Spooks (1953 film)


Spooks! is a 1953 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges. It is the 148th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges are private detectives that are hired to track down a kidnapped girl name Mary Bopper, daughter of George B. Bopper. They decide to trace Bopper back to where she was last seen, which leads them to mad scientist Dr. Jeckyl and his assistant, Mr. Hyde. There is also a gorilla kept imprisoned in the house for experimental purposes. The Stooges arrive to rescue the kidnapped girl disguised as door-to door pie salesmen.

Cast

Spooks! was the first of two Stooge shorts made by Columbia Pictures in 3D, after the 3D craze of 1953 began with Bwana Devil. It originally premiered on May 20, 1953 with the Columbia western Fort Ti. Hence, the lines in the opening scene :
Moe: We'll be with you before you can say "Fort Ticonderoga."
Larry: If you can say "Fort Ticonderoga."

Both the Columbia 3D Edmond O'Brien thriller Man in the Dark and Spooks! were originally sepia toned in order to allow for more light to pass through the Polaroid filters necessary for the dual-strip 3D projection method of that time. The process did not work as expected and the idea was dropped after these two productions.
This is also the first short in the series filmed for flat wide-screen. Although some films of this period were composed for the Academy aspect ratio and released in wide-screen during the confusion, Spooks! and future releases were composed at 1.85:1, Columbia's house ratio.
Spooks! was filmed on May 11–15, 1953, and released just 31 days after production due to Columbia Pictures' desire to cash in on the 3D craze. Conversely, it took five full days to complete filming, due to the complexity of shots and angle required for 3D viewing. New Stooge films produced at the time generally took no more than three days to complete, with remakes usually being completed in a single day.

In popular culture

Spooks! was one of five Stooge films included in the TBS 1995 Halloween special The Three Stooges Fright Night along with If a Body Meets a Body, We Want Our Mummy, The Hot Scots, and Malice in the Palace.