Malice in the Palace (1949)

Set in a desert land where the stooges run a restaurant, the boys set out to recover the stolen Rootin Tootin diamond after they learn from the thieves that the Emir of Shmo has absconded ... See full summary »

Director:

Jules White

Writers:

Felix Adler (story), Felix Adler (screenplay)

Stars:

Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Shemp Howard

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Shemp Howard	...	Shemp (as Shemp)
Larry Fine	...	Larry (as Larry)
Moe Howard	...	Moe (as Moe)
Vernon Dent	...	Hassan Ben Sober
George J. Lewis	...	Ginna Rumma (as George Lewis)
Frank Lackteen	...	Haffa Dolla

Storyline

Set in a desert land where the stooges run a restaurant, the boys set out to recover the stolen Rootin Tootin diamond after they learn from the thieves that the Emir of Shmo has absconded with the contraband jewel. They journey to the stronghold of Shmo where they disguise as Santa Clauses and scare the ruler into giving them the diamond.

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Plot Keywords:

slapstick comedy | diamond | restaurant | butcher | statuette | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Short

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 September 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Here We Go Shmow

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

16 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In all seriousness, the Stooges could afford way more than a one-room apartment in Hollywood. In fact, they could easily buy a fancy house with that money, as houses on the high end in Southern California in the late 40s were about $38,000. (FYI; $50,000 in 1949 was the equivalent of over $500,000 in 2017 dollars.)

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Goofs

When the cat jumps over the dog under the table, you can tell it was hoisted over the dog.

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Quotes

Moe: There's only one 100-carat diamond, and it comes from Rootin Tootin's Tomb.
Shemp: That's government property.
Moe: Right, and if we return it, we'll get a big reward.
Larry: Yeah! Maybe fifty-thousand bucks. Boy, with that kind of money, we could rent a one-room apartment in Hollywood... maybe.

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Connections

Spoofed in South Park: Hell on Earth 2006 (2006)

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Soundtracks

Three Blind Mice
(uncredited)
Written by Thomas Ravenscroft

User Reviews

Oh, Those Corny Names!

The writers of the Three Stooges over the years really loved to use corny names. Check out the ones here: "Ginna Rumma, Affa Dollar, Hassan Ben Soba, the Cafe Casbahbah, the Emir Of Shmow," and more. For instance, check out the names on a map shown late in the film.

Anyway, this Arab-flavored story turns out to be a diamond heist story with the boys trying to capture it while disguised in Santa Claus suits. Yes, it's as absurd as it sounds! Actually, the main part of this film - almost half of it - is the restaurant bit with the thieves (and two Stooges) thinking they were eating the house cat and dog. Those comedy bits are hilarious especially when Larry and Moe "pet" their food or try to bite into it.

My favorite face in here is Frank Lackteen, one of those tough-looking mugs with the bony, scarred face that would be perfect in an Al Capone gangster film. In real life, he was a Lebanese man who played a lot of bit parts for many years on TV and in the movies, beginning way back in the silent film era.

By the way, note the "trivia" on the title page here under "Fun Stuff" to read an interesting comment about the deleted scene with Curly in this film. Kind of sad, but I'd like to have seen what he looked like.

Overall, this is very entertaining even if much of the material had been used before in various forms.