We Want Our Mummy

A BLAST. No other way to describe this campy classic. What all us kids lived for, a Stooge horror film. The phenom success of the MUMMY inspired this comedy, and with all the eerie trappings. The production folks burned the midnight oil, coming up with some creative sets. Director Del Lord worked his magic.

Moe, Larry and Curly are "ace" detectives, hired to find noted archaeologist Professor Tuttle (Robert B. Williams), lost somewhere in Egypt, searching for the mummy of King Rutentuton? Plenty of gags and silly one-liners fill the lopsided adventure, the Stooges playing hide and seek with dopey thieves who kidnapped Tuttle. By the way, check out the stunts, which are excellent. The stunt team is to be commended for gymnastics 101.

Atmospheric and Stooge spooky in spots; tall and lanky Theodore Lorch plays the mummy under lots of bandages. No, he's not Boris Karloff, but still a cool monster on the loose. Bud Jamison plays Dr. Crowell and James C. Morton plays Professor Wilson. If you're a tv western fan, Robert B. Williams later appeared in GUNSMOKE, the VIRGINIAN and BONANZA.

Beautifully written by Stooge pros, Elwood Ullman and Searle Kramer. Yes, there's a rare bit where Curly compares notes with the crooks, mentioning the 1938 World Series between the Yankees and the Cubs. A Stooge first.

Look out for Queen Hotsy Totsy.

The success of this comedy short may have inspired the writers at Universal to produce THE MUMMY'S HAND the following year. It makes sense.

Always on Columbia dvd, generally decades box sets, 30s, 40s and 50s episodes. Some sets have theme-related episodes. Thanks always to METV for running these oldies Saturdays.

This was one of the better Three Stooges shorts. I especially liked how, despite very little material that didn't involve the Stooges themselves, the filmmaker managed to create a credible background for the "straight men" without taking time away from the Stooges. (Though it's clear the villains aren't terribly bright-anyone who couldn't tell an alive Curly wrapped up from a real mummy has no business studying ancient artifacts! Cartoon logic, which transfers strangely well to live action here...). The alligator is a welcome addition to the story, though it does seem to come from out of nowhere...

We Want Our Mummy (1939)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Classic Three Stooges short has the boys playing detectives who are given the case of going to Egypt and locating the mummy known as King Rootin-Tootin. A museum will pay $5000 for him but what the boys don't know is that there is a curse with it. This here is pure madness and ranks as one of the best Stooge shorts out there. Everything people love about the Stooges can be had in this short as we get a great storyline, classic laughs and some terrific dialogue. There are many highlights here but one classic scene has Curly accidentally smashing the mummy and having to be wrapped up himself to try and fool some bad guys. Another great moment is when Moe looks through a telescope to see the desert but he ends up seeing something else. There's really not a dry moment anywhere in this film as it gets started with some great laughs and just keeps getting funnier as it moves along. As a die-hard horror fan I'd also go out on the limb and call this one of the best mummy movies ever made. It's certainly a lot better than many of the spoofs out there that deals with the mummy creature.

The first few minutes of this Three Stooges film were a hoot, as the Stooges were hired to find a missing Egytologist as well as the ancient king, Rootin-Tootin. The reasoning given for hiring these idiots was priceless--"no sane person would agree to do this" and "if they are killed by the curse it would be a blessing to humanity"! During this short scene, the jokes and gags come pretty quickly and I must say this Stooge film starts a lot better than most of their films.

When the arrive in Egypt, instead of the action slowing down, the film continued with a very high pace--and filled with pretty good gags--among the best you'll see the Stooges do in any of their shorts. It's funny but this approximately 16 minute short has about as many laughs as the full-length ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY.

FYI--The voice doing the radio commercial was Moe Howard's. Also, the Alligator used in the film looks quite real and not like a cheesy prop. Too bad alligators are only native to North America!

Moe, Larry and Curly are three detectives. They go to Egypt to find the mummy of king Rootin-Tootin and of course things are not as they seem and do not go as planned. Some very nice moments, even the predictable moments are funny, make this a great funny short from the Three Stooges!