Dizzy Detectives

Larry, Curly, and Moe are workmen trying to install a door. It goes badly as expected. The boys are excited to be new policemen. There is an ape-man burglar on the loose and the commissioner is under pressure to find him/it. The boys receive a tip and go to find the ape-man.

This is two stories in one. I really like the door story. It's hilarious in the best Stooges way. Then there is this non-sensical switch in the story. I know the Stooges are the masters of nonsense but the writing still needs to flow better than a random flip of a switch. It completely throws me off. This is really better as two separate stories. The gorilla is an often used Stooges device. It has its fun like Curly shooting at his own foot. I'm guessing it's a robo-ape at the end. It could be more explicit. The big thing here is that this needs to be two separate shorts.

"Get the tools? "What tools? "The tools we've been using for the last 10 years!" "Oh, those tools."

Sound familiar? Well, that's just one of my lines used in the popular Three Stooges film. The first four minutes of this are full of "carpenter" gags with the classic scene in which Curley almost saws Moe head with a buzz saw. Moe takes a real beating, plummeting at one point through the floor to the next one. When he gets upset, Larry says, "Aw, you only fell 14 feet. Whaddya getting sore for??"

While beating each other up, a man enters th room and tells them the police have accepted their applications to be detectives, so they report to the station. At the same time, the local paper's headline reads, "Mysterious Burgarlies Panic City - Police Shakeup As Ape Man Strikes Again."

The boys begin their search at night for the ape man-crook at the "Gysom Good" antiques store. In the dark and spooky store, Curly gives us some of his classic routines, such as the cat and the rocking chair, and the hat on his foot with Curly thinking it's a person (much better seen than briefly explained). The chase scene with the gorilla, the real crooks and our three boys is hilarious.

There are a lot of puns used in this story, and Moe uses a lot of funny insulting names to his two partners. Curly calls the ape "a real chininy-panzee!"

This is another of the better Three Stooges Classics. Of the DVDs I have of them, each with six episodes, this one - "Cops and Robbers" - is one of the best.

If you look carefully, you'll see that the boys look much younger in the opening carpentry scenes than in the rest of the movie. That's because those scenes were filmed eight years earlier for the short, Pardon My Scotch.

Curly, in particular, is completely different. In the earlier stooge shorts, Curly acts more like a sissy, with a higher, more innocent voice, and he tends to keep his hands and fingers together in front of his chest. Once we hit Dizzy Detectives, though, he's much more mature and has evolved his familiar trademarks such as barking and twirling in a circle on the floor.

Another tip-off that these were two different shorts, of course, is the absolute non-sequitor involved in going from the boys being carpenters to them becoming detectives. All you need is a convenient walk-on role saying, "Your application has been accepted by the academy!"

This is a great Stooge short, especially the fight with Pickle and his two henchmen. I always love it when the boys get into a fight as they always get beat up in the beginning but in the end wind up knocking their opponents out in their own way. Also, the ending where Curly rams his head into the gorilla's stomach after it guzzled down a bottle of nitro glycerine is a classic gag. You can see that this was definitely an inspiration for Scooby Doo.

Dizzy Detectives (1943)

**** (out of 4)

Moe, Larry and Curly are working as carpenters when they accidentally cut through the floor and fall fourteen feet into a department where a detective tells them the chief wants to see them. The boys are made police officers with their only job to track down a gorilla who has been breaking into businesses stealing stuff.

DIZZY DETECTIVES is without question one of the greatest shorts that the Stooges ever made. From the opening to the very end there's one giant laugh after another and this is certainly a case where all the great things about the Stooges are done in one short and what a memorable and hilarious one it is. Throughout their careers they played carpenters countless times but never to perfection like they do here. There are some truly hysterical moments including some stuff lifted from their 1935 film PARDON MY SCOTCH.

The truly funny stuff happens during the second half when they respond to a call saying the gorilla is involved in another robbery. There are so many hilarious moments here including the various violence that breaks out. The Stooges were always known for beating one another and they certainly lay on some good slaps and punches here. The stuff dealing with the gorilla is just priceless including the finale where Curly has finally had enough and decides to go after him. Fans of the Stooges will certainly find this one here winner.