You Nazty Spy! (1940)

Crappy film

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Although, the Nazis Party has been mock in plays before World War II, including, author, George Bernard Shaw's 1936 play 'Geneva' & foreign films like Fritz Lang's German film, 1933's 'The Testament of Dr. Mabuse'. In the United States, films satirizing Adolf Hitler was hard to come by. After all, the Hays code at the time, discouraged or prohibited many types of political and satirical messages in films in fear of violations, boycotts and fines. Not only that, but the codes has require filmmakers to portray the history and prominent people of other countries "fairly". Because of this & the isolationist sentiment of the United States at the time, it prevent many ideas like silent era comedian, Charlie Chaplin mocking the Nazis from ever, getting greenlighted. That was until Warner Bros took a risk by producing 1939's 'Confessions of a Nazi Spy', a straight from the headlines crime film about the FBI unearthed and prosecuted a Nazi spy ring in 1938. Seeing how a serious drama movie produce by a major studio was able to get away with it. This gave Chaplin, the confidence to start filming 'The Great Dictator', knowing full well, a comedy movie about the Third Reich could be released under his distributed company, United Artists. Nevertheless, it was Columbia Pictures who made the first move with the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Curly Howard) short "You Nazty Spy!' Without spoiling the movie, too much, nobody in Hollywood at the time, saw this coming. Even some top heads in Columbia Pictures like Harry Cohn didn't know, what they were getting their hands into. Thinking nothing of it. They thought, they were getting their hands on, another silly romp, in the same vein as Marx Brothers 1933's film 'Duck Soup', with their oncoming fictional slapstick comedy short about an unlikeable idiot being appointed leader of the small, bankrupt country. To their surprise, not only, did the Three Stooges verge off, a bit of their normally physical farce and slapstick routine by indulging in a deliberately formless, non-sequitur style of verbal humor written by screenwriters, Felix Adler and Clyde Bruckman; but also like Chaplin, the Three Stooges, were from Jewish ancestry, and really wanted to stick it to Hitler; by making fun of him. It became clear as the film went on, that the Stooges were not only satirize Nazi Germany, but also helping publicize the Nazi threat to the US audience with their anti-fascist message about them, wanting to conquer other lands. Instead of punishing the Three Stooges, which would be highly unpopular, due to the fact that they were one of the highest grossing acts within the company. Columbia Pictures chose to release the film as it is, even if it had scenes involving occultism and overt sexual references. The risk was successful as the short film was a box office hit. So popular, that the administrator of the Hays Code had to choose to lift some of the film restrictions. All of this, making it easy for other films like 'Great Dictator' to follow. While, the Three Stooges indeed beat Chaplin to the punch, releasing their film, 9 months before his. Still, Chaplin's film is by far, the most superior version of two. After all, in Chaplin's film, not only, does he performs as a funny clueless evil 'Adolf Hitler' type of villain, but he's also plays the likeable hero as the naïve Jewish barber who trying to talk about loving your neighbor and having humanity. In 'You Natzy Spy!", we the audience don't even get that. This movie lacks that driven emotional moral code. There is no powerful speech about being good. There isn't even any decent people in this film. The Stooges's characters in this film, are very unlikable, power-hungry, womanizing, psychopaths who commits murder. If they weren't so funny, this movie would had been so hard to watch. Even the heroine, Mattie Herring (Lorna Gray) is pretty mess up; only trying overthrow the Stooges's characters, in order to gain money & power. What a selfish person! Despite that, all of them, give thoroughly impressive performances. As for the jokes. It's a hit and miss. Some of them, are thought-provoking and well-played like the speech to the masses & map sequence. The Stalin line made me giggle. Others come across, as too childish like the golf ball & magic 8 ball gags. As for the visuals. It was a mixed bag for me, as well. The stock footage with the crowd & the long shot with the map was kinda jarring. Nevertheless, the rest of the film was alright, both in the black and white original and the color version. As for the 1941 sequel, 'I'll Never Heil Again'. It also worth viewing. You will find yourself, laughing out loud. Overall: While, this short is not as sophistical & clever as other films from that era, like 1940's 'The Great Dictator', 1942's 'To be or Not to Be' or 1943's 'Der Fuehrer's Face". It's soitenly, still worth a watch. So check it out!

You Nazty Spy! (1940) *** (out of 4) Some evil cabinet members want to overthrow the King of Moronica and replace him with idiots who would be willing to do anything they say. They find the idiots in Moe, Larry and Curly but it doesn't take long for the boys to mess up the country as well as the cabinet members plans. Both Moe and Larry had said that this was their favorite short and everyone knows it was a hit when originally released but when viewed today I'm still somewhat shocked that it went over so well with critics and fans at the time of release. This was released just nine months before Charles Chaplin's THE GREAT DICTATOR and one really wonders why that film drew so much heat when it at least had a message behind it while the Stooges' film is just pure comedy. When seen today there's certainly nothing offensive here, although there's a brief bit about a concentration camp which doesn't get any laughs. The rest of the picture has the boys doing their thing and getting some very big laughs out of it. One of the highlights in the film happens early on when Moe accidentally puts his finger in black paint and gives himself a mustache and this of course is meant to make him look like Hitler. The shocking thing is seeing how close the two look and especially when Moe messes with his hair. Another funny bit deals with a female spy reading the future while Moe and Curly are holding each others hand thinking that they're holding the woman's. YOU NAZTY SPY! is perhaps one of the most loved Stooges short but to me it's just middle ground. It's certainly worth viewing but I think the history of it is a bit more interesting than the actual picture and it certainly can't hold a candle to the Chaplin film.

This short just proves that the Stooges were not just slapstick masters, but that they were great social satirists. The boys were ahead of the curve by making a blatent parody of how Hitler came to power. The thing that made it more ironic was the fact that Moe, a Jew, plays a perfect Hitler characature and pulls it off convincingly. If you want to see some more of Moe's dead on imitation of Schikelgruber, just look at "They Stooge to Conga" and "I'll Never Heil Again" (the sequel to this short).

While the Three Stooges did tend to recycle jokes (Curly with the spring stuck to his rear end appeared often), "You Natzy Spy" is a complete turnaround. While not abandoning the prerequisite slapstick, the fact that this was filmed during World War II (albeit before America's participation, which at this point was almost inevitable anyway) starring three Jewish actors is stunning. From the Hitler moustache that Moe wears (which he removes to shave underneath and, when it is stolen, he yells, "gimme back my personality") to the name "Moronica" to the caricatures of Mussolini and (apparently) Hirohito, to the Axis world leaders battling over the world by throwing a globe around the room, to plenty more potshots at Hitler and his allies, "You Natzy Spy" is hilarious, but it really does have that underlying knowledge that, had Hitler won, the boys would have certainly met their early deaths. The guts and patriotism shown by the boys proves that they took their work seriously to say the least, risking their lives for their craft.