I'll Never Heil Again

This is an excellent sequel to "You Nazty Spy". Moe proves that he is the ultimate imitator of the little sign painter and the other actors in who played the caricatures of "Il Dulce" Mussolini, Hirohito and Stalin did wonderful jobs themselves. Also, John "Tiny" Lipson (King Vultan from the original Flash Gordon serial) does a great job of playing the Bay of Rum. Check out where he tries to teach Curly how to smoke a hookah.

Technically, this is a sequel to the 1940 masterpiece "You Nazty Spy" where Moe, Larry and Curly are heads of a country (parodied after Germany) called Moronica. Here, they return, with the dead on impressions still funny, yet chilling. Great gags, but I also laughed at the names on the map of Starvania (Great Mitten, Yom Kippers, Jug 'O' Slavia). Great fun, with the stooges being hilarious as always. Not as good as part 1, but plenty of laughs still around. A+

I'll Never Heil Again (1941)

*** (out of 4)

Sequel to YOU NAZTY SPY! has Moe (The Dictator), Larry (Minister of Propaganda) and Curly (Field Marshall) successfully taking over the country of Moronica but a spy has planted a bomb for them in hopes that the old leader can take over. This short from the boys is actually different one a couple of levels. The obvious is the fact that this is the only sequel The Three Stooges did during their careers. The surprising thing about this short is the fact that the majority of the jokes are dialogue driven, which certainly wasn't the norm for the boys. I was really surprised to see how much of it was dialogue driven but even more shocked that most of the jokes were funny. Obviously a lot of the humor goes towards the boys simply being dumb in what they say and this includes the countless ways that they say hail. Another funny bit of dialogue deals with the boys talking with other evil leaders about who really owns the world. There's also some physical humor, which includes a very funny pool game as well as a few slaps with a turkey. While I don't think this short quite lives up to the original film, there are still plenty of laughs to be had here so fans should enjoy it.

I was fortunate enough to see this film on the big screen the other night. What a treat! Moe plays Hailstone, the dictator of Moronica. Curly is Field Marshal Herring and Larry is Minister of Propaganda. Three former ministers, Ixnay, Umpchay, and Amscray want to reinstall the former King of Moronica. They plan on having the king's daughter plant a bomb in their office. Do plots really matter in a Stooge short? The satire of Hitler was funny enough. Moe's barking of orders in "German" was hilarious. There was even references to a Japanese man taking photographs, which I didn't know was a stereotype of the Japanese even in the early 1940's. Fun, fun, fun, laugh out loud hilarious.

This is perhaps the funniest of all Stooges shorts, with many great scenes and gags. I have seen every one of the Stooges' shorts several times, and this has long been my favorite one. I also feel that Moe was the only impressionist to grasp the full severity of the world's most nefarious despot, which, years later, reveal just how extremely well informed, as well as accurate and highly intelligent Moe was. (I have often stated to my wife that I found Moe to be the funniest of the trio.) There are several notable scenes with adult humor content. In one scene, Gilda, the daughter of the deposed king, plans to place a loaded pool ball on the Stooges' pool table and tells Mr. Umpchay that when she gets through with Hailstone, "he won't know which end his axis is standing on", coming dangerously close to limits The National Board Of Review were imposing at the time. (My feeling is, that the Board probably had some reviewers who were adamantly opposed to Hitler and let that one slide.) The pool sequence is astonishingly well produced, and there's that extremely silly RHUMBA number again, when the evil leaders are all vying for the world! This is also one of the best written Stooges shorts in that it is entirely consuming from start to finish. In a personal event that involved this short, in 1991, my wife was at the local hospital. I was in the waiting room, which seemed to be filled with nothing but other husbands, on a winter Sunday morning. In the corner there was a TV set playing. At 11:00 AM, a local UHF station broad-casted Stooges shorts for one hour on Sundays in those days, which this set just happened to be tuned to. As 11:00 rolled around, the sound of the Stooges opening title music attracted my attention and I put down the Sunday paper to look. The first short was this one. None of the other men were watching. As I started to laugh, then guffaw, the other men became curious, put down their magazines, and within 3 or 4 minutes, the entire room was exploding in laughter. I don't think I ever laughed so hard in my life! One of the funniest scenes I will never forget, is when Moe has summoned Curley and Larry. As they goose step into the room, one of them is marching in reverse. When they stop in front of Moe, both of them have one of their legs raised, to which Moe retorts: "put 'em down!" A number of Stooges shorts will likely never be shown on TV, as they have been banned for various social reasons. Although this one is still screened occasionally, it is quite rare. Until I bought the complete collection in 2007, that screening in the hospital waiting room was the last time I had seen it. If I had to choose 10 of the stooges MUST SEE shorts, this would be at the very top of the list. In conclusion, every woman I have ever known has claimed to have disliked the Stooges. Yet, when I get them to watch one of their shorts, they always laugh! Go figure.