Commotion on the Ocean

Commotion on the Ocean (1956)

The Biggest Wave of Wackiness yet!

The stooges are would-be reporters, who are tricked into becoming stowaways by "Borscht", a spy for an enemy country. Stranded on a freighter on the high seas, they discover that Borscht has concealed some stolen microfilm in watermelons they brought aboard for him. After a wild chase, they subdue Borscht and recover the microfilm.

Date of release
1956-11-08
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (6)
Runtime
17m
Genres
Comedy
Director
Jules White

Casting

Interesting facts

Commotion on the Ocean is a 1956 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. It is the 174th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Production notes

Commotion on the Ocean is a remake of 1949's Dunked in the Deep, using ample stock footage. In addition, the newspaper room scenes were borrowed from 1948's Crime on Their Hands. Commotion on the Ocean was the last of four shorts filmed in the wake of Shemp Howard's death using earlier footage and a double. It marked the final film to feature Shemp as a stooge. He would be replaced by Joe Besser.

The film's plot device of hiding microfilm in watermelons is an allusion to an actual event that occurred in 1948. Time magazine's managing editor Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist spy-turned government informer, accused Alger Hiss of being a member of the Communist Party and a spy for the Soviet Union.

As Shemp Howard had already died, for his last four films (Rumpus in the Harem, Hot Stuff, Scheming Schemers and Commotion on the Ocean), Columbia utilized supporting actor Joe Palma to be Shemp's double. Even though the last four shorts were remakes of earlier Shemp efforts, Palma's services were needed to link what few new scenes were filmed to the older stock footage.

For Commotion on the Ocean, Palma appears in one new shot during the newspaper office scene. After Larry says, "Oh, I know Smitty: 'Under the spreading chestnut tree, the village smitty stands'", Moe slaps him. Palma gets involved in the slapstick exchange and shields himself in defense, obstructing his face.

All other new footage consists of Moe and Larry working as a duo, often discussing Shemp's absence aloud:

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended