Fright Night (film)

Infobox Film
name = Fright Night


caption =
director = Edward Bernds
writer = Clyde Bruckman
starring = Moe Howard
Larry Fine
Shemp Howard
Dick Wessel
Claire Carleton
Harold Brauer
Cy Schindell
Heinie Conklin
Sammy Stein
Stanley Blystone
Dave Harper
Tom Kingston
cinematography = Philip Tannura |
editing = Paul Borofsky
producer = Hugh McCollum
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = flagicon|US March 6, 1947
runtime = 17' 41"
country = USA
language = English
preceded_by = "Half-Wits Holiday"
followed_by = "Out West"
amg_id = 1:149991
imdb_id = 0039399

"Fright Night" is the 98th 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 managers of a beefy boxer named Chopper Kane (Dick Wessel), and they bet their bank roll on his next fight. When a gangster (Tiny Brauer) tells them to have Chopper lose or they will lose their lives, the boys decide to play along. They try to soften Chopper up by feeding him rich food and having him spend time with their friend Kitty (Claire Carleton). The fight gets canceled when Kitty dumps Chopper for his opponent and the two boxers engage in some pre-match fisticuffs that result in a broken hand for the opponent. The Stooges think they have put one over on the gangsters, only to have the bad guys corner them in a deserted warehouse. Instead of being rubbed out, the boys capture the crooks and get a reward.

hemp Howard returns

"Fright Night" marked the return of Shemp Howard to the Stooges. It had been 14 years since he had worked with brother Moe Howard and partner Larry Fine. Critics have noted how naturally Shemp picked up where he had left, falling into the Stooge routines almost effortlessly.

Notes

"Fright Night" was reworked in 1955 as "Fling in the Ring", using ample stock footage.

Further reading

*"Moe Howard and the Three Stooges"; by Moe Howard [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806507233] , (Citadel Press, 1977).
*"The Three Stooges Scrapbook"; by Jeff Lenburg, Joan Howard Maurer, Greg Lenburg [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0806509465] (Citadel Press, 1994).
*"The Three Stooges: An Illustrated History, From Amalgamated Morons to American Icons"; by Michael Fleming [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0767905563] (Broadway Publishing, 2002).
*"One Fine Stooge: A Frizzy Life in Pictures"; by Steve Cox and Jim Terry [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581823630] , (Cumberland House Publishing, 2006).