Restless Knights

Although the setting for this Three Stooges short is unusual and the costumes and sets much better than usual, it's otherwise a very typical sort of film for these folks. It begins with Moe, Curly and Larry being told by their sickly father that they are actually of noble birth and they are to go to the Queen and offer their services to her as guards--much like the Musketeers. However, when these three idiots are wrestling about as entertainment for the Queen, they don't notice that she's been kidnapped. They are arrested and only avoid execution when they are sent to find her. What follows are lots of folks being bonked on the head and people being stabbed in the butts with swords. If this is your kind of thing, you'll love this short. Otherwise, it has a lot of energy but lacks good belly laughs.

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

One of the most different Three Stooges shorts is Restless Knights. In this short are Geneva Mitchell, Stanley Blystone, Lynton Brent, Eadie Adams, George Baxter, and Walter Brennan. The acting by these actors are good especially by Mitchell and Blystone . the costumes and everything looks fantastic! There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! I recommend this one to all!

In February 1935's "Restless Knights," The Three Stooges are transported back to the Middle Ages. They discover they possess royal blood and have been assigned by their dying father to protect the queen of the small kingdom of Anesthesia, where her rule is in danger of a coup by the prime minister.

Charles Lamont accepted the assignment from Columbia Pictures to direct the trio in the first of only two movies he handled for the Stooges. He left Columbia Pictures after his second Stooges film because, as he said, "I had an intense hatred for Columbia president Harry Cohn." Lamont's known for his work with Abbott and Costello and Ma and Pa comedies.

When the dying dad (Walter Brennan) slaps his three sons, Moe, Larry and Curly, collectively in the face, it's the first time the three had been slapped at the same time from someone other than Moe, who usually dashed out the punishment. Brennan, a very busy character actor at the time, had a year earlier all his teeth knocked out filming a fight scene. He called that misfortune "the luckiest break in the world." Brennan was fitted with false teeth to replace his damaged ones, saying "when necessary I could take 'em out - and suddenly look about 40 years older." Hence, his perfect casting of an old man on his death bed.

Another first for the Stooges is the gag where one of them entice a group of baddies, one at a time, to chase him while the other two, hidden on each side of a passage with bats or sticks, slug them over the head as they run by. As expected, the Stooges get mixed up in their ambush by knocking out one of their own. Another first heard in "Restless Knights" is the famous Stooges' quote, "All for one! One for all! Every man for himself!"

The Three Stooges offer themselves as musketeers at the service of the Queen of France, whose Captain of the Guards is, unsurprisingly, planning to usurp the throne. After a bright start featuring Walter Brennan as The Stooges' dying father, this soon degenerates into a lengthy but unfunny wrestling bout among the boys; luckily, it picks up again when the Queen is abducted eventually, and much of the action in the second half involves the stars contriving to get rid of her captors.

Even though little is actually done with the medieval setting, it is nevertheless interesting as a spoof of many a costume piece/swashbuckler of its day – especially "The Three Musketeers"; for the record, director Lamont would helm many an Abbott & Costello vehicle during the coming decade.

Restless Knights (1935)

** (out of 4)

After hearing about a plot to assassinate the Queen, the Three Stooges becomes knights but trouble follows. I think this is one of the weakest shorts that feature the original group of Stooges. I think the writing is pretty lazy, which leads to extended scenes that just aren't very funny. The wrestling matches are deadly dull and pretty much kills everything that follows. Even the slapstick humor is pretty dull.

Now available in Columbia's 2-disc set, which features over 20 classic shorts.