Three Missing Links

The Stooges go from totally-inept janitors to actors working for the "Super Terrific Productions" movie company, under the leadership of "B.O. Botswaddle." That occurs when the latter takes a good look at our guys and proclaims, "We've found our missing links."

They look just like the Neanderthals Botswaddle is looking for to shoot his next motion picture. The Stooges are too dumb to realize they've just been insulted. They are just happy to become actors.

The real fun happens when the film crew arrives in Africa. We get tons, literally, of gags signs to puns to outrageous physical stuff. (i.e. The Stooges see a sign on a hut that reads, "Dr. Ba Loni Sulami, Medicine Man, Hours 2-5 Or By Appointment.")

The best gags, IMO, come, when a real ape appears and gets confused with Curly the ape role. Both look identical and mayhem ensues and nobody knows if it's Curly or the real gorilla.

Jane Hamilton looked hot as the film-within-in-a-film female star "Mirabel Mirabel."

Absolute bananas, thanks to producer Jules White, who directed this mini classic and many more to come for good reason. White, like his brother Jack, wrote the book on Stooge comedy.

A Hollywood setting, Moe, Larry and Curly are janitors(?) at a movie studio called, Super Terrific Productions. Producer B. O. Botswaddle (James C. Morton, ofcourse) needs an actor to play a gorilla and Curly is chosen -- because he's just plain NUTS. Botswaddle claims he looks like the missing link? No arguement there. The guys head to Africa to film, "Jilted in the Jungle"(?) and its insane.

Best gag is Curly dressed as an ape confronting Naba, another gorilla (played by stuntman Ray "Crash" Corrigan) and the tribal witch doctor, Dr. Ba Loni Sulami (real life boxer John Lester Johnson). The doc gives him a "love portion" pill which is something like Viagra! Amazing

Lots of funny names; character actor Monte Collins plays Herbert Herrybone and Jane Hamilton plays Mirabel Mirabel. Searle Kramer's script is nuts, and enough material to have made this into a film. The Stooge possibilities were endless. Kramer later branched into tv and wrote for the FLYING NUN and GREEN ACRES.

Memorable line; "We're terrific! We're colossal! We're even mediocre!"

Always on remastered Columbia dvd, generally by decades, 30s, 40s and 50s episodes. Thanks much to METV for running these oldies Saturdays.

As far as the Three Stooges go, this one is a stand alone classic! All family members will enjoy this one. I highly recommend this Three Stooges short.

Three Missing Links (1938)

*** (out of 4)

The Three Stooges are working as janitors at a movie studio when they're fired but then re-hired to go to Africa where they're filming a jungle movie. In the film Curly is to play a gorilla but sure enough when they start filming a real gorilla shows up on the set. It doesn't appear that this Stooge short has a very good reputation and while it does start off a little slow, things really pick up during the final ten-minutes. The stuff in the office at the start of the film is pretty much "been there, done that" because we get the typical antics like water being slung around and of course each men gets knocked upside the head a time or two. The second half is when things really take off and even though these jokes aren't too original they're still hilarious at times. The highlight for me has the be the scene where the boys are asleep in their tent with their feet sticking out. A lion comes up and begins licking the, tickling the boys but they think it's one another doing the job. More laughs are to follow when the gorilla enters the picture and no one can tell which one is real and which one is Curly. The final ten-minutes had me laughing extremely hard and this is clearly one people should enjoy.

In their previous movie, July 1938's "Three Missing Links," the Stooges find themselves as janitors at a Hollywood studio office. Causing all sorts of mayhem, the Stooges find out producer B. O. Botswaddle (James Morton) is having trouble finding a leading man to play the gorilla in his latest film. When Curly performs his classic "chicken with its head cut off" routine, the producer says Curly is the "dead image of the missing link." The three are hired and travel to a remote location in Africa to film the movie. With Curly in the gorilla suit, they bump into a neighboring tribal cannibalistic medicine man (John Lester Johnson), where he introduces them to his "love candy," a candy laced with an early version of Viagra.

"Three Missing Links" was the first of many of the Stooges movies to be directed by producer Jules White, whose brother Jack had handled several of their previous films. Jules' passion was directing, and when the opportunity came up at Columbia Pictures to direct the Stooges, he immediately assigned himself to the job.

"Three Missing Links" was also the first Stooges film without Ted Healy that featured actor Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, who plays the 'real' gorilla using his own monkey suit. Corrigan's specialty was dressed as a gorilla in a number of movies, including 1934's "Tarzan and His Mate." In 1937, while on a hunting trip with Clark Gable, he came upon some southern California acreage he felt would be perfect for filming movies, especially Westerns because of its varying typography, including lakes, hills and caves. After constructing lodging for the film crew and their support staff as well as a Western-themed ranch for a set, Corrigan rented out his land to a number of film studios. Bob Hope in 1966 purchased the little village named Corriganville, and renamed it Hopetown. The area is now Corriganville Park, containing many hiking trails and historical sites.