You Nazty Spy! (1940)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Jules White

Writers:

Felix Adler (story)
Clyde Bruckman (story)

Release Date:

19 January 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

In this satire of the Nazis the stooges are paperhangers in the country of Moronica. When evil cabinet ministers overthrow the king...

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Paperhanger | Dictator | Lion | Hitler

Cast

Curly Howard	...	Curly Gallstone (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry Pebble (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe Hailstone (as Moe)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Don Beddoe	...	Mr. Amscray (uncredited)
Dick Curtis	...	Mr. Ohnay (uncredited)
Florine Dickson	...	Miss Pfiffernuss (uncredited)
Richard Fiske	...	Mr. Ixnay (uncredited)
Lorna Gray	...	Mattie Herring (uncredited)
Eddie Laughton	...	Second Minister (uncredited)
Joe Murphy	...	Peasant (uncredited)
'Little Billy' Rhodes	...	Bellboy (uncredited)
Al Thompson	...	Third Minister (uncredited)
John Tyrrell	...	First Minister (uncredited)
Bert Young	...	Storm Trooper (uncredited)

Directed by
Jules White

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Felix Adler		story and screenplay (as Felix Alder)
Clyde Bruckman		story and screenplay

Produced by
Jules White	....	producer

Cinematography by
Harry Davis

Film Editing by
Art Seid		(as Arthur Seid)

Music Department
Leigh Harline	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Ben Oakland	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Screen Gems (1958) (USA) (TV)

Also Known As:

Oh, You Natzy Spy! (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

18 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

This Stooges short was Moe Howard's personal favorite.

Quotes:

Mr. Ixnay: We've come here to offer you the greatest opportunity of your life.
Moe: You mean you'll let us paper the living room?
Mr. Ixnay: No, no, no. You're through with papering. My partners and I are going to make you Dictator of Moronica.
Moe: Dictator? What does a Dictator do?
Mr. Ixnay: A Dictator? Why, he makes love to beautiful women, drinks champagne, enjoys life and never works. He makes speeches to the people promising them plenty, gives them nothing and takes everything. *That's* a Dictator.
Curly Gallstone, Field Marshal: Hmph, a parasite. That's for me.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Three Stooges (2000) (TV)

More satire than merely slapping.

This one shows the Stooges, the writers, and the studio all in top form. The writing is very clever, in fact rather Marxist, that is Marx Brothers type. Moe as a "Hitler type" dictator and Curly as a "mussolini", they just can't miss. Curly even does a "Bob Hope" when he turns to the camera and in reference to some dialog between Moe and Larry says, "They're nuts!" In comparison to Chaplin's overzealous take on 'ol Shicklegruber, this is much funnier. Cahplin at this point, or more accurately from about the mid 1920's onward, tends to get too much pathos involved with otherwise great comedy. His comedies and especially his feature films always seemed to be attempting to send the world a message or moral. Much like the Our Gang shorts produced during their floundering MGM period. The Stooges version is played strictly for laughs and well it should be. If you're going to play someone as rotten as Hitler, than make a total ass out of him without any appearances of "having seen the light" like Chaplin does at the end of his "Great Dictator". The Stooges are all fired up in this one and I'll bet Chaplin was too, considering the Stooge's version was released before Chaplin's. "Hail, Hail, Hailstone! Wahoo!"