No Dough Boys

It's WW II and the boys are actors posing as Japanese soldiers for a magazine ad. On a break from shooting they stumble into a Nazi hideout where the commandant is waiting for the arrival of three Japanese soldiers and thinks that the stooges are them. The boys end up getting the best of both the Germans and Japanese and save the world.

Obviously, this can be an uncomfortable short to watch, due to the boys' broad Japanese mannerisms and dialect. But in 1944, Japan was the enemy in real life, and was tirelessly mocked. Just as in The Yoke's on Me, the writers had no problem with portraying Japanese as unintelligent buffoons. (One difference that makes that movie less acceptable is that the characters in it were American citizens who had "escaped" from a relocation center.) I even recognized the same actor who was in both movies--the younger guy with the Shemp-styled haircut.

All that said, this is an hilarious short: fast paced with gags and plenty of stooge humor galore. Putting it in the context of the time, you can get a lot of laughs out of it.

The boys are mistaken for three Japanese soldiers who had escaped from a submarine.

The Stooges had been dressed in Japanese military uniforms, posing for some kind of war pictures, and when their boss took off for lunch, so did they. The headlines in that day's newspaper warned citizens "to keep a sharp lookout" for the men. When the guys go to eat lunch, the owner-cook of the diner thinks they are the soldiers, so trouble ensues. The boys run off and then figure out why the guy acted like he did. They get a good laugh out of it. While they are laughing they lean up against a trap door and wind up in a house run by Nazis! (Only in these short stories.)

Anyway, the head Nazi (Vernon Dent, who else?) knows they are not the real "Japs" as they know them and he, along with three women, play along, making the Stooges perform an acrobatic act. That part takes up the bulk of the movie, and is only so-so in humor. The final few minutes are a lights-out mêlée between all the parties, including the real spies.

The best part of this Stooge film is the dialog, although today a lot of this stuff would be considering politically incorrect, especially against the Japanese. The boys may be a bit older but they sound and act as if they were still in their prime. Curly would be handicapped with strokes in a few years but he was in good shape here with all his physical gags.

This is a great film to look at for a couple of reasons. One is the the acrobatic act, which the boys used to perform in their vaudeville days. The other is Moe's crazy dialect. This was definitely an underrated talent of Moe's and he really got a chance to showcase it in this short.

Larry, Curly, and Moe dress as Japanese soldiers for a photo shoot. They have fifteen minutes for a quick lunch. News reports that three Japanese soldiers are on the loose. They fall through a trap door and happens upon a secret Nazi hideout.

The guys are doing yellow-face which is perfectly humorous for its time and during wartime against Japan. On top of that, the boys are almost making fun of yellow-face acting. The more disappointing part is the stunt double for Curly. His health issues don't allow him to do the tougher stunts but it's still disappointing. They should rewrite this to let Curly do less strenuous stunts and avoid the body double. This is a wartime Stooges propaganda and I'm sure it was popular with the soldiers.

This is another great short from the stooges. The stooges look quite strange in this, especially Curly. I loved the fight scene and the acrobatics scene. Its still nice to see some Nazis get beaten around though. Overall, almost perfect, but there are better wartime shorts they did.

Grade: A