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I'm a Monkey's Uncle

Entry updated 24 February 2023. Tagged: Film.

Short US film (1948). Columbia Pictures. Directed by Jules White. Written by Zion Myers. Cast includes Heinie Conklin (uncredited), Larry Fine, Dee Green, Moe Howard, Shemp Howard, Virginia Hunter, Joe Palma (uncredited), Nancy Saunders, Sy Schindell (uncredited), and Bill Wallace (uncredited). 18 minutes. Black and white.

In this unmemorable example of Prehistoric SF, the Three Stooges (at the time, Fine, Moe Howard, and Shemp Howard) are cavemen mostly preoccupied with obtaining food; after an extended sleep, they catch a fish and a turtle, build a fire to cook them, milk a cow, and churn the milk into butter. They then encounter Moe's girlfriend (Hunter) and her two sisters (Saunders and Green); the homely one is attracted to Shemp, who strives to resist her advances. Three other cavemen (Palmer, Schindell, and Wallace) appear as rivals for the women's affections, but they are driven off by objects hurled by a tree branch Moe uses as a catapult.

Influenced by the 1940 film One Million B.C. (1940; vt Man and His Mate), this film lacks only its Dinosaurs – undoubtedly omitted because of budgetary concerns, though they are briefly referenced. There are a few clever touches, such as a "lighter" for their fire made of two stones and the use of a skunk to drive off the rivals by means of "Poison gas", but the film is mostly interesting because of its emphasis on our ancient ancestors' constant need for nourishment, clearly more important to them than their romantic relationships.

Most of the footage from this film was reused in another short, Stone Age Romeos (1955). In a new frame story, the Stooges, wearing fake beards, meet with a museum director who promises them a large reward if they travel to a remote area of the world and bring back proof that cavemen are still living today. Then an edited version of the original short is presented by the returning Stooges as their documentation of modern-day cavemen. Though initially delighted, the director overhears the Stooges confessing that they really only filmed themselves pretending to be cavemen, so he refuses to pay them the reward. One could argue that this recontextualization of the first short effectively transforms it into a Parody of its subgenre, at least as it occurs in film, conveying how ludicrous it is to characterize our ancestors as simple-minded savages wearing furs who utilize clubs as a means of courtship – exactly the sort of production that might be created by three uneducated amateurs. Yet surely this was not the intent of filmmakers who were only striving to fulfil a contract to produce eight shorts a year with a minimal amount of effort. [GW]

see also: Three Stooges Films.

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