Rl.
Mar. 21 / Prod. No. 485 / 17
m / p Del Lord and Hugh McCollum
/ d Del Lord / st
scr Elwood Ullman / ph Benjamin
Kline / e Arthur Seid / C:
Vernon Dent (Wilson, the magazine editor), Bud Jamison (Vulgarian Sgt.),
James C. Morton (Captain), Bruce Bennett (Percival), Chester Conklin
(Waiter) and Fred Kelsey (Colonel)
SYN:
Moe, Larry, and Curly - photographers
Click, Clack, and Cluck for Whack Magazine ("If it's a good picture,
it's out of WHACK!")- are sent to Vulgaria to snap a picture
of an invisible ray machine, the country's top-secret military marvel.
Inside Vulagaria, however, where cameras are forbidden under the penalty
of death, police arrest the Stooges and quickly have them lined up
for execution. But before meeting their maker the trio ask to make
a last request: a final smoke. Their request is granted and Curly
proceeds to pull out a cigar the size of a baseball bat that takes
several hours to finish. While the soldiers are sleeping, the Stooges
escape and find their way to the Colonel's office, mistaking the invisible
ray machine for a new camera. The Stooges are interrupted by the Vulgs,
however, and quickly hide under the lampposts and inside the radio
where Curly has to improvise as a radio announcer. They have to make
a rapid exit, then, disguised as Vulgarian soldiers, the Stooges take
refuge in a local commissary, where Curly has his bouts with, and
eventually unloads his gun on a bowl of live oyster stew.
Quick
Hits:
-
Did you know the scene where Curly battles with a live oyster in
his stew was first created for silent screen comic Billy Bevan in
the short Wandering Willies (1926) directed by Del Lord.
FN:
Almost every comedian has performed the oyster
gag: Lou Costello in Keep 'Em Flying (1941) and The Wistful
Widow of Wagon Gap (1948), both features and the 14th episode of
Abbott and Costello's TV series, entitled "Hungry".
The Stooges repeated the gag in Income Tax Sappy (2/4/54), Shivering
Sherlocks (1/8/48) and Of Cash and Hash (2/3/55), using clams
in the last two.
