We Want Our Mummy (1939) User Reviews

It sure started out well and is about as good a Stooge short as you can find

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 17 June 2007]

The first few minutes of this Three Stooges film were a hoot, as the Stooges were hired to find a missing Egytologist as well as the ancient king, Rootin-Tootin. The reasoning given for hiring these idiots was priceless--"no sane person would agree to do this" and "if they are killed by the curse it would be a blessing to humanity"! During this short scene, the jokes and gags come pretty quickly and I must say this Stooge film starts a lot better than most of their films.

When the arrive in Egypt, instead of the action slowing down, the film continued with a very high pace--and filled with pretty good gags--among the best you'll see the Stooges do in any of their shorts. It's funny but this approximately 16 minute short has about as many laughs as the full-length ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY.

FYI--The voice doing the radio commercial was Moe Howard's. Also, the Alligator used in the film looks quite real and not like a cheesy prop. Too bad alligators are only native to North America!

Funny Three Stooges movie

[rbverhoef · 8/10 · 7 November 2003]

Moe, Larry and Curly are three detectives. They go to Egypt to find the mummy of king Rootin-Tootin and of course things are not as they seem and do not go as planned. Some very nice moments, even the predictable moments are funny, make this a great funny short from the Three Stooges!

70 years later still great fun

[mark-2616 · 9/10 · 27 February 2009]

This is an excellent Stooge short from 1939. Curley was still at his prime now. Only a few years later will show is illnesses. There are so many priceless expressions from Curly in this short especially when he hears this echo on his own voice 2 times and the third time the echo's voice from Moe's! There are some really good stunts in this short as well. One with Curley's stunt person falling backwards into the well and then towards the end, the three villains all fall into the well at once. Great to see Bud Jamison and James Morton. Real good sets too....lot's of lifelike Egyptian features. Trivia: 1952 was not a kind year for some of the cast. Curley Howard, Dick Curtis and Eddie Laughton all died in 1952. All in all this is a classic Stooge short highly recommended for a couple of good laughs. You can now find in on Hulu.com and watch it on your computer. All in all this short is great fum from 70 years ago

Rootentooten and Hotsie Totsie!

[slymusic · 3 May 2006]

There's no denying that "We Want Our Mummy" is a great Three Stooges comedy. In searching for the mummy of King Rootentooten, the Stooges (especially Curly) display quite an unlimited supply of energy from start to finish. A little too much energy, perhaps? (Don't read any further until after you have seen this wonderful short.)

Highlights: The Stooges wear some interesting detective outfits when they make their first appearance at the museum. The cab driver (Eddie Laughton) gives an unforgettably surprised look when the Stooges tell him that their destination is Egypt. The head villain (Dick Curtis), believing that there are jewels hidden inside Curly's mummy disguise, reaches in and pulls out a newspaper instead ("'Yanks Win World Series.' Can you beat that!"). Curly has some amusing dialogue about Cairo and Tunis. And Moe whips out his portable telescope to check out the desert, but all he sees is the back of Larry's head.

Moe: "Hey, he's the real McCoy!" Larry: "McCoy? I thought his name was Rootentooten!"

Lots Of Fun The Whole Ride

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10/10 · 19 October 2010]

A silly but definitely-a-lot-of-fun Three Stooges short, in which they wind up in an underground tomb looking for "King Rootin' Tootin.' Along the way, they find his wife "Hotsie Totsie." Yes, there were a lot of corny lines in here but some of them are genuinely funny.

Chase scenes with the Stooges are usually fun to watch, and that's the case here with "dead people" chasing the boys around the sandy place. Mummies, ghouls, and just plain thieves/kidnappers from New York are all involved in this comedy-crime-adventure. It's just pure goofy entertainment.

Even Curly turns into a mummy! Well, he's wrapped by Larry and Moe to look like one....with predictable-but-hilarious results. Hey, that "disguise" was nothing compared to the boys' "detective outfits" at the beginning of the show!

