Horst_In_Translation Review of You Nazty Spy!

You Nazty Spy! (1940)

Stooges at their most political, but not most funny

[4/10 · 9 May 2017]

"You Nazty Spy!" is an American short film from 1940, so this one is already over 75 years old. It stars the Three Stooges and it's a black-and-white film of course. Don't get fooled by versions where color was added later. Anyway, when this 18-minute film was made, political aggressions were at a high point globally and of course not just the title here makes it very easy to see, but the entire film is full of Nazi references, of course in a sense where the Stooges were mocking Hitler and Germany back then. I will not talk about the exact scenes as you will easily recognize them yourselves because honestly it couldn't be more obvious. Maybe the fact that the Stooges were never masters of subtle comedy, but all in the face (especially) during the Curly days is one reason why I have never been too big on them. Yes this little movie has 1 or 2 somewhat funny moments, especially involving plays on words, but as a whole it is just never really that entertaining despite White, Adler and Bruckman being in charge and they have worked with one of the most known trios in film history on so so many occasions. It needs to be said that Curly, Moe and Larry (who was somewhat irrelevant in this one) elevated the extremely mediocre/weak material at times, but not to a level where I would call it a good watch. Only worth seeing for the very biggest Stooges fans and I guess the popularity of this one can only be explained by referencing the political context, not the quality. Watch something else instead.