Men in Black (1934)

The stooges become doctors at a large hospital where they disrupt patients and staff alike.

Director:

Ray McCarey (as Raymond McCarey)

Writers:

Felix Adler (story), Felix Adler (screenplay)

Stars:

Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Moe Howard	...	Dr. Moe Howard (as Moe)
Larry Fine	...	Dr. Larry Fine (as Larry)
Curly Howard	...	Dr. Curley Howard (as Curley)

Storyline

The stooges are three doctors who graduated medical school by being in it for too many years. They come across such problems as an overly chirpy nurse, a mental patient, and a combination to a safe swallowed by the hospital superintendent in the course of their attempt to get through the day.

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Plot Keywords:

patient | hospital | nurse | medical | broken electronic works | 

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Taglines:

A TONIC for the "BLUES"!

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Genres:

Comedy | Short

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 September 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

Men in Black

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

19 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Curly Howard's famous exclamation "Woo-woo-woo-woo" was used when he forgot his lines, and soon became the actor's running gag.

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Goofs

In one scene, a janitor is repairing the broken glass in a door. The Stooges come running to it and the janitor smashes the glass and The Three Stooges jump through the opening. However, when the Stooges are in the office, they are shown opening and closing a door with no broken glass.

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Quotes

Dr. Moe Howard: Say, why are we all whispering?
Whispering Nurse: I don't know why you're whispering, but I lost my voice asking for a raise.

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Connections

Featured in Muppet Babies: Eight Flags Over the Nursery (1991)

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Soundtracks

I Thought I Wanted You
(uncredited)
Music by Archie Gottler
Played during the opening credits

User Reviews

Medication

Writing a comment about a Stooges short is a strange business. They are all pretty much the same in the stuff that matters. It's the Laurel and Hardy formula of the destruction of the environment adding in the destruction of each other.

So when you comment on them, either you need to note some quality of the chaos (invasion of the body), some bit of trivia (what it is the parody of) or some note about the story itself. It's a frustrating business in a way, sort of like trying to say something interesting about a MacDonald's hamburger. Or the weather.

In this case, it is the story itself we note. Here we are in the thirties, quite early in the life of Stooge shorts but late in the cycle where you could get away with physical humor itself. So we have comedy acts folding in other comedic devices, like parodies of other movies, word jokes, goofs on stereotypes. Audiences of the day would have recognized the movie "Men in White" that was the source of some of the jokes.

And contemporary audiences would have understood the more pointed joke about the public address system (do they call it that any more?) that wouldn't die.

Ted's Evaluation - 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.