UNCIVIL WAR BIRDS (1946) -- ThreeStooges.net

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Released March 29, 1946
Featuring Moe, Larry and Curly

Columbia
17.5 min. (Short Subject)

The Stooges' wedding plans are interrupted by the Civil War, and the boys rush off to join the Army. The only problem is that Moe and Larry join the Union Army, while Curly joins the Confederates. When the opposing armies pass through, the Stooges take turns as each other's prisoners.

A remake of Buster Keaton's MOOCHING THROUGH GEORGIA (Columbia 1939), utilizing stock footage from same. Columbia story and screenplay writer Clyde Bruckman reworked this script for a television episode of THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW, "South of Dixie."

Bit player Al Rosen had a limited acting career, but achieved a small modicum of fame during the last several years of his life, as barfly 'Al' (1984 - 1989) on the television series CHEERS.

John Tyrrell appears in two roles: first as the Union Sergeant, and later as one of the Union officers. Also appearing twice, as a Confederate and Union soldier is Bobby Burns.

Behind-the-scenes, silent, color footage was discovered in early 2007, and premiered in The Stoogeum theater at the April 2007 Fan Club Meeting. Off-camera clips of the boys, Jules White, and the actresses playing their girlfriends was captured. See The Three Stooges Journal # 122 (Summer 2007) and # 124 (Winter 2007) for more information.

The usual "Three Blind Mice" theme took a rest, as an adaptation of composer Daniel Emmett's Civil War standard "Dixie" plays over the title credits.

Avg. Rating:

[6.38/10]

Cast List

Moe Howard
Moe

Jerry Howard
Curly

Larry Fine
Larry

Faye Williams
Mary Belle

Eleanor Counts
Ringa Belle

Marilyn Johnson
Lulu Belle

Maury Dexter
Southern gentleman

Robert Williams
Union Lieutenant

John Tyrrell
Union Sergeant

Brian O'Hara
Confederate officer

Johnny Kascier
Confederate soldier with ants

Heinie Conklin
Confederate soldier

Bobby Burns
Confederate soldier

Lew Davis
Confederate soldier with ants

Ted Lorch
Union Colonel

John Tyrrell
Union officer

Blackie Whiteford
Union officer

Al Rosen
Union officer

Al Morino
Al, Union soldier

Charles Cross
Charlie, Union soldier

Bobby Burns
Union soldier

Joe Palma
Union soldier

Cy Schindell
Union soldier

Jack Cooper
Union soldier

Victor Travers
Justice of the Peace

Unidentified UNCIVIL WAR BIRDS 1
Union soldiers

Unidentified UNCIVIL WAR BIRDS 2
Wedding guest

Production Crew

Jules White
Producer

Jules White
Director

Clyde Bruckman
Story

Jules White
Screenplay

Philip Tannura
Director of Photography

Charles Hochberg
Film Editor

Charles Clague
Art Director

Jules White
Lyrics

Daniel Emmett
Music

Stooge Businesses (0)

Stooge Goofs (9)

Characters Switch Positions
When Curly is being led away by the firing squad, Larry originally seems to miss his mark, then he backs up and stands at Moe's left side. After a camera cut, he's suddenly on Moe's right. The two other solders also switch sides.

Dubbed-In Line
When Curly says "Where's my cap?, his mouth isn't moving.

Flubbed Ending
The ending scene had a lot of goofs in it. First, after the Stooges spill their drinks down their wives backs, the wives are all supposed to throw drinks in the Stooges' faces, but the actress playing Curly's wife forgot to dothat for some reason. Then after Moe's wife throws the drink in his face, some of it gets thrown right into his eye. And finally, the wives are then supposed to strangle the Stooges, but the actress playing Larry's wife hugs him at first for some reason, then she remembers that she's supposed to be strangling him.

Flubbed Ending: Continued
From Previous Entry: First, after the Stooges spill their drinks down their wives backs, the wives are all supposed to throw drinks in the Stooges' faces, but the actress playing Curly's wife forgot to do that for some reason.
Actually, this is NOT the case. Upon further inspection of the film you can see that Curly is holding his glass in his right hand. His wife is holding hers in HER right hand. When Curly dumps the drink down her back his LEFT hand comes up and grabs her RIGHT wrist, thus causing the glass to fall out of her hand so she could not throw the drink in Curly's face. You can tell by her actions and arm movements (from the back) that she then grabs the glass out of Curly's hand and throws what is left of the liquid in his glass into his face. There is a little splash but not too much, since most of it went down her back. After doing this she drops the glass to the ground before choking Curly, and you can hear the glass hit the rug on the floor.

