Back from the Front
The Stooges join the Merchant Marines during wartime.
The Three Stooges—Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard—star in Back from the Front, a 1943 short directed by Jules White. It was the 70th of 190 comedies the trio made for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Jules White
- Writer
- Ewart Adamson; Jack White
- Cinematography
- John Stumar
- Editing
- Edwin H. Bryant
- Distributor
- Columbia Pictures
- Released
- 28 May 1943, U.S.
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The Stooges bid farewell to their romantic partners and enlist in the Merchant Marines for the war effort. Aboard ship, they fight Lieutenant Dungen, later revealed as a Nazi spy, then mistake a torpedo for a beached whale and destroy it, causing an explosion. Lost at sea, they grow full beards and board the SS Schicklgruber, where they go unrecognized by Dungen. They overpower the German crew and force them overboard.
Production notes
Filmed over four days from July 24 to 28, 1942, Back from the Front introduced a distinctive sound effect for the eye poke gag: a "TWANG" synchronized with Moe poking Lieutenant Dungen in the eyes. Subsequent Stooge shorts experimented with other sounds; Higher Than a Kite used a nose honk effect, and Crash Goes the Hash incorporated a xylophone sound, both with varying success. After 1945, the series settled on the sound of a plucked ukulele or violin string as a staple. Moe reprises his Adolf Hitler role from You Nazty Spy! and I'll Never Heil Again. The ending includes satire: Moe tells the Nazis to use their heads and shoot out their brains, and Stanley Blystone replies, "But mein Führer, we're Nazis. We have no brains. "Schicklgruber" was the surname of Adolf Hitler's father, Alois Hitler, for his first 40 years; the Stooges used it as the only name for Hitler.
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