Customer Reviews

Three Stooges: They Stooge to Conga [VHS]

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Three of the Stooges best anti-war shorts: YOU NAZTY SPY!; I'LL NEVER HEIL AGAIN; and THEY STOOGE TO CONGA. The first is best, with Moe's brilliantly timed lampoon of Hitler, and Curly's Mussolini take-off which instantly became a classic. Directed and produced by Jules White.

YOU NAZTY SPY (1940) - An excellent Stooge short, and very different from the usual format. Moe does a wonderful job impersonation Hitler, and the man should've won an Academy Award for it. This has lots of hilarious verbal puns and one-liners.

I'LL NEVER HEIL AGAIN (1941) - A sequel to the above film. Not as great as that, but still very good in it's own right. This still has very funny scenes, and Moe's Hitler impression is pure gold by now. The fight at the end is the climax.

THEY STOOGE TO CONGA (1943) - An very funny film. Probably the most violent short, especially the climbing skike scne where Curly's climbing spikes end up in Moe's ear and eye!! I'm surprised the censorship board let that scene slide by. The increased violence just make the short more faster-paced and enjoyable. A must see.

An excellent tape, that displays the Stooges' best work from the WWII shorts.

This collection of a trio of "Three Stooges Shorts" that the boys did for Columbia during World War II is the one that I was most looking to find, since they take dead aim at Hitler (played by Moe Howard). Along with Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" and the Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny cartoons made during the war, these two-reelers have a special place in the history of the war effort on the home front:

"You Nazty Spy!" was actually made in 1940, over a year before Pearl Harbor. Yet after Chaplin's film Hitler and his henchmen were obviously fair game for the Stooges. The film opens with the caveat, "Any resemblance between the characters in this picture and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle," and the satire begins. The story is set in the kingdom of Moronica, where three ministers named Ixnay, Onay, and Amscray want to overthrow the king and bring in a dictator, which leads them to the Stooges: Moe Hailstone, Curly Gallstone, and Larry Pebble. Moe likes the idea of being dictator, especially after being advised to promise the people plenty in his speeches, but to give them nothing and take everything. There is actual political commentary in "You Nazty Spy!" as well as an atrocious number of puns. The Moronican flag has snakes in the shape of a swastika, Moe is barking like Hitler, and there is book burning and even putting the poor into a "concentrated camp." The only question is who Larry is supposed to be, since clearly Curly is a take off on Hermann Goering.

A year later the Stooges were back with the same characters in "I'll Never Heil Again." This time the opening declares: "The characters in this picture are all fictitious. Anyone resembling them is better off dead." This time the ministers want to replace Hailstone the dictator, who is now busy trying to take over the world. The satire is expanded this time to include Chissolini (Mussolini) and a Japanese partner as well. Again, it is clear that Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" was an inspiration because the struggle for world power turns into a football game using a globe as the pigskin. "I'll Never Heil Again" also has one of the most famous final shots of the Stooges, with their heads mounted on a way with out trophies.

For the final comedy in this set we get "They Stooge to Conga" from 1943, although that same year the boys all dressed up like Hitler again that year in "Higher Than a Kite" (only Moe does it again this time, but just to fool the bad guys). This time the boys are handymen who are hired to fix a doorbell in what turns out to be the headquarters for Nazi and Japanese spies. This time the Stooges are the good guys and after destroying the house in their usual accidental way they go after the bad guys with a sense of purpose rarely seen in these comedies. Of course by this point the United States was actually in the war, which might account for their patriotic success.

Obviously these are atypical Stooges comedies since they deal with the real world, not to mention satire and propaganda, but they are certainly important in their own right as such. It sure would have been nice to get all four of the episodes mentioned above on one videotape (or DVD even; modern technology is a wonderful thing).

I nearly died laughing at these three. These will make you laugh 'til you cry and then some, especially "They Stooge to Conga". Moe's portrayal as Hitler really made me laugh because I take World War II really seriously & he looks so much like him with that little scrap of black paper stuck to his upper lip. If you want to laugh & laugh really hard, THEN GET THESE SHORTS!

Personally, this was not as funny as a lot of other Stooge stuff. I guess I just couldn't separate myself from WW II. Nevertheless it is a great set of three historic satires. There are some subtle jabs at the Japanese also, portrayed as cronies for Moronica.

History Lesson for everyone. The short film YOU NAZTY SPY was the first film to spoof Hitler. Charlie Chaplin's THE GREAT DICTATOR was released months afterwards - although still in 1940. The Stooges were first.

Rumor has it that Lloyd Bridges ("Mike Nelson" from Sea Hunt) made his film debut in 1941 in the Three Stooges short, "They Stooge to Conga". Is it true? I have yet to verify this.
For the younger generation, Lloyd Bridges is probably better known as the whacked-out gruff air controller on "Airplane!". He also pops up in Joe Versus the Volcano, and made an appearance on Seinfield as a combative but nearly incapacitated old trainer... it's a riot.

Lloyd died on March 10, 1998, at the age of 85.