Hay in Eyes
Curly accidentally gets some hay thrown in his eyes when Moe and Larry are searching through the hay for their clothes.

Magically Reappearing Sideburn
When Curly blows his nose with the handkerchief, one of his fake sideburns accidentally falls off. Then it reappears in the next shot of him.

Repeated Line
After Moe and Larry tell Curly through the shack window to fake his death during his execution, Curly says "I understand. Then they show a small scene with the soldiers fighting over the ham, and when it goes back to the Stooges, they replay Curly saying "I understand.

Two-Fisted Drinker
After the wedding, and before the toast... the medium-long shot shows Curly taking his glass in his left hand. When it switches to a medium shot, the glass is raised in his right hand.

Visible Wire
You can see a wire pulling the sled when Moe and Curly are pulling it.

Stooge Mayhem (Avg. 1.25)

Re: UNCIVIL WARBIRDS
Posted 2001-10-01 10:41:00 by Shemp_Diesel
Edited 2015-01-09 21:51:54 by Shemp_Diesel

Not as bad as I originally thought, pretty weak in places but not as bad as Beer Barrel Polecats or A Bird in the Head.

6 pokes

Reviewer's Rating:

(6)

Re: UNCIVIL WAR BIRDS
Posted 2010-11-19 21:08:53 by benjilbum

I like this one a lot. Not nearly as funny as Uncivil Warriors, but still a high point of the sick Curly years. The blackface act was good, although very P.I. nowadays. The one guy running away with the ham was funny, as is Moe and Larry singing while churning butter. "No glass!" And HOW did "you all ejaculated a mouthful" get past the censors???

Ringa Bell? Ha!

"Take that jellyfish out and revive him!"

Reviewer's Rating:

(8)

Re: UNCIVIL WARBIRDS
Posted 2001-05-08 20:03:00 by Stooge
Edited 2003-06-23 03:14:00 by Stooge

Not bad and an interesting and creative plot, plus I thought this was one of Curly's better performances from his stroke period. It's also good to see him pull back out the "chicken-with-its-head-cut-off" move for one last time.

Reviewer's Rating:

(8)

Re: UNCIVIL WARBIRDS
Posted 2002-06-16 02:15:00 by black banana

Slow paced Civil War film, not nearly as funny asUNCIVIL WARRIORS from ten years earlier.Curly has few lines, perhaps due to health reasons.Besides two eye pokes, there is almost no violence in this.For me, the highlight is the Stooges singing "Way DownSouth" in blackface, a well done bit. Cy Schindell does anice job in a brief role. Notice that after Curly blows hisnose, his fake sideburn disappears, then magically reappears.(Blooper courtesy of Stoogeworld.com) We do get to seethe Curly Shuffle for the last time here. This short has beenblacklisted occasionally in the past due to the blackfaceroutine. Apparently AMC doesn't run this, edited or otherwise.

Reviewer's Rating:

(5)

Re: UNCIVIL WARBIRDS
Posted 2001-10-13 21:21:00 by jaronson

I totally agree with Mike Holme's comments. The only things similar between this and UNCIVIL WARRIORS are the titles and the time period. This was a good short for Curly's sick period, and if anybody wants to see Joe Palma, the unforgettable Shemp double, he plays a union soldier and one of his lines is, "Hey I could have sworn that corpse moved."Grade: A-

Reviewer's Rating:

(8)

Re: UNCIVIL WARBIRDS
Posted 2001-09-27 18:49:00 by Mike Holme

This has to be the most underrated Curly short ever. I don't know why fans like Shemp_Diesel and Shemps#1 consider it to be the worst or one of the worst. I thought it was an excellent, creative, and funny effort from this period of decline, not the worst Curly short. This is even better than "Uncivil Warriors" and I don't understand why so many fans compare this classic to that one just because it takes place in the civil war. The plots are entirely different! 3 1/2 pokes Mike Holme

Re: UNCIVIL WARBIRDS
Posted 2001-05-09 11:39:00 by metaldams

I think Curly pulled off a real good performance, especially for this time period. I give it two thumbs up.

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Working Title(s):	3 SOUTHERN DUMBBELLS
Title Origin:	Release title based on "civil warriors" and "war brides." Working title is parody of term "southern belle."
Prod. No.:	4050
Shooting Days:	4 days From: 1945-08-24 To: 1945-08-28

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