Disorder in the Court

Disorder in the Court
Directed by	Preston Black
Produced by	Jules White
Written by	Felix Adler
Starring	Moe Howard Larry Fine Curly Howard Bud Jamison Harry Semels Suzanne Kaaren James C. Morton Edward LeSaint Al Thompson
Cinematography	Benjamin H. Kline
Editing by	William A. Lyon
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	May 30, 1936
Running time	18' 01"
Country	United States
Language	English
Preceded by	Half Shot Shooters
Followed by	A Pain in the Pullman
IMDb • Allmovie

Disorder in the Court is the 15th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges are key witnesses at a murder trial. Their friend, Gail Tempest (a name whose parts are synonyms of each other), who dances at the Black Bottom cafe where the Stooges are musicians, is accused of killing Kirk Robin (a play on "Who Killed Cock Robin?"). Although the boys disrupt the proceedings, they manage to clear Gail's name and extract the real murderer's identity (Buck Wing) from a parrot (they were able to find the letter on the parrot's leg).

Notes

• Sol and Jenny Horwitz, the parents of Moe, Curly, and Shemp Howard, make uncredited appearances as members of the jury.
• The title Disorder in the Court is a fitting play on the stereotypical judge's cry, "Order in the court!"
• This is the first Stooge short in which Curly is spelled "CURLY" in the opening titles as opposed to "CURLEY," as it was in previous shorts. The title card also has the Stooges inverted, reading from left to right, Curly-Larry-Moe, as opposed to Moe-Larry-Curly in previous shorts, effectively giving Curly "top billing". This change in the title card coincides with the refined and more familiar Columbia Pictures "torch lady" image, with a shimmering light instead of the primitive animation of light rays in the previous version. In addition, the "Columbia" theme now uses a more 'upbeat' theme, using horns.
• The classic 'swearing in' ('take off your hat!,' 'raise your right hand,' 'judgy wudgy') routine was borrowed nearly verbatim from Buster Keaton's Sidewalks of New York, which was directed by Stooge veteran and Disorder producer Jules White.
• A 1980s Hershey's commercial features Partily colorized clips from the Stooges' 'testimony'—a reenactment of their nightclub act, in which the Stooges play their instruments as Gail does her dance.
• The film gives the Stooges a chance to demonstrate their skills with musical instruments—Larry on the violin (as with other films) and Curly on the bass. Moe has a small harmonica in his mouth, and several close-ups show it, to ensure the audience notices it. This sets up a gag where Moe is slapped on the back, "swallows" the harmonica, and the seemingly startled Moe makes harmonica sounds as he breathes, until another slap on the back ejects it.
• Two classic Larry sound bites hail from this short: the phrase "Oh, my Stradivarius!" (after he accidentally smashes his violin to pieces) and his for-no-apparent-reason 'Tarzan yell' (after he removes a wad of gum from Moe's nose).
• Moe and Larry have a brief aside, dusting off an apparently very old joke, similar to one used by Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers, and delivered in a style imitating vaudeville hacks:

Moe: I say, Jasper, what comes after seventy-five?

Larry: Seventy-six!

Moe: That’s the Spirit!

• In the short, Curly appears to be "flipping the bird" while playing with his chewing gum.
• This short also features Curly's enigmatic line, "Oh, vigh sigh(t), kid" or possibly, "Oh, vice eye(d), kid." This was spoken during the scene just after James C. Morton utters "I’ll sue you for this!" [re his shot-up toupee] and Moe responds with the nearly equally obscure comment, "Oh, superstitious, eh?" Curly’s mysterious line is said off camera, there is no record in any extant script as to what his words were supposed to be, nor does video or DVD closed-captioning offer any assistance in the matter. Further discussion of this issue can be found in The Three Stooges Journal and at stoogeworld.com, among other sources.^{[citation needed]}
• In one oft-played bit from the film, Curly is trying to subdue the parrot with a rubber mallet, as the bird is jumping from juror to juror. Each time Curly brings down the hammer, he misses the bird, instead bopping a juror on the head. The segment is visibly sped up, making Curly's very light tap on the head or hat of each juror (including, presumably, his own real-life parents in the front row) appear to be a much stronger blow.
• Disorder is one of four Stooge shorts that fell into the public domain after the copyright lapsed in the 1960s (the other three being Malice in the Palace, Brideless Groom, and Sing a Song of Six Pants). As such, these four shorts frequently appear on cheaply produced DVD or video compilations.
• A colorized version of this film was released in 2006. It was part of the DVD collection entitled "Stooges on the Run".

The Stooges play some "hot swing music" (as Curly puts it) in Disorder in the Court.

Bloopers

• A smaller stunt double for Curly is sitting in the witness chair when it falls over.
• Just before the pistol presented in evidence first shoots a bullet, it can be seen that Curly is cringing in anticipation of the discharge, even though he was supposed to be taken by surprise.
• The sound effects for the eye pokes were never heard.

External links

• Disorder in the Court (part 1) [youtube.com]
  
• Disorder in the Court (part 2) [youtube.com]

References

Further reading

• Moe Howard and the Three Stooges; by Moe Howard [1], (Citadel Press, 1977).
• The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion; by Jon Solomon [2], (Comedy III Productions, Inc., 2002).
• The Three Stooges Scrapbook; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [3] (Citadel Press, 1994).
• The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons; by Michael Fleming [4](Broadway Publishing, 2002).
• One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [5], (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).

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