Dizzy Detectives is the 68th short subject starring the American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.
THE PLOT
After an attempt at installing a door with mishaps galore, the boys are recruited by the police chief (Bud Jamison) as police officers. The head of the citizen's league, Mr. Dill (John Tyrrell), warns the police commissioner that he must capture the ape man that is terrorizing the city, or he will have his job.
The boys get a tip that the ape man is burglarizing a particular store and head out to catch him. They patrol the store, with Curly pausing for a while in a rocking chair aside a cat whose tail happens to swing simultaneously with the rocker. The tail gets caught eventually, causing the cat to screech, and Curly to scurry away.
While there, they encounter the ape man named Bonzo (Ray "Carsh" Corrigan), who proves to be an actual gorilla after he bends the barrels of the guns the Stooges intended to use against him. The trio then discover several thugs that are behind the gorilla's rampage, including Mr. Dill, who is conspiring to remove the chief so he can be the successor. The gorilla was taken from a circus and not used to this job. The Stooges proceed to beat up the thugs with all manner of fights. After encountering a fake guillotine set, which shocks Larry and Moe, Curly disposes of the gorilla by head butting him. But beforehand, the gorilla drinks a bottle of nitroglycerin the thugs were carrying, causing Bonzo to explode when Curly charges him.
TRIVIA
Dizzy Detectives was filmed over four days on June 29-July 2, 1942.The opening carpentry scene is borrowed from 1935's Pardon My Scotch, including footage of Moe crashing to the floor and breaking several three ribs.
This is the second of three Stooge shorts with the word "dizzy" in the title.
Dizzy Detectives was remade — line-by-line — with Joe Besser and Jim Hawthorne as Fraidy Cat in 1951; Fraidy Cat was itself remade three years later as Hook A Crook, using stock footage.
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS
This is the first short in which I have encountered a major reuse of footage from a previous short. The first 3:20 of this short are from the ninth episode, Pardon My Scotch (GC6A4HA), part of the Moe Howard series. In these first three plus minutes, you see a very young and more vibrant Curly, and then at the end it morphs into a more visibily tired Curly.
Does Ray "Crash" Corrigan sound familiar? Ray "Crash" Corrigan (February 14, 1902 – August 10, 1976), born Raymond Benard (or Raymond Benitz, according to some sources), was an American actor most famous for appearing in many B-Western films. He also was a stuntman and frequently acted as silver screen gorillas in gorilla costumes that he owned, both at the beginning and end of his film career. The origin of the "Crash" nickname is from his football-playing days. This was verified by Corrigan himself when he was a contestant on the June 11, 1959 episode of You Bet Your Life starring Groucho Marx. When asked how he got the name "Crash", Corrigan told Groucho, "When I would go to tackle somebody or instead of fighting them with my fists, I would just take off and dive at them head first and that's how I acquired the name 'Crash'."
I find it a bit ironic that Curly did a scene where he shoots himself in the foot. (Clip 2 below). When he was 13 years old, he actually did shoot himself in the foot, and walked with a noticeable limp for the rest of his life. (See GC6K6T6 Jerome Lester Horwitz: The Early Years).
THE CACHE IS NOT AT THE POSTED COORDINATES.
Watch the following short Curly clips
Curly Eats Walnuts: Episode 68 Dizzy Detectives Clip1
Let X= The number of walnuts that are attempted to be smashed. Let Y = The number of irate citizens’ calls. Let Z = (X TIMES Y) PLUS (X PLUS Y). SUBTRACT this result to the posted North coordinate.
Curly Shoots Himself In The Foot: Episode 68 Dizzy Detectives Clip2
How does Moe spell ‘HEAD’? Using A=1, B=2, C=3, etc., compute the total value of how he spells it, then ADD 40. Finally, ADD this result to the posted West coordinate.
Have fun! Get the family involved.
Curly Code: 671-314