They Stooge to Conga

"They Stooge to Conga," The Three Stooges' first release of 1943, has earned the reputation of being the most violent film in their 24-year short subject span. True, the film is violent, sometimes to the extreme; however, the violence is short-lived, the Stooges are not permanently hurt, and the end result is mayhem and mirth of the first order.

A careful comparison of "They Stooge to Conga" with their 1936 film "Half-Shot Shooters" offers proof that "Conga" is not their most violent film. In "Shooters," arms are broken and eardrums are busted. In "Conga," Moe gets his scalp, eye and ear poked with a climbing spike. While cringe-worthy in itself, this violence is not long lasting, allowing the viewer to relax and enjoy the unfolding comedy.

Give "They Stooge to Conga" another chance. Look past the critical analysis that condemn this film's violence and just enjoy it as another Stooges wartime farce. 7 out of 10.

This short contains the most violent gag in Stooge history. The spike from Curly's shoe goes into Moe's eye! How could Del Lord and Hugh McCollum allow such a gag? This was more in the style of Jules White. I would like to note that these "violent beyond any doubt to be funny" gags are really few and far between in the Three Stooges canon. They did make 190 short subjects for Columbia! The other over the top violent gags I can think of consist of the following: the wire, nose, ear gag in "Pardon My Backfire", the bellows gag in "Corny Casanovas", the Christmas lights down Moe's throat gag in "He Cooked His Goose", and "Half Shot Shooters" almost in its entirety. It must be noted that it was not the Stooges shorts alone that engaged in cruel comic violence. These kind of gags can be found in other Columbia short comedies, especially those directed by Jules White. Lest we forget, Stan Laurel had a cruel, violent streak in his comedy as well.

I saw this one years ago and one scene has stayed with me. Moe walks into a room, sees a portrait of Hitler, stops in his tracks, and cries, "Schickelgruber!" The body language and intonation convey a perfect combination of surprise, fear, and revulsion, but in the use of the name "Schickelgruber," he simultaneously conveys contempt. Here at the height of World War II, Moe managed in just a second or two with his facial expression, movement, and tone of voice, to perfectly capture the nation's disgust and loathing toward the Nazis and especially their leader, while figuratively sticking his tongue out or thumbing his nose or whatever on our behalf at the same time.

Moe's talent went way beyond the bullying "boss stooge;" here we see his brilliance as a social and political satirist captured in one quick moment.

The most violent Three Stooges episode you say? Count me in, bub! In this episode the trio of troublesome are using a sort of door-to-door, work-for-hire type of racket to get some bread. They luck out at a house, and are supposed to fix the doorbell. Easy enough. Well, luck be true for the gang they've accidentally knocked on the front door of a Nazi Safehouse. Besides making a total mess of the place, hurting one another and poor, Dudley Dickerson, they also catch wind of their Nazi issues. All of this combines for another classic and hilarious Stooges episode.

Even though it's coined the most violent episode, don't be surprised to catch yourself scratching your noggin trying to figure out why it was banned for violence. The episode is, I suppose, a bit more violent, as Curly really gets the woiks here, being electrocuted, lit on fire, and his nose sharpened...but I'm thinking the depiction of the German sub sinking, and the men on board frantic about to die, was deemed the selling point for hitting the red button. But ya never know.

I do have to give a special shout-out to Dudley Dickerson's role in this one. Of course he plays the stereotype black servant, as were the times, but phewy, he was hilarious in this. Those poking eyeballs of his were the perfect ingredients for amazing comedy. And that telephone scene...oh boy, just watch the episode and TRY not to bust a gut!

They Stooge to Conga (1943)

*** (out of 4)

Funny short from The Three Stooges has the men working as "fixer uppers" who can fix anything. A woman asks them to fix their doorbell and the boys accept the job not knowing that inside the house are Nazi spies.

THEY STOOGE TO CONGA is a pretty good entry in the long running series as it contains some pretty good laughs and is also a good example of comedy during WWII. Obviously being shot during the war, there are many jokes here aimed at Germany, Japan and especially Hitler. The Hitler jokes are all pretty funny as we get all sorts of gags aimed at the salute to their leader. Another very funny moment happens when Moe pretends to be a portrait of Hitler and gives a salute back to the Germans.

Fans of the Stooges are going to find quite a few jokes here that work including the rather long opening sequence where the boys destroy the house trying to "fix" the door bell. Overall this isn't the greatest episode in the series but it contains enough laughs to make it worth viewing.