FLYING SAUCER DAFFY (1958)
Short

Article 3686 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-2-2011
Posting Date: 9-17-2011
Directed by Jules White
Featuring Joe Besser, Larry Fine, Moe Howard
Country: USA
What it is: Three Stooges short

When Joe snaps a photograph of a paper plate flying through the air, Moe and Larry mistake it for a flying saucer, and submit the photograph to a magazine and win a bundle of money. However, the picture is soon proven to be a fake…

This was apparently the last Three Stooges short filmed, and it may be one of the weakest of them. It seems like a bit of a departure for them; it’s almost as if it’s a Joe Besser short with Moe and Larry for support; they don’t seem to be working quite like a team. At first, I even wondered how much fantastic content there really was in the short, since the plot hinges on a paper plate mistaken for a flying saucer; however, later plot developments do push it into science fiction territory. I remember hearing at one time that Joe Besser had it in his contract that he couldn’t be subjected to Moe’s violence, but seeing how he’s on the receiving end of a lot of violence from Moe here, than I’d have to say that story is probably false. At any rate, I really get the feel here that he wasn’t the right person for the third Stooge, and I just found myself wondering what it would have been like for Shemp or Curly to be in there instead.