SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 16:06 Min. (Black & White)
Produced and directed by Jules White off Felix Adler’s script, this 1955 Stooges crime caper is the last to present all-new material with Shemp Howard. Spoofing Dragnet, hard-bitten police detectives Halliday (Moe), Tarraday (Larry), & St. Patrick’s Day (Shemp) reveal, through flashbacks, how they evolved from U.S. Army soldiers to big city vice cops.
After a courageous wartime stand against enemy forces, the trio enrolls in criminology school. Having somehow graduated (with the lowest possible honors, they concede), their first and potentially last assignment from the police captain is to snare the elusive, cross-dressing hoodlum dubbed ‘The Eel.’
Staking out the seedy ‘Biltless Hotel,’ the Stooges’ pursuit of ‘The Eel’ leads them into a Turkish bath. More so, splitting up to better chase their gun-packing quarry, ultimately, leads into their future careers.
Moe (Halliday): Moe Howard
Larry (Terraday): Larry Fine
Shemp (St. Patrick’s Day, etc.): Shemp Howard
Alma Matter (Registrar of the criminology school): Angela Stevens
Watts D. Matter (Dean of the criminology school): Frank Sully
Police Capt. F.B. Eye: Kenneth MacDonald
‘The Eel:’ Benny Rubin
Hotel Clerk: Al Thompson
Hotel Waiter: Uncredited
Turkish Bath Girls: June Lebow, Barbara Donaldson, Marjorie Jackson, Bonnie Henjum, & Uncredited Actress
REVIEW:
“Blunder Boys” is better than expected, though Shemp’s holiday wordplay preceding the flashbacks is exceedingly tiresome. Still, the Stooges’ slapstick antics (as well as Moe & Larry’s spot-on Joe Friday parodies) make up enough of the difference. As the trio’s last original hurrah with Shemp, “Blunder Boys” concocts a fun send-up of Dragnet.
Note: One half for a possible double-feature would be Daffy Duck & Porky Pig’s own cartoon equivalent: 1956’s “Rocket Squad.”
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6 Stars
