The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze
The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze | |
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stoogesdaze.jpg Film poster | |
Written by | Norman Maurer |
Directed by | Norman Maurer |
Starring |
Moe Howard Larry Fine Joe DeRita Jay Sheffield Joan Freeman |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Norman Maurer |
Cinematography | Irving Lippman |
Running time | 93 minutes |
Distributor | Columbia Pictures |
The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze is the fifth feature film made by The Three Stooges after their 1959 resurgence in popularity. By this time, the trio consisted of Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Joe DeRita (dubbed "Curly Joe"). Directed by Howard's son-in-law Norman Maurer, the film was loosely based on the Jules Verne classic Around the World in Eighty Days.
Plot[edit | edit source]
Phileas Fogg III (Jay Sheffield), great-grandson of the original Phileas Fogg, accepts a bet to duplicate his great-grandfather's famous trip around the world in response to a challenge made by Randolph Stuart III, the descendant of the original Fogg's nemesis. He was to do this without any money, otherwise speedy modern travel would make it too easy to replicate the feat. Unbeknownst to anyone, however, "Stuart" is the infamous con man Vicker Cavendish (Peter Forster) who made the bet in order to cover up his robbing the bank of England by framing Fogg for the crime.
With him in this plot is his weaselly Cockney co-conspirator Filch (Walter Burke). This makes for a dangerous journey for Fogg and his servants (the Stooges) and Amelia Carter (Joan Freeman), whom they rescue from thugs during a train ride. On the way, they also: try to steal a cream pie from the galley of a Turkey-bound British cargo ship (and poke the cook in his fat behind with a fishing gaff in the process); watch an elaborate Indian dance at a maharajah's palace, where blind-as-a-bat Curly Joe also regales the maharajah and the viceroy with knife throwing—until his disguise falls off; get captured in China by the Chinese Army, and survive Communist brainwashing in Shanghai with their interrogators turning into Chinese Stooge clones (Moe tells the Chinese general, "No brainee to washee!").
The disgusted Chinese set them adrift in a small boat; use Curly Joe's music-provoked strength to cadge food, clothes, and a trip to San Francisco from the manager of the monstrous sumo Itchy Kitchy (Iau Kea) after a demonstration in a park in Tokyo; stow away in a moving van, supposedly headed for New York City. Of course, they are caught, and arrested in Canada by the British inspector (the Stooges and Amelia fake British accents so the inspector will arrest them too).
Back in London, they cross paths again with the two conspirators, again disguised as police—and armed. Of course, the Stooges win out, and, as with the original Phileas Fogg, his descendant miscalculated by one day and still has a chance. Curly Joe gets behind the wheel of the Bobby paddy wagon and speeds across London, and young Fogg wins the bet—crashing into the Reformer's Club with two seconds to spare.
Cast[edit | edit source]
- Moe Howard as Moe
- Larry Fine as Larry
- Joe DeRita as Curly Joe
- Jay Sheffield as Phileas Fogg III
- Joan Freeman as Amelia Carter
- Walter Burke as Lory Filch
- Peter Forster as Vickers Cavendish/"Stuart"
- Maurice Dallimore as Inspector J. B. Crotchet
- Richard Devon as Maharajah
- Anthony Eustrel as Kandu
- Iau Kea as Itchi Kitchi
- Robert Kino as Charlie Okuma
- Phil Arnold as Referee
- Emil Sitka as Butler at Reformer's Club
- Laurie Main as a member of the Reformer's Club
Production[edit | edit source]
A number of Three Stooges themes are on display in this feature. Among them:
- The Stooges working as domestic servants (and proving barely competent to do the job), as in An Ache in Every Stake (1941).
- The Stooges – and, in this case, their companion also - stowing away aboard a ship and having to scrounge for food, as in Dunked in the Deep (1949).
- A number of people getting cakes, pies, and other foodstuffs in the face as a consequence of Stooge mishaps, again as in An Ache in Every Stake (1941).
- Curly (or, in this case, Curly-Joe) gaining uncontrollable berserker strength as a consequence of hearing “Pop Goes the Weasel”, as in Punch Drunks (1934).
- The maharajah routine (“Ma-ha.” “Ah-ha?” “Rajah!”) from Three Little Pirates (1946).
- Larry being used as a reluctant human target for a knife-throwing act, again as in Three Little Pirates (1946).
- The Stooges – and, in this case, their companions also – being captured by a military enemy, but not letting that stop them from bopping their interrogator, as in Boobs in Arms (1940).
- Curly (or, in this case, Curly-Joe) getting clobbered and almost losing a fight in the ring to a stronger opponent because Larry doesn’t have immediate access to a musical instrument on which to play “Pop Goes the Weasel”, again as in Punch Drunks (1934).
- The fight-in-the-room-with-the-lights-turned-out routine, as in Who Done It? (1949).
- The Stooges – or, in this case, an associate – being accused of a robbery, but ultimately capturing the crooks, recovering the loot, and clearing his name, as in Of Cash and Hash (1955).
- The Stooges helping a colleague win the hand of the girl of his dreams, as in Knutzy Knights (1954).
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
External links[edit | edit source]
- The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze at Internet Movie Database
- The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze at AllMovie
- The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze at threestooges.net
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Category:1963 films
Category:American films
Category:English-language films
Category:1960s comedy films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:Columbia Pictures films
Category:Films set in San Francisco
Category:Films set in London
Category:Films based on Around the World in Eighty Days
Category:The Three Stooges films
Category:American comedy films
Category:Films set in the United States