Restless Knights

This is a 1935 Stooges short: 

(Short # 6 in Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk: The Columbia Shorts of The Three Stooges)

A short that I’ve viewed a number of times in my life. It wasn’t due to believing that Restless Knights is a masterpiece. Rather, as a kid, three different VHS tapes-from the late 80’s-were purchased by my parents-official VHS releases done by Columbia which featured three Stooge shorts each. This was the final of one tape.

The opening scene has Walter Brennan telling his three sons that they are of noble blood, and need to protect Queen Anne from an attempted coup. She’s the Queen of… Anesthesia. They arrive at the palace (a nice set undoubtedly used in higher-profile productions at Columbia) and after a few minutes of grappling done to comedic effect-the highlight despite its role in killing time before the main plot continues-they are blamed for the Queen’s kidnapping.

It's not my favorite by any means; however, there’s still some amusing slapstick, the first usage of a bit done in later shorts, and a few quality one-liners. I’d love to know the decision process behind what was chosen for VHS release back then; at least this wasn’t the worst of the Curly era. In a few months I’ll have to discuss how he was treated poorly by the studios once health problems surfaced but it will be weeks before I have to go down that road.