The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze (1963)

Runtime: 94 minutes

Directed by: Norman Maurer

Starring: The Three Stooges, Joan Freeman, & Jay Sheffield

From: Columbia

After a day off from reviewing cinema, I am now back in the saddle as I revisit a film watched both as a kid & as an adult. Moe Howard did pass away on May 4, 1975; while of course I tipped my cap to the Stooges often last year when viewing all 190 of their shorts at Columbia, it was a nice change of pace to view a comedy after the serious cinema witnessed the past week.

The film established a wacky conceit immediately: the implication is presented that Around the World in 80 Days from Jules Verne was a non-fictional account of Phileas Fogg accomplishing the task. Long story, but the detail to note is that a fraudster (who disguises himself by… wearing a goatee) wages the great-grandson of Fogg to accomplish the same task in a scheme to frame him for the crime of embezzling-again, long story. I’ve never read the novel but from Wiki, I know some details were retained, including The Reform Club and living a life to mathematical precision.

This time, Phileas Fogg III is required to make the trip “without spending even a farthing,” and his servants-the Stooges-volunteered to go on this trek w/ their boss. Through movie magic, those characters go around the world while the movie was filmed in California. Along the way, they meet Joan Freeman; in an interesting bit of trivia, the character has the same backstory as the actress: both are from Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The film can certainly be nitpicked; sometimes, Fogg III is said to be the great-great grandson, for some bizarre reason; how was this mistake left in? Some white people portray ethnic characters and there’s dated humor that is blatantly racist by 2026 standards. Be that as it may, I was still entertained by this nonsense. Some lines of dialogue and routines were “borrowed” from the Curly Howard era; that’s fine with me as they’re still funny.

To mention a random detail: there’s a sumo wrestling subplot when they’re in Japan; that wrestler… he was portrayed by pro wrestler Curtis Iaukea, who wrestled around the world way back when and was briefly a manager in 1980’s WWF and 1995 WCW.

For most viewers, they’ll prefer a traditional take on the legendary Wells novel. However, if you’re a Stooge fan, this effort from director/producer/writer Norman Mauer (Moe’s son-in-law) is well worth a look.