"You Nazty Spy!" is an American short film from 1940, so this one is already over 75 years old. It stars the Three Stooges and it's a black-and-white film of course. Don't get fooled by versions where color was added later. Anyway, when this 18-minute film was made, political aggressions were at a high point globally and of course not just the title here makes it very easy to see, but the entire film is full of Nazi references, of course in a sense where the Stooges were mocking Hitler and Germany back then. I will not talk about the exact scenes as you will easily recognize them yourselves because honestly it couldn't be more obvious. Maybe the fact that the Stooges were never masters of subtle comedy, but all in the face (especially) during the Curly days is one reason why I have never been too big on them. Yes this little movie has 1 or 2 somewhat funny moments, especially involving plays on words, but as a whole it is just never really that entertaining despite White, Adler and Bruckman being in charge and they have worked with one of the most known trios in film history on so so many occasions. It needs to be said that Curly, Moe and Larry (who was somewhat irrelevant in this one) elevated the extremely mediocre/weak material at times, but not to a level where I would call it a good watch. Only worth seeing for the very biggest Stooges fans and I guess the popularity of this one can only be explained by referencing the political context, not the quality. Watch something else instead.

You Nazty Spy! (1940) *** (out of 4) Some evil cabinet members want to overthrow the King of Moronica and replace him with idiots who would be willing to do anything they say. They find the idiots in Moe, Larry and Curly but it doesn't take long for the boys to mess up the country as well as the cabinet members plans. Both Moe and Larry had said that this was their favorite short and everyone knows it was a hit when originally released but when viewed today I'm still somewhat shocked that it went over so well with critics and fans at the time of release. This was released just nine months before Charles Chaplin's THE GREAT DICTATOR and one really wonders why that film drew so much heat when it at least had a message behind it while the Stooges' film is just pure comedy. When seen today there's certainly nothing offensive here, although there's a brief bit about a concentration camp which doesn't get any laughs. The rest of the picture has the boys doing their thing and getting some very big laughs out of it. One of the highlights in the film happens early on when Moe accidentally puts his finger in black paint and gives himself a mustache and this of course is meant to make him look like Hitler. The shocking thing is seeing how close the two look and especially when Moe messes with his hair. Another funny bit deals with a female spy reading the future while Moe and Curly are holding each others hand thinking that they're holding the woman's. YOU NAZTY SPY! is perhaps one of the most loved Stooges short but to me it's just middle ground. It's certainly worth viewing but I think the history of it is a bit more interesting than the actual picture and it certainly can't hold a candle to the Chaplin film.

An excellent Stooge short, and one of their best. Like everybody else said, it was very gutsy of the Stooges to make fun of Hitler in the pictures since nobody else had done it yet. I can't believe this wasn't nominated for an Academy Award like MEN IN BLACK (which I don't think is that great) was. Moe's Hitler impression is simply BRILLIANT, and the man deserves more recognition for it. This short is filled with hilarious, non-stop verbal puns and funny one-liners. One of the few Stooge shorts that dared to do this instead of relying almost fully on physical humor (TRICKY DICKS is another one filled with puns and one-liners, and that's also a great short), which proves the Stooges are excellent verbal comics as well as physical. This was sequeled a year later with the Stooges as I'LL NEVER HEIL AGAIN.This was also the very first Stooge short from the early 40's, which was the Stooges' classic, Golden Age period.

I'm a life-long 3 Stooges fan whose favorite stooge is Shemp. Curly, however is my second favorite. Moe and Larry are probably tied for third. Moe looks AND (for all I know) sounds (when he yells in his version of German) like Hitler. My favorite magic words of all time (Ikkle dikkle bikkle mik) are in this film. They are spoken by the same girl who played Sherry in the Stooges short with Curly when the boys pose as Doctors Ziller, Zellar and Zoller. She was also one of Nell's Belles in the Stooges Short with Curly called "Rockin' Through the Rockies". You will never find any film that makes fun of World War II as funny as the Stooge World War II films. How's this for a funny thought: replace the stormtroopers in the Star Wars movies with the ones in this film! What would Darth Vader say?!