The Three Troubledoers

Viewers will notice Curly was in much better shape when he appeared in April 1946's "The Three Troubledoers." The short was filmed in mid-May 1945, just before the Stooges embarked on a seventh-month break. The three amble into an Old Western town, which just witnessed a gang of outlaws led Blackie (Dick Curtis) kidnap the local blacksmith so he could marry his daughter Nell (Christine McIntyre). The Stooges find themselves in the thick of things in their attempt to free Nell from the man she loathes.

Bernds noted "The Three Troubledoers" was a difficult production because of Curly's health. Moe took the brunt of the physical punishment in this movie when he was at the rear end of a malfunctioning bazooka barrel. As Bernds related, "The special effects man used too much air pressure, so some of the soot shot up under Moe's eyelids. They had to pry his eyes open and remove these big chunks of black powder from his eye. I was terrified; I thought the poor guy had been blinded." Curly would appear in only four more Stooges short films before he suffered a major debilitating stroke.

This was a very funny episode with a lot of laughs, which included insults, lots of action, a ridiculous romance and all kinds of goofy things.

Here's an example of the names and name-calling in just the first six minutes of this Three Stooges western episode, which takes place in "Deadman's Gulch:"

"Badlands Blackie, Skullbone Pass, Coney Island Curly, Mashed Potato Head, Over-sized polecat, egghead, dirty double-crosser, skunk, porcupine, dummy, numb-skull, rat" and "old billy-goat." Yeah, Moe is responsible for most of the insults.

Curly is in his prime here, complete with squeaky voice, a bunch "nyuks" and gobble-gobble sounds and good physical slapstick.

If Curly can capture Blackie and save Nell's father, she'll marry him.

Good luck, Curly!

Sadly I didn't know that Curly was ill in this period 1945-46 on Three Stooges series, on reviewer "jimthinder" above share us this valuable information over the unforgettable Curly Howard, on episode takes place on old west, they just arriving in small town called Deadman's Gulch, where a guy in the main street is subtracting the plate where has the number of population when he hear a shoot, they meet a girl crying (Christine McIntyre) his father was kidnapped by the outlaw Badlands Blackie who intent to marry her for all means, when the Stooges faces Blackie has an accidental shootout, seeing Blackie running away the citizens invited Curly to be a Sheriff, now Moe and Larry has to joint to help Curly against the bad guy, including the hilarious scene when Curly disguised as Judge tries misleading Blackie, fantastic scene provides by the unmatched Stooges!!

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First watch: 1973 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.75

"Three Troubledoers," filmed in May 1945, is one of a dozen or so Stooge films from 1945-46 that features an ill Curly Howard. Earlier that year, he had had a few small strokes, limiting his physical and verbal comedic talents. Despite his illness, Curly rises to the occasion in this film, marking "Three Troubledoers" among the best Stooge films from this period.

The Stooges come to the aid of lovely Nell (played wonderfully by the equally lovely Christine McIntyre), who is being blackmailed into marriage by evil Badlands Blackie (played to the hilt by Dick Curtis). Curly becomes the town's sheriff, while Moe and Larry become his deputies. Nell promises to marry Curly if he can spare her father from Blackie's evil machinations. Can the Stooges save him in time?

Curly manages some laughs in his stint as Justice of the Peace. Seeing him with a hairpiece is funny enough! Other funny scenes include the setting sun that rises back up again, the attempt to remove the dog collar from Curly's neck, and Curly's reaction to Nell's father.

While most films from this time period are difficult to watch because of Curly's illness, "Three Troubledoers" is not, because Curly rallies his energy for this film in much the same way as he would in "Micro-Phonies" (made after "Three Troubledoers," but released earlier).

This film is featured on the DVD "Stooges and the Law." 9 out of 10.

The Three Troubledoers (1946)

*** (out of 4)

Entertaining short has The Three Stooges going into a Western town where a local woman is being forced to marry an outlaw who has kidnapped her father. The woman promises Curly that she'll marry him if he can rescue her father.

If you're a fan of the Stooges then you know that there were quite a few shorts that had the boys in a Western setting. There's really nothing new to be found here but if you're a fan of the series then you should laugh enough here to make this worth watching. I personally thought there were quite a few very funny scenes but the highlight would have to be Curly going up against a dummy and not realizing that it's the real bandit.