I'll Never Heil Again

Of all the films the Three Stooges made, they only appeared in two of their sequels. The first was July 1941's "I'll Never Heil Again," a follow-up to their wildly successful satire on the German leaders in 1940's "You Nazty Spy!" That was Hollywood's first parody of Adolf Hitler, predating Charlie Chaplin's 1940 "The Great Dictator" by several months. Moe, Larry and Curly pick up their characterization of the Fuhrer (Moe), Field Marshal Hermann Goring (Curly) and Joseph Goebbels (Larry) in their quest to conquer the world.

At the time of filming in April 1941, Germany had been frustrated by its attempts to invade England and was turning its sights on the Soviet Union to the east. In "I'll Never Heil Again," the Stooges conduct a meeting with the 'Axel' partners, including USSR, Italy and Japan, where the movie is prescient of the fateful events about to take place that summer. The three German leaders play keep-away with the room's globe against the other participants, most notably against the Russian leader. Another foreshadowing in the Stooges film was the allies of the deposed monarch of the Kingdom of Moronikas, a country Moe Hailstone's troops had just conquered. They arrange to overthrow the German leaders by planting an explosive ball (number 13) on the pool table the three are known to play on. The suspense throughout the film is on that explosive billiard ball as they try to hit it on the table before tossing it around. The tension of the ever-present bomb is analogous three years later to the assassination attempt of Hitler in July 1944, known as Operation Valkyrie when disgruntled officers placed a suitcase containing a bomb under his table during a strategy meeting.

Moe Howard, dressed in his German military uniform, was running late to his daughter's birthday party while filming "I'll Never Heil Again." He rushed home in his car to attend the party, stunning passersby who phoned police reporting a Nazi was driving along the Los Angeles freeways. Moe spent the entire birthday party dressed as Hitler, to the delight of the attendees. The Stooges would not make another sequel for sixteen years when they appeared in 1957's "Horsing Around," a sequel to 1957's "Hoofs and Goofs."

In the country of Moronica, Moe is Hailstone the Dictator, Curly is a Field Marshal, and Larry is Minister of Propaganda. They are Nazi-like rulers trying to take over the world with the other Axis powers. The former king is trying to take back his kingdom and his daughter plants a bomb in their headquarters.

This is the sequel to You Nazty Spy! (1940) and follows Chaplin's great satire The Great Dictator (1940). Most of it is down with a nudge and a wink to the audience. It's not quite as meta. It's a direct spoof of the real world. The boys manage to have their cake and eat it too. They are the bumbling Nazis and get to fight the other Axis leaders. I can see this as a safe anti-Nazi film for the masses. The boys are using their power for the war effort.

This particular short subject for the one and only time in their careers has the 3 Stooges villains in their own film. But what villains they be in this rough house satire on the government in Germany.

Put that Charlie Chaplin mustache on Moe and he makes a wonderful dictator of Moronica who overthrew the traditional monarchy there with the battle cry of Moronica for Morons. In fact with Larry as the propaganda minister and Curly as the defense minister the Stooges short is a wonderful followup to Chaplin's The Great Dictator.

The Three Stooges were never terribly original in their material, they borrowed from other comics quite liberally. Whole bits like them playing catch with the globe with their 'allies' are taken right from The Great Dictator. But the Stooges never had the writing talent available to them that other comics did, they were burlesque comics who worked fast and cheap. But always funny.

I'll Never Heil Again is one of their best short subject and I think Moe is as good a Hitler as Chaplin was.

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.

Great satire and a treat for historians. Keep in mind this was made during World War II in what looks like late 1940-1941. One of the characters attending the meeting looks a lot like Stalin. Germany and the USSR were buddies until June 22, 1941. References to Greece and the blitz are priceless. A stooge classic!