Dunked in the Deep (1949) User Reviews

The Boys Just Sang For The 'Halibut'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 14 May 2010]

This was unusual in that there was only one other actor in this movie besides the Stooges.

Actor Gene Roth wasn't a name I recognized but I sure remembered his voice as a guy who had played villains more than once in Three Stooges films. He was a big guy with a gruff voice, like Vernon Dent who starred in many Stooges films. When posting this review, I looked up Roth's resume and it's amazing; the man did a lot of work with many guest shots on very popular TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s.

Anyway, here we have the old microfilm-hidden-in-the-watermelon angle, something I've seen before in some previous Stooges war movies (or I've just seen this movie several times and didn't remember). Roth plays a Russian spy named "Mr. Bortch" who hid the film and uses the boys to carry the melons on board a ship. There, they wind up stowaways and all the gags are what happens in the small room they are in.

They pass the time getting seasick, banging either other on the head or making corny jokes like:

"We were known as 'The Fish Market Duet.' "

The'Fish Market Duet'?

"Yeah, we sang for the halibut!"

Anyway, the real action starts when the boys figure out their friend is not whom they think he is....and the fight is on!

everything fits

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 28 June 2021]

Larry, Moe, and Shemp are neighbors to a spy named Mr. Bortch. He recruits the boys into carrying three watermelons onto a ship bound for Europe. Microfilms are secretly hidden in the melons.

I saw Commotion on the Ocean (1956) before watching this. I think I like this one slightly better. It makes more sense that the boys trust Bortch due to being his neighbor and being their simple idiot self. They have a good costar. Everything fits in this one.

One of the best shorts ever!

[thezaimcompany · 8/10 · 10 November 2016]

I've always loved the Three Stooges and this one of their finest films. As well as one of the few convenient films directed by long-time Columbia director Jules White. This short film has an amount of crude and humorous jokes. For example, when Shemp looks out the window on the ship, A giant splash of water gushes him. During the second time, A just splash of probably oil gashes on him fiercely upon his face.

This surely is one of the best Three Stooges shorts ever made for Columbia Pictures. Also, Gene Roth did a pretty good job on his accent as well as portraying Borscht. This also seems to be one of the few shorts in which the Three Stooges appear with only one actor. If there was any favorite short during the Shemp era, It's ought to be this short. This short deserves a well positive review.

"Give me that fillum!"

[slymusic · 29 October 2007]

Directed by Jules White, "Dunked in the Deep" is a mediocre Three Stooges film featuring Shemp Howard as the third Stooge. A sinister-looking foreign spy named Bortch (played by the tall & mighty Gene Roth) has stolen some top-secret U.S. government documents and plans to return to his native land with these documents on microfilm, hidden inside three watermelons. The Stooges are Bortch's neighbors, who are in quite a strange line of employment, and they offer to help Bortch carry his melons to the dock, not knowing that he is a spy. Of course, Larry, Shemp, and Moe have no idea what kind of a ride they are in for when they help Bortch.

The following are my favorite scenes from "Dunked in the Deep." When Bortch chases Shemp around the boat for the microfilm, Larry gets knocked out three times and calls it quits! Bortch is stingy about sharing his salami with the Stooges, but they manage to eat their fill anyway when Bortch repeatedly slaps the table and the salami slices fly into the mouths of the satisfied Stooges. And Larry & Shemp are known as the Fishmarket Duet; as Shemp explains, "We sing for the halibut."

The meaty role of Bortch was a suitable one for supporting actor Gene Roth, perhaps his best-known role in a Stooge film. Roth would go on to perform other milder roles, both as good guy and villain, in more Stooges films featuring Shemp Howard, Joe Besser, and Curly-Joe DeRita as the third Stooges. And here is one last piece of trivia for "Dunked in the Deep"; in addition to playing himself, Moe also provides the voice of the radio announcer at the start of this short.

Good Stooges short! Gene Roth is excellent in this one!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 15 June 2004]

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

This is one of My favorite Three Stooges shorts! Gene Roth is excellent in it! The scenes with the Stooges especially with Shemp are really funny! The scene where Roth is chasing Shemp is hilarious! There is another Three Stooges short with alternate scenes called Commotion on the Ocean. This is really an underrated Stooges short!