Malice in the Palace is the 117th Columbia Pictures short subject starring the Three Stooges.
Plot[]
The Stooges, while running the Cafe Casbah Bah (a Middle Eastern restaurant) and attempting to prepare a meal for customers Hassan Ben Sober (Vernon Dent) and Gin-A Rummy (George J. Lewis), discover a plan that their hungry customers are hatching. These two thieves are attempting to rob the tomb of Rootentooten, which contains a priceless diamond, but they discover that the Emir of Schmow (Johnny Kascier) has already gotten his hands on the diamond. The two plotters start wailing and are thrown out of the restaurant. The Stooges then attempt to retrieve the diamond themselves, as there is a $50,000 reward at stake.
The Stooges arrive at the Emir of Shmow's palace, all three dressed as Santa Claus. They then manage to acquire the diamond and make a quick exit, but not before dealing with a burly guard.
Curly Howard[]
According to The Three Stooges Journal, a part was written for Curly — a lobby card photo shot for this film features an emaciated and mustachioed Curly as a chef. Although the scene had been fully filmed, Curly's performance had been deemed as sub-par and thus was cut from the finished film. Ultimately, Larry assumed the role as the chef. Had Curly been able to appear, this would have been the second short — after Hold That Lion! — in which all four of the original Stooges appear in the same film. Sadly, Curly would not work after this, as his health steadily declined until his death in 1952.
Trivia[]
- Malice in the Palace is one of the four Three Stooges short films to enter the public domain. As a result, the short is frequently found on budget release VHS and DVD releases.