Shivering Sherlocks

Shivering Sherlocks
File:ShiveringSherlocksTITLE.jpg
Directed by	Del Lord
Written by	Del Lord Elwood Ullman
Produced by	Hugh McCollum Jules White
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Shemp Howard Vernon Dent Christine McIntyre Kenneth MacDonald Frank Lackteen Duke York Stanley Blystone Cy Schindell Joe Palma
Cinematography	Allen G. Siegler
Edited by	Henry DeMond
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	January 8, 1948
Running time	17' 17"
Country	United States
Language	English

Shivering Sherlocks is the 104th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

An armored car has been robbed, and a patrolman discovers the Stooges hiding in a garbage can nearby. They are taken to the police station and put through a lie detector test. While on the "hot seat" (as Larry calls it), they do tell one lie — that they work at the Elite Café on Main Street. However Gladys Harmon (Christine McIntyre), the kind owner of the Elite Cafe, vouches for the boys. The next day the Stooges go to thank Gladys, and discover she is having problems with the restaurant. Most of Gladys' customers have left unsigned cheques which enrages the Stooges, until they discover the cheques Gladys has been stuck are because of them. Embarrassed and wanting to repay Gladys, the Stooges volunteer to work for free.

While the Stooges are working in the cafe Captain Mullens (Vernon Dent) comes in and the Stooges try to convince him they are innocent. Mullens pulls out a mug shot photo of "Lefty" Loomis (Kenneth MacDonald) whom the Stooges recognize as the ringleader of the armored car robbers.

Gladys receives a letter from her lawyer with an offer of $1,000 for her family's old country homestead. Gladys iplans to accept, but the Stooges decide to inspect it to make sure she is not being swindled. After a long drive they reach the decrepit farmhouse just after nightfall. Gladys' abandoned farmhouse is being used by the Loomis Gang who are behind the armored car robbery. Lefty and his partner are discussing how to find the Stooges when they hear Gladys and the Stooges arrive at the front door.

Gladys tries to unlock the door which refuses to open. The Stooges fan out to find a way in or something to open the door with, leaving Gladys alone at the front door. The crooks then aim a shotgun outside a peephole and prepare to fire. While trying to find something to open the door with Shemp stmbles across the gun barrel which he mistakes for a length of pipe and tries to grab it, ensuing in a tug-of-war. While the Stooges are distracted Gladys is overpowered and kidnapped by the robbers. Moe and Shemp can find no trace of Gladys, and along with Larry the Stooges enter in search of Gladys.

Original poster for Shivering Sherlocks.

Lefty's partner then asks permission to finish off the Stooges. Lefty instead decides to send Angel, a mutated hunchback (Duke York) who is sharpening a large machete, to deal with the Stooges. Lefty tells his partner "he'll do a nice quiet job", after which Lefty's partner fearfully grasps his throat. Angel enters a cluttered and darkened storage room in the back of the house where Gladys has been tied up in a heavy armchair and gagged by the robbers. Gladys struggles to escape when she hears an ominous grunt and on seeing Angel's frightening appearance, frantically tries to squirm out of her ropes and call out for help.

Angel raises his machete but before he can strike he hears the Stooges and leaves to hunt them down with Gladys watching helplessly. Once in the hallway Angel pursues the Stooges as he tries to cut them to pieces. Moe and Larry run through a back hallway, and when Angel follows he is bombed by a barrel dropped from the top of the doorway by Shemp. Lefty and his partner give chase blasting away but are also captured by Shemp. Gladys watches in amazement as the three criminals, still trapped in their barrels, crash through a window and are arrested by the police. Moe and Larry end up being bombed by Shemp's last barrel which leaves them covered in flour.

Notes

• Shivering Sherlocks was reworked in 1955 as Of Cash and Hash, using ample stock footage.
• This was the final film directed by long-time Stooge director Del Lord.

Further reading

• Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard, (Citadel Press, 1977). ISBN 0806507233
• The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon, (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002). ISBN 0971186804
• The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg (Citadel Press, 1994). ISBN 0806509465
• The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming (Broadway Publishing, 2002). ISBN 0767905563
• One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry, (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006). ISBN 1581823630