Film / You Nazty Spy!

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This 1940 short starring The Three Stooges was, literally, the first movie ever to mock the Nazis.

Set in the country of Moronica, three men plot to overthrow their king and appoint a dictator. Their choice is a paperhanger named Moe Hailstone. With Curly as his Field Marshal and Larry as his Minister of Propaganda, the boys take control of the country. The citizens are unhappy and drive Hailstone out of power.

This was followed by I'll Never Heil Again. Other Hollywood artists started attacking the Nazis in 1940: Charlie Chaplin did it with The Great Dictator and MGM did it with The Mortal Storm. But the Stooges did it first.

This film provides examples of:

• Adaptational Villainy: The three Stooges take the place of Nazi stand ins and are slowly embracing the roles.
• Adolf Hitlarious: Total nobody who rises to a position of power? Check. Tiny mustache? Check. Yelling in totally-not-German? Check. The only difference is that Moe Hailstone is a paperhanger instead of a failed art student. This was the Trope Codifier.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: A quite memorable (and hilarious) example of faux-German, as part of Moe's insane rant during his Balcony Speech. He does this again when ranting about catching Mattie Herring, and during the meeting with his ministers.
• Balcony Speech: Moe gives an absurd speech to the people from a balcony after he becomes dictator.
  Moe: We must throw off the yoke of monarchy, and make our country safe for hypocrisy!
• Bilingual Bonus: Moe's Rousing Speech is full of Yiddish phrases and colorful insults that only fellow Yiddish speakers — the Jews — would get.
• Book Burning: Moe takes offense at Curly reading a book, and orders him to go out and burn every book in Moronica. Subverted when Mattie Herring arrives before they can do anything.
• Burp of Finality: The three lions emerge from the alcove, having eaten the Stooges, and wearing pieces of their uniforms. One burps, and the film ends.
• Chest of Medals: Curly's impression of Hermann Goering and Benito Mussolini, wearing a uniform covered with an absurd number of medals (even having a similar build to the latter). Curly takes it up to eleven, however, by having medals on his back, as well as his butt.
• Chicken-and-Egg Paradox: The classic example:
  Moe: Where did you get the chicken?
  Man: From an egg.
  Larry: Where'd you get the egg?
  Man: Uh, from a chicken.
  Curly: A vicious cycle! We must kill it! ...Remind me to kill a cycle.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  Mr. Ixnay: We've come here to offer you the greatest opportunity of your life.
  Moe: You mean you'll let us paper the living room?
• Comic Trio: The Three Stooges, up to their usual ridiculous slapstick antics.
• The Casanova: Curly has a personal book filled with women's information. Including things like situations these women get stuck in that he can use to his advantage.
• Dated History: Businessmen being behind the rise of Hitler was a common belief at the time, but the reality is that the Nazis came to power due to the economic difficulties Germany faced after WWI, lingering dissatisfaction and conspiracy theories regarding the outcome of that war, Hitler’s persuasive oratory skills, and a lot of propaganda.
• Downer Ending: The short ends with the Stooges being eaten by lions (although they come back for the sequel... and they die in that film, too!)
• Evil Chancellor: Moe Hailstone, fascist dictator (and moron).
• Evil Is Hammy: The famous balcony scene, in which dictator Moe gives a ridiculously hammy speech to the people (Hitler, of course, being just as hammy).
• Felony Misdemeanor: It's considered treason to walk the streets of Moronica with a chicken. When an officer brings in a violator, Moe has him thrown in a "concentrated camp".
• Femme Fatale Spy: Mattie Herring, the beautiful spy who has wormed her way into dictator Moe's court with the idea of poisoning him.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: The movie mentions the "Giva Dam", which itself breaks Section V of the Hays Code, and furthermore has a whole lot of cursing in Yiddish.
