Production Information
Title: Dizzy Pilots
Studio: Columbia
Short Number: 74
Release Date: September 24, 1943
Running Time: 16:45
“We’re great inventors… Robert Fulton, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Don Ameche, and us!”
Short Take
The Three Stooges play the Wrong brothers, a trio of aviators in the “Republic of Cannabeer, P.U.” They receive an army draft notice stating the brothers have been granted a 30-day deferment of duty on account of their claims that the plane they are inventing, the “Buzzard”, will revolutionize flying. Curly proudly announces that their plane has put them among other “great inventors” like Robert Fulton, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Don Ameche.
The Boys get to work, but a series of mishaps sidetrack them. First, Moe gets knocked into a tub of rubber cement. Larry and Curly try to get the rubber off Moe by expanding the rubber with hydrogen by turning him into a human balloon. Unfortunately, Moe floats to the top of the airplane hangar and into the sky, and Larry and Curly take aim with a shotgun and blast him to safety, resulting in Moe falling down in his long johns into a nearby well.
They eventually begin a test flight of the plane for a pair of aircraft company official. However, things begin to go awry. Curly accidentally breaks the rudder cable. Moe orders him to throw out the clutch, and unable to find it, Curly throws out the gear shift lever instead. Moe attempts to repair the rudder cable but fails and the plane turns upside down, causing the three to fall right back into the same well as before, dousing the aircraft officials with water as they splash into the well’s bottom. As expected, The Stooges are drafted into the army, where they run afoul with their drill sergeant (Richard Fiske), disrupting marching and weapons handling drills.
Dizzy Pilots Cast & Crew
| Directed by | Jules White |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Jules White |
| Written by | Clyde Bruckman |
| Starring | Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Richard Fiske Harry Semels Al Thompson |
| Cinematography | Benjamin H. Kline |
| Edited by | Charles Hochberg |
Dizzy Pilots Trivia
- This is the third and final Stooge short with the word “dizzy” in the title
- This is the last appearance of supporting actor Richard Fiske, who was killed in the war in France
Production Notes
- Filming took place from April 6-9, 1943
- The army segment in the last scene is stock footage from Boobs in Arms
