Uncivil Warriors

The Three Stooges are Union spies sent to snoop on the activities of the Confederates in this different short from their earliest period. This gives them the opportunity to dress up in Civil War costumes, which boosts the level of their shenanigans slightly. Good scenes include them trying to outwit usual foil Bud Jamison, as well as a classic routine that would be repeated many times as this series continued: Curley helps bake a layer cake but mistakenly adds a torn and discarded pot holder into the pan, causing feathers to be coughed up later on while eating it.

*** out of ****

Another very funny short by the wonderful Three Stooges. The plot of this episode takes place during the Civil War. Moe, Larry, and Curly are three yankee soldiers, and their captain asks them to spy on the Southern Rebels. When they get to the South, our typical stooges screw around as usual. But they do get the information they need. They end up meeting some very beautiful southern bells as well and have a wonderful feathered cake. Of course they blow their cover, and you know the rest of the story. This was a very funny episode. Despite not being my favorite, as one three stooges fan to another, I would always recommend it.

8/10

Uncivil Warriors (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The Three Stooges are fighting for the North in the Civil War but go undercover to spy on the South. This is a short that actually looks better than anything else. The period piece actually looks very realistic with the costumes but there are a few laughs as well. The highlight has to be the scene where the boys eat a cake, which just happens to make them cough up feathers.

Now available on Columbia's 2-disc set, which includes over 20 classic shorts, all digitally remastered.

"Uncivil Warriors" is one of the funniest shorts that the 3 Stooges have ever done. Though "Men In Black" was nominated for an Oscar in the Short Subject category, this film could have been nominated as well in 1935. The Three Stooges displayed their greatest comedic energy between 1934 and 1937, and "Uncivil Warriors" is a gem among all of their films. The funniest scene is when the boys are masquerading as Confederate officers and Curly has to dress up as an officer's wife. But when the boys have to "produce" a child to keep up the masquerade and the child is black, that is hysterical. That was a joke that was very brave to do in 1935 - the same year that Southern theater owners didn't want their audiences to see a dance number between Shirley Temple and Bill "Bo Jangles" Robinson. Much respect goes to director Del Lord - for letting the Stooges go to the comedic edge of the universe. Also, much respect goes to actor Bud Jamison, one of the best straight men in comedy at that time. Had Jamison not passed away in 1944, he would have been very much a part of the Stooges legend. Now that television is editing all of the Stooges films for commercial time, it is better to get all of your favorite Stooges films on VHS or DVD.

This is certainly one of the better Stooges vehicles I've watched so far, arguably lifted by its Civil War setting: the boys are Union secret agents(!) sent on a mission behind enemy lines. While the level of invention isn't up to that seen in Buster Keaton's similar THE GENERAL (1927) – and it would be unrealistic to expect it to be – it's still a reasonably sustained comical piece.

The trio's typical slapfest routine is, together with the aid of impersonation and mimicry, utilized as a means of confusing the Confederates and retrieve the information they were assigned to procure (which is summarily destroyed by Curley when he rolls the paper – used by Moe to write it all down – to make a cigarette!). The ending sees The Stooges fired out of an enemy cannon and landing on the superior officers from their own lines!