Termites of 1938 (1938)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Del Lord

Writers:

Al Giebler (story)
Elwood Ullman (story)

Release Date:

7 January 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Tagline:

They've Got the Bug-House Blues!

Plot:

The stooges are pest exterminators, mistakenly hired by a rich lady looking for an escort to a fancy society party...

Plot Keywords:

The Three Stooges | Slapstick | Number In Title

Cast

Curly Howard	...	Curly (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Beatrice Blinn	...	Guest (uncredited)
Symona Boniface	...	Guest (uncredited)
Richard Fiske	...	Arthur Twitchell (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Mrs. Muriel Van Twitchell (uncredited)
Dorothy Granger	...	Mrs. Mabel Sturgeon (uncredited)
John Ince	...	Clayhammer (uncredited)
Bud Jamison	...	Lord Wafflebottom (uncredited)
Etta McDaniel	...	Mandy - The Maid (uncredited)

Directed by
Del Lord

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Al Giebler		story and screenplay
Elwood Ullman		story and screenplay

Produced by
Charley Chase	....	associate producer
Hugh McCollum	....	associate producer

Cinematography by
André Barlatier

Film Editing by
Art Seid		(as Arthur Seid)

Music Department
Victor Schertzinger	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Louis Silvers	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1938) (USA) (theatrical)
• Screen Gems (1958) (USA) (TV)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1999) (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

USA:18 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor High Fidelity Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The Three Stooges' first short of 1938, hence the reference in the title.

Movie Connections:

Follows Ants in the Pantry (1936)

Bland

Termites of 1938 (1938)

** (out of 4)

A woman needs a date so she decides to call an escort service but she accidentally dials a termite company being led by Moe, Larry and Curly. The boys end up going to this lavished party and all hell breaks loose of course. This is one of the very few Stooges short where I found nothing to be funny. I really don't recall laughing once, which is saying quite a bit but I found this thing to be rather boring from start to finish. The first half deals with the boys trying to catch a mouse by rigging a trap to fire off a canon but of course things go wrong. The second half deals with the party where we get some unfunny gags including one where the rich people start copying the way the Stooges are eating their mashed potatoes. I noticed that Charley Chase was credited with Associate Producer but you can't notice any of his touch here.