“A Plumbing We Will Go” (1940) starring The Three Stooges / Z-View

A Plumbing We Will Go (1940)

Director:  Del Lord

Screenplay:  Elwood Ullman

Stars: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Curly Howard, Symona Boniface, Dudley Dickerson and Bud Jamison 

Tagline:  None.

The Plot…

There’s bad blood between Officer Kelly (Jamison) and the boys (Larry, Curly and Moe) when a judge finds them innocent of stealing chickens. (And they’re plainly guilty!)  Later the cop sees the guys attempting to catch fish from a pet store tank.  The chase is on!

When a butler thinks the boys are plumbers, he invites them in.  Seeing the police officer getting closer, they accept the offer.  In order not to blow their cover, Larry, Curly and Moe attempt to fix a bathroom leak…

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

A Plumbing We Will Go was Curly’s favorite Three Stooges Short.  It’s hard to argue that it’s not the best.  Every scene has a laugh, starting with the judge finding the boys not guilty of chicken stealing as Curly pulls out his hat and chicken feathers fly everywhere.  Most folks know the gag where Curly keeps adding pipes to pipes and traps himself.  But there’s so much more – the cook dealing with the results of the “plumbers” work – the guests watching tv with a picture “so real”… even the final scene has a callback to a magician who appeared in an earlier gag and returns to end the short with a great “trick”.

A Plumbing We Will Go earns 5 of 5 stars.