Back from the Front (1943)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Jules White

Writers:

Ewart Adamson (story)
Jack White (story)

Release Date:

28 May 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

Set in WW II, the stooges are the only survivors of an American ship sunk by an enemy torpedo. Adrift on a raft...

Plot Keywords:

Hitler | The Three Stooges | WWII | Saint Bernard Dog | Slapstick

Cast

Curly Howard	...	Curly (as Curly)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stanley Blystone	...	Herr Capitan (uncredited)
Sally Cairns	...	(uncredited)
Heinie Conklin	...	German Sailor (uncredited)
Lew Davis	...	German Sailor (uncredited)
Vernon Dent	...	Lt. Dungen (uncredited)
George Gray	...	German Sailor (uncredited)
Bud Jamison	...	Petty Officer (uncredited)
Jack 'Tiny' Lipson	...	Huge German Sailor (uncredited)
Harry Semels	...	German Sentry (uncredited)
Al Thompson	...	German Sailor (uncredited)

Directed by
Jules White

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ewart Adamson		story and screenplay
Jack White		story and screenplay

Produced by
Jules White	....	producer

Cinematography by
John Stumar

Film Editing by
Edwin H. Bryant		(as Edwin Bryant)

Art Direction by
Carl Anderson

Music Department
John Leipold	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures
• Screen Gems (1958) (USA) (TV)

Runtime:

USA:19 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Quotes:

Moe: [Dressed as Hitler] Ach, ich ich ich ach, ach ze vompen ze hast haben! Ja? You fail to catch three spies! Blow out your brains!
Herr Capitan: But mein fuher, ve are nazis! Ve have no brains!
Moe: Zen vat you got, blow out!
Herr Capitan: Heil Hitler!
Moe: Hang Hitler! Ven my field marshall counts three, start blowing!
Curly: One!... What comes after one?
Moe: TWO! Never mind, fat boy, I count myself. One! Two! Th . . t . . t . . ACHOO!
Herr Capitan: [Picks up mustache that Moe sneezed off] Oh, mein fuher!
Moe: Oh, my personality, thanks buddy.

If Only The Nazis Were This Dumb, It Would Have Been A Short War

The boys rush in the house, and we hear "Tizzy! Lizzie! Dizzy! Inky! Winky! Stinky! as they greet one another. The girls - all with those long early '40s hairdos - ask, "what's with the get-ups?

"We've signed up as sailors on a steamer," they explain. "Kiss us goodbye." The dodge that and Larry and Moe wind up kissing each other while Curly smooches the Saint Bernard. They get their real kisses, though, and announce "we're off to sea to see what we can see! See?" Yes, there are a lot of corny lines in here, as a corny dance number as they exit.

Once on the boat, Larry and Moe are seasick while Curly is fine and asks them if they'd like some of his raw liver. He laughs at them, as they run elsewhere to throw up, but then it hits him.

Longtime Stooges contributor Vernon Dent plays the Bosun "Duncan" who is really a German spy. Totally insane things happen from that point, such as the boys thinking a torpedo is a whale and trying to hammer it and, in the process, blowing up the ship. Yet, after surviving on a small raft for days eating beans, they wind up on a German ship (the S.S. Shickelgruber) with the same "Duncan" and another longtime Stooge player, Bud Jamison.

Through some ridiculous turn of events in which the Nazis are made to look like total idiots (too much so, to be fair), the eliminate every German on the ship! Don't ask....none of it makes sense, but that's the Three Stooges.