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 interrogated, but their firend 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 when they discover she is having problems with the restaurant they volunteer to work for free.

The Stooges are later questioned by Captain Mullens (Vernon Dent) who 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 for her old country homestead, but the Stooges decide to inspect it to make sure she is not being swindled. After a long drive they reach the decrepit and abandoned farmhouse, which unknown to then is the hideout the Loomis Gang who are behind the armored car robbery. Lefty and his partner are discussing how to deal with the Stooges when they hear Gladys and the Stooges arrive at the front door.

Gladys cannot unlock the door so the Stooges fan out to find a way in, 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.

Original poster for Shivering Sherlocks.

Lefty's partner asks permission to finish off the Stooges, but Lefty instead decides to send Angel, a mutated hunchback (Duke York) who is sharpening a large machete. 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 securely tied up and gagged by the robbers. Struggling to escape she hears an ominous grunt and on seeing Angel's frightening appearance, frantically tries to call out for help.

Angel raises his machete but before he can strike he hears the Stooges and leaves to hunt them down with a bound and gagged Gladys Harmon 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 has freed heerself and watches in amazement as the 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