cartoonist, children's writer, illustrator, screenwriter, and film director. He was best k ...

was originally set to direct the film at a budget of $750,000 ($ today). Fox then replaced him with

, who had previously directed the Stooges in 1933's '' Meet the Baron''. Lang transformed the film into a lavish epic with a budget of $3.5 million ($ today), making it the most expensive film the Stooges ever starred in. The film was produced and co-written by future U.S. Information Agency head

Charles Z. Wick Charles Z. Wick (October 12, 1917 – July 20, 2008) was director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) under President Ronald Reagan (1981–1989). As USIA director, Wick launched the first live global satellite television netw ...

. Carol Heiss' uncredited singing voice was dubbed by

Norma Zimmer Norma Zimmer (July 13, 1923 – May 10, 2011) was an American vocalist, best remembered for her 22-year tenure as Lawrence Welk's "Champagne Lady" on '' The Lawrence Welk Show''. Early years Born Norma Larsen on a dairy farm in Shoshone County, ...

(of Lawrence Welk fame). Edson Stroll's singing voice was dubbed by Bill Lee. Patricia Medina later recalled that Carol Heiss repeatedly tried to get her fired from the film.filmic-light.blogspot.com April 20, 2011
/ref>

Reception

Despite the significant investment, ''Snow White and the Three Stooges'' did poorly at the box office. The only 1960s Stooge feature filmed in color, it also became the least popular. Critics did not take kindly to the film, citing a lack of on-screen time for the trio, as well as a lack of their signature slapstick comedy. The studio was unable to recover the film's costs because the comedy-fantasy was tailored specifically to children, who paid only fifty cents each for admission. It would have taken an audience of over 15 million minors for ''Snow White and the Three Stooges'' to merely break even. Moe Howard himself often referred to the film as "a Technicolor mistake." The film, however, was nominated for the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...

award for Best Musical Screenplay for 1961.

References

External links