We Want Our Mummy

A silly but definitely-a-lot-of-fun Three Stooges short, in which they wind up in an underground tomb looking for "King Rootin' Tootin.' Along the way, they find his wife "Hotsie Totsie." Yes, there were a lot of corny lines in here but some of them are genuinely funny.

Chase scenes with the Stooges are usually fun to watch, and that's the case here with "dead people" chasing the boys around the sandy place. Mummies, ghouls, and just plain thieves/kidnappers from New York are all involved in this comedy-crime-adventure. It's just pure goofy entertainment.

Even Curly turns into a mummy! Well, he's wrapped by Larry and Moe to look like one....with predictable-but-hilarious results. Hey, that "disguise" was nothing compared to the boys' "detective outfits" at the beginning of the show!

It seems everyone here is in agreement: this is a great Three Stooges film.

Larry, Curly, and Moe arrive at the Egyptian Room in the Museum of Ancient History. They have been hired to find Prof. Tuttle who is the key to finding the mummy of King Rutentuten. They inadvertently help in Tuttle's kidnapping. They are then hired to find Rutentuten despite the deadly consequences.

Curly swimming in the mirage is a wonder of physical comedy. It's simple, silly, and pure genius. Everything else is solid Stooges. The Mummy looks bad and that's great. It's stupid fun.

The Three Stooges capitalized on the rejuvenation of horror movies by appearing in their first scary movie, February 1939's "We Want Our Mummy," directed by Del Lord. This time the Stooges are employed as private detectives who are hired to locate a kidnapped college professor, who knows the whereabouts of Egyptian King Rootentooten. Hiring a cab, the Stooges travel to a remote desert spot in Egypt where they've traced the professor, only to come across the tomb of the ancient pharaoh. The thieves are lurking nearby, which, in order to escape, the trio decide to dress Curly as the mummy. As the gang leader searches the prone Stooge who's mummified under wraps, he comes across a newspaper. It's headlined "Yanks win World Series" detailing the New York Yankees sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the 1938 series, a rare acknowledgement in a Stooges' film of an actual sporting event. "Can you beat that!" says the gangster, to which Curly replies, "Yeah, and I won five bucks," blowing his cover.

"We Want Our Mummy" marked the first time in a Stooges film where a bad guy is disguised as a monster. This is also the first time Curly is heard chattering his teeth in a metallic sound as well as shaking like a dog after coming out of water-this from a well inside the tomb.

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.

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!