I'll Never Heil Again

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!

I saw "I'll Never Heil Again" before I saw "You Nazty Spy" and I feel "I'll Never Heil Again" is the better short of the two. With "I'll Never Heil Again" the Stooge's acting had matured and their characters were much more defined and refined taking the story to the next and I believe higher plane. It is simply a comedy masterpiece in every aspect, maybe the best short they ever filmed; I have it on a DVD by its self. With this short we see Moe, Larry and Curly each being the absolute best at what they individually bring to the "Stooges." They all meld together to form one cohesive maniacal unit; just a real joy to watch.

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.

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.

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."