• Literal-Minded: When the time comes for their "round-table conference", Larry questions how they can hold one when they only have a square table. Moe replies "we shall have to cut corners," and hands Larry a handsaw to do so before the conference begins.
• Magic 8-Ball: The Ur-Example, as the short predates the invention of the toy by six years. Mattie Herring uses an oversized 8 ball as a prop during her fortune telling. Turns out there's a note inside from her father detailing her plan to poison Moe.
• The Napoleon: The officer bringing in the man with the chicken is extremely short, not even reaching Moe's shoulder.
• Oh, Crap!: Mattie Herring after Moe breaks her Magic 8-Ball over Curly's head, knowing they're about to find the note from her father, the former king of Moronica, instructing her to poison Moe.
• Pun: Plenty.
  • When Mr. Ixnay talks about making Larry the Minister of Propaganda:
    Larry: Propaganda? What's that?
    Curly: A papa gander marries a mama gander, and they raise a lot of little goslings.
  • When asking about how to start a beer putsch, Curly tells the others "you 'putsch' your beer down and wait for the pretzels!"
  • "Our motto shall be: Moronica for Morons!"
  • "We will now pause for station identification. This is N-U-T-S."
  • Moe takes Curly's "little red book". "Oh, a bookkeeper!"
  • The storm-troopers are dressed in raincoats and carry umbrellas. When they march away goose-stepping, they repeatedly kick each other in the butt.
  • Moe tells Larry he will get the country of Mickey Finlen:
    Larry: If I take Mickey Finlen, I better be rushin'.
    Curly: Then quit stallin'.
  • Curly takes out a pair of dice from his holster when told to go shoot Mattie Herring. When Moe asks how he's going to shoot her with dice, Curly replies, "They're loaded!"
• Punny Name:
  • The map of South Starv_vania is riddled with them.
  • Mattie Herring, an expy of Mata Hari.
• Ripped from the Headlines: Several lines make references to current events, particularly the "Blitzkrieg" line.
• Reality Subtext:invoked With the little moustache, Moe Howard looks eerily like Hitler. Moe's comedic persona in most Stooges shorts felt a lot like Hitler minus moustache plus pratfalls anyway, and the resemblance is used here (and in the sequel short) to great effect.
• Reckless Gun Usage: This being the Three Stooges, it's of course Played for Laughs. After Moe gives Curly a pistol to shoot Mattie Herring with, Curly absentmindedly waves it in his and Larry's faces.
• Sexy Secretary: Mattie Herring, who Hailstone and Gallstone are immediately smitten with, Hailstone apparently being in so deep he was considering marrying her. After Mattie Herring is exposed, Hailstone gets a new secretary, Ms. Pfeffernüsse; she's a very good ballet dancer, but it's about the only thing she does. Although she's so delightful nobody in the cabinet seems to mind.
• Standard Female Grab Area: Discussed and Defied after Mattie Herring is outed as a spy. Curly grabs her in a bear hug, but Moe tells him to "just hold her arm." Curly retorts that "she's a spy all over, isn't she?"
• Stock Footage: During the balcony speech there is stock footage of a cheering crowd. It is clearly stock footage of a Mussolini rally, with a sign saying the date was in "Octubre" and dating the rally to XV EF (that is, the 15th year of Italian fascism).
• This Is a Work of Fiction: Parodied; the film begins with the notice: "Any resemblance between the characters in this picture and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle".
• Those Wacky Nazis: Made at a time when mocking the Nazis was, at best, a risky business, this is the Ur-Example. Yes, the Three Stooges were the first people to mock Hitler on film. The best part is that all three are Jews, the dictator's self-proclaimed enemies.
• Villain Protagonist: Given that they're playing Nazis, the Stooges count in this short.
• Visual Pun:
  • The Moronica symbol is a set of criss-crossing, swastika-like snakes.
  • The geographical features and political borders of South Starv_vania makes the continent resemble a human skull.
• War for Fun and Profit: Mostly profit. Mr. Ixnay, Mr. Amscray, and Mr. Onay all run a munitions factory that's going down the tubes due to peace times in Moronica. Their solution? They decide to start a war, the first step being to overthrow the king and appoint Moe as a dictator in his place.