SQUAREHEADS OF THE ROUND TABLE

Production Information
Title: Squareheads of The Round Table
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 106
Release Date: March 4, 1948
Running Time: 18:06

“We are three restless knights.” “Our days ain’t too hot either.”
(Moe & Shemp)

Short Take

The Stooges are troubadours in medieval times. The villainous Black Prince has designs on marriage to Elaine, the princess. She, however, is in love with Cedric, the blacksmith. The Stooges try to intervene for Cedric by serenading Elaine; the music is the sextet from Gaetano Donizetti‘s opera “Lucia di Lammermoor.” After breaking free from the dungeon where the King has condemned them to be beheaded, Moe overhears the Black Prince plotting with a co-conspirator to murder the king. The Stooges save the day by causing a diversion by dancing in armor to Stephen Foster’s “Old Folks at Home“, thus allowing Elaine to free Cedric. Finally, the king realizes the plot and jails the Black Prince and his fellow plotter. Elaine is allowed to marry Cedric, and they all live happily ever after.

Witten by Edward Bernds, showcases quick paced, troubadour-style slapstick, romance, verbal gags, plot developments, a multi-door chase scene, tools, and music. With the stepped-up pace of the short, the song lyrics or the slapstick advance the plot, as in Elaine’s (McIntyre’s) tuneful, “Flee, but flee, the Black Prince is looking iiiiinnn / IIIII will Rai-aise the shade, the lovely shade, when the coast is clear.”

Cast & Crew

Directed byEdward Bernds
Produced byHugh McCollum
Written byEdward Bernds
StarringMoe Howard
Larry Fine
Shemp Howard
Christine McIntyre
Vernon Dent
Philip Van Zandt
Jock Mahoney
Harold Brauer
CinematographyAllen G. Siegler

Squareheads of The Round Table Trivia

  • Stooge favorite, Christine McIntyre’s golden singing voice was also used in Micro-Phonies. McIntyre attended Chicago Musical College and earned a Bachelors of Music in 1933.
  • The ‘One for all, all for one, every man for himself!’  gag also appeared in Restless Knights and Back to The Woods.
  • The title screen is in Gothic script; the introductory music reverts to the ‘sliding stings’ version of “Three Blind Mice.”
  • Breaking out of prison bit: The Stooges are stuck in prison or they’re trying to get a friend out of prison, and they use saws and other tools to try to cut the cell bars so they or their friend can escape (and usually accidentally hit each other with the tools). Also used in 3 Dumb Clucks, Saves By The Belle, Out West, Pals and Gals, and The Three Stooges Meet Hercules.

Production notes

  • Filmed December 9-12, 1946.
  • Squareheads of the Round Table was remade in 1954 as Knutzy Knights, using ample stock footage. Like Fiddlers Three and The Hot Scots.
  • Using the spacious, intricately designed castle built for Columbia’s 1946 feature The Bandit of Sherwood Forest, first-time Stooge director, Harold MacArthur gives the short a rich visual texture for fine triadic singing.
  • When the Sherwood Forest set was available, Producer, Jules White would send a writer to create a story and basic gag scenarios.