Restless Knights

In Medieval times, Larry, Curly, and Moe are the sons of a count. On his death bed, he tells them that they are of royal blood. The boys go seeking to reclaim their kingdom and become the Queen's guards.

Curly is just physically funny. While fighting with Moe, his fawning over the Queen is simply joyful idiocy. I love him when he does the most basic comedic moves. The Musketeers story is meaningless. This is a Stooges short after all. I really like the smaller Curly moments more than any big scenes.

In February 1935's "Restless Knights," The Three Stooges are transported back to the Middle Ages. They discover they possess royal blood and have been assigned by their dying father to protect the queen of the small kingdom of Anesthesia, where her rule is in danger of a coup by the prime minister.

Charles Lamont accepted the assignment from Columbia Pictures to direct the trio in the first of only two movies he handled for the Stooges. He left Columbia Pictures after his second Stooges film because, as he said, "I had an intense hatred for Columbia president Harry Cohn." Lamont's known for his work with Abbott and Costello and Ma and Pa comedies.

When the dying dad (Walter Brennan) slaps his three sons, Moe, Larry and Curly, collectively in the face, it's the first time the three had been slapped at the same time from someone other than Moe, who usually dashed out the punishment. Brennan, a very busy character actor at the time, had a year earlier all his teeth knocked out filming a fight scene. He called that misfortune "the luckiest break in the world." Brennan was fitted with false teeth to replace his damaged ones, saying "when necessary I could take 'em out - and suddenly look about 40 years older." Hence, his perfect casting of an old man on his death bed.

Another first for the Stooges is the gag where one of them entice a group of baddies, one at a time, to chase him while the other two, hidden on each side of a passage with bats or sticks, slug them over the head as they run by. As expected, the Stooges get mixed up in their ambush by knocking out one of their own. Another first heard in "Restless Knights" is the famous Stooges' quote, "All for one! One for all! Every man for himself!"

The Three Stooges offer themselves as musketeers at the service of the Queen of France, whose Captain of the Guards is, unsurprisingly, planning to usurp the throne. After a bright start featuring Walter Brennan as The Stooges' dying father, this soon degenerates into a lengthy but unfunny wrestling bout among the boys; luckily, it picks up again when the Queen is abducted eventually, and much of the action in the second half involves the stars contriving to get rid of her captors.

Even though little is actually done with the medieval setting, it is nevertheless interesting as a spoof of many a costume piece/swashbuckler of its day – especially "The Three Musketeers"; for the record, director Lamont would helm many an Abbott & Costello vehicle during the coming decade.

This is one of those stooges films that starts off with a bang(the scenes with Walter Brennan playing the boys father, the wrestling match in the castle)then starts to run out of steam after about 8 minutes and doesn't pack as many ROFL moments to close out the short that it started with.

5/10

Although the setting for this Three Stooges short is unusual and the costumes and sets much better than usual, it's otherwise a very typical sort of film for these folks. It begins with Moe, Curly and Larry being told by their sickly father that they are actually of noble birth and they are to go to the Queen and offer their services to her as guards--much like the Musketeers. However, when these three idiots are wrestling about as entertainment for the Queen, they don't notice that she's been kidnapped. They are arrested and only avoid execution when they are sent to find her. What follows are lots of folks being bonked on the head and people being stabbed in the butts with swords. If this is your kind of thing, you'll love this short. Otherwise, it has a lot of energy but lacks good belly laughs.