Three Little Pirates

Many Curly fans are disappointed with his 1945-46 performances during which his health got worse and worse to the point where he was no longer his old energetic self. However, his performance in this is as good as one could hope for (no one can play a maharajah better than Curly!) and fans of Curly and the stooges in general would love this short (which I consider to be their best of 1946). The plot: The stooges are sailors who wind up in ancient times and are sentenced to death by the ruler. Luckily, lady Rita is there to help them escape. Using their wits (disguising Curly as a maharajah) and their fighting abilities (they later face a band of cutthroat pirates who challenge them to a game of knife-throwing), they are eventually victorious. As mentioned, Curly's performance in this is just wonderful and there are memorable sight gags throughout. I consider this and "Fuelin' Around" to be director Edward Bernds's best Stooges shorts. RECOMMENDED

Larry, Curly, and Moe are bumbling sailors from a modern day garbage scow. They shipwreck and find themselves taken prisoner by a old time Spanish settlement. Rita Yolanda needs help to escape the Governor and recruits the three boys. They disguise themselves and seeks the help of pirate Black Louie.

It's such a weird mix for a premise. It's somehow old timey but it has all the modern technology like electricity. I wouldn't mind straight-up time traveling Stooges. Their fish out of water would add another layer of comedy. There is plenty of ridiculous hilarity in this one. It's fun stupidity. It would be nice for them to actually escape as an ending.

This short is the best one out of all the ones curly was sick in. It was about the stooges being captured on an island and would be burned at the stake (curly's idea) the next day, so the boys are in prison and try to brake out using tools under a bed but they knock down the wrong wall then a woman comes to rescue them and the stooges dress up so they won't get caught then they see the king of the island and the king decide to ask stuff from them this scene it by far the best in the short with Curly acting like the good old days (kinda).

190 shorts over 28 years, THREE LITTLE PIRATES is the Stooges at their Vaudeville Epitome! This is by far the funniest, most clever piece of any of them, and my absolute favorite of all of them! Choreographed word-for-word by Moe himself, the dialogue is just beautiful, and Curly is at the top of his form. The "MAHA" routine is comic genius! PIRATES is one of the few episodes that departs from the norm of silly slapstick into pure comedy in its classical context! (Another one of the departures would be CASH & CARRY, where their's no slapstick at all, and its story is a heart-tugger, with little Sonny Bupp as the crippled youngster). There ARE a few others, scattered through the years, but THREE LITTLE PIRATES is the benchmark by which all the others are measured! It shows how the Howards & Fine were masters of their craft. It's so funny, it's beautiful! This is the one I show to everyone who's either never seen the true Stooges, or doesn't like them. THREE LITTLE PIRATES is their masterpiece! Gotta love it!!! Perhaps a doctor of neurological medicine could explain Curly's return to his top form, considering his failing health, but none of us can, PIRATES was his swan song! L'Chaim!

Three Little Pirates finds Moe, Larry, and Curly managing to drift into another time as well as another land when they loose control of their New York City garbage scow and drift out into the ocean. They arrive in a strange land that looks like the domain of some 17th century pirates with a jealous king Vernon Dent who throws them into jail just on general principles. As if being a Stooge wasn't enough.

But they are not without allies as the king's mistress Christine McIntyre sees the boys as her means of escape. Foolish girl, but she leads them to the pirate den where of course they have some more problems with pirate leader Robert Stevens.

Curly shines in this one as he and Moe play a visiting Rajah and an interpreter. It's a great comic sequence as they shower the king with 'gifts' from the new world like a lollipop ruby and bubblegum.

A really good stooge short.