Dunked in the Deep

November 1949's "Dunked in the Deep," the comics delve into current political events, something they only did infrequently in the past. The Jules White-directed short sees the Stooges as friendly neighbors to Borscht (Gene Roth), who's smuggling microfilm hidden in three watermelons overseas. He asks the three to meet him on a boat transport to deliver him the melons. Stuck on the ship as stowaways, the Stooges ultimately discover the hidden microfilm, sparking an adventurous chase that has to be seen to believe. The Felix Adler script refers to the highly publicized 'Pumpkin Papers,' which led to the conviction of U. S. government official Alger Hiss for colluding with the Soviets. An editor for Time magazine, Whittaker Chambers, had been a Communist spy in the 1930s for the Ware Group, a covert unit of the Communist USA party, of which Alger was a member. As the courier for the group, Chambers took a few documents in 1938 right before quitting just in case the Wares got tough with him. Ten years later Chambers knew Congress was focusing on him and his Communist ties. He placed the incriminating papers and microfilm inside a pumpkin on his Westminster, Maryland farm, implicating, among others, US State Department official Alger Hiss.

Gene Stutenroth, who shortened his name to Gene Roth, plays the Soviet agent in "Dunked in the Deep." The soon-to-be actor was a successful businessman visiting Universal studio to watch a movie in progress when a member of the film crew spotted him, thinking he looked like a friend of German dictator Adolf Hitler. Gene was in high demand during and after WW2, eventually appearing in over 250 films and TV shows. Of all the roles he had played, his most famous line was delivered to Shemp who had the microfilm in "Dunked in the Deep," "Giff me dat fill-um!" ("give me that film" with a Russian accent.). Shemp had hurt his hand while opening a door while filming, and yes, that's Moe's voice on the radio in the movie's opening.

This was unusual in that there was only one other actor in this movie besides the Stooges.

Actor Gene Roth wasn't a name I recognized but I sure remembered his voice as a guy who had played villains more than once in Three Stooges films. He was a big guy with a gruff voice, like Vernon Dent who starred in many Stooges films. When posting this review, I looked up Roth's resume and it's amazing; the man did a lot of work with many guest shots on very popular TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s.

Anyway, here we have the old microfilm-hidden-in-the-watermelon angle, something I've seen before in some previous Stooges war movies (or I've just seen this movie several times and didn't remember). Roth plays a Russian spy named "Mr. Bortch" who hid the film and uses the boys to carry the melons on board a ship. There, they wind up stowaways and all the gags are what happens in the small room they are in.

They pass the time getting seasick, banging either other on the head or making corny jokes like:

"We were known as 'The Fish Market Duet.' "

The'Fish Market Duet'?

"Yeah, we sang for the halibut!"

Anyway, the real action starts when the boys figure out their friend is not whom they think he is....and the fight is on!

Larry, Moe, and Shemp are neighbors to a spy named Mr. Bortch. He recruits the boys into carrying three watermelons onto a ship bound for Europe. Microfilms are secretly hidden in the melons.

I saw Commotion on the Ocean (1956) before watching this. I think I like this one slightly better. It makes more sense that the boys trust Bortch due to being his neighbor and being their simple idiot self. They have a good costar. Everything fits in this one.

I've always loved the Three Stooges and this one of their finest films. As well as one of the few convenient films directed by long-time Columbia director Jules White. This short film has an amount of crude and humorous jokes. For example, when Shemp looks out the window on the ship, A giant splash of water gushes him. During the second time, A just splash of probably oil gashes on him fiercely upon his face.

This surely is one of the best Three Stooges shorts ever made for Columbia Pictures. Also, Gene Roth did a pretty good job on his accent as well as portraying Borscht. This also seems to be one of the few shorts in which the Three Stooges appear with only one actor. If there was any favorite short during the Shemp era, It's ought to be this short. This short deserves a well positive review.

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!

This is one of My favorite Three Stooges shorts! Gene Roth is excellent in it! The scenes with the Stooges especially with Shemp are really funny! The scene where Roth is chasing Shemp is hilarious! There is another Three Stooges short with alternate scenes called Commotion on the Ocean. This is really an underrated Stooges short!