It seems everyone here is in agreement: this is a great Three Stooges film.

We Want Our Mummy and so did I!This is great one!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 12 March 2003]

This is another great one!Its very funny but its different.Dick Curtis was good as always, Theodore Lorch was excellent and Bud Jamison and James C. Morton is very good in the short film.This is a very good Three Stooges and I think all Stooge fans will like it!

Stooges turned loose in the mummy's tomb

[rwalker23009 · 10/10 · 25 April 2020]

Stooges at their peak in 1939, with a good story, good gags and a brilliant performance from Curly. The boys take a cab (!) to Egypt to bring back the mummy of King Rootentooten. Curly accidently crushes a mummy, then has to play a mummy himself. Curly's "swim" in mirage-pond is pure genius. Hard to go wrong with the boys in a chamber of priceless artefacts, menaced by spooks and villains. I can't think of 16 minutes of film with more laughs per minute.

First Three Stooges Scary Movie Set in Pharaoh Tomb Chambers

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 29 February 2024]

The Three Stooges capitalized on the rejuvenation of horror movies by appearing in their first scary movie, February 1939's "We Want Our Mummy," directed by Del Lord. This time the Stooges are employed as private detectives who are hired to locate a kidnapped college professor, who knows the whereabouts of Egyptian King Rootentooten. Hiring a cab, the Stooges travel to a remote desert spot in Egypt where they've traced the professor, only to come across the tomb of the ancient pharaoh. The thieves are lurking nearby, which, in order to escape, the trio decide to dress Curly as the mummy. As the gang leader searches the prone Stooge who's mummified under wraps, he comes across a newspaper. It's headlined "Yanks win World Series" detailing the New York Yankees sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the 1938 series, a rare acknowledgement in a Stooges' film of an actual sporting event. "Can you beat that!" says the gangster, to which Curly replies, "Yeah, and I won five bucks," blowing his cover.

"We Want Our Mummy" marked the first time in a Stooges film where a bad guy is disguised as a monster. This is also the first time Curly is heard chattering his teeth in a metallic sound as well as shaking like a dog after coming out of water-this from a well inside the tomb.

Good Stooges film

[elisereid-29666 · 8/10 · 16 January 2020]

This was one of the better Three Stooges shorts. I especially liked how, despite very little material that didn't involve the Stooges themselves, the filmmaker managed to create a credible background for the "straight men" without taking time away from the Stooges. (Though it's clear the villains aren't terribly bright-anyone who couldn't tell an alive Curly wrapped up from a real mummy has no business studying ancient artifacts! Cartoon logic, which transfers strangely well to live action here...). The alligator is a welcome addition to the story, though it does seem to come from out of nowhere...

Stooges vs Mummy

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 13 February 2020]

Larry, Curly, and Moe arrive at the Egyptian Room in the Museum of Ancient History. They have been hired to find Prof. Tuttle who is the key to finding the mummy of King Rutentuten. They inadvertently help in Tuttle's kidnapping. They are then hired to find Rutentuten despite the deadly consequences.

Curly swimming in the mirage is a wonder of physical comedy. It's simple, silly, and pure genius. Everything else is solid Stooges. The Mummy looks bad and that's great. It's stupid fun.

Not very yummy

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 13 January 2018]

"We Want Our Mummy" is an American black-and-white short film from 1939, so around the time WWII started and this means it is already almost 80 years old. In here you will find cast and crew that worked with the Three Stooges on many occasions and this also gives away who the protagonists are and they are including Curly still here of course. The title is a typical Stooges play on words that includes also the reference to ancient Egypt as of course this one is all about tombs, pharaohs and archeology. Add to that the typical amount of crime you usually find in Stooges films and you get what this is about, of course only to an extent where it does not endanger the comedy element being at the very center of of it all. Here and there, there is a decent moment, but as a whole I wasn't convinced by this one either. I am surprised by the high rating, but then again I am not the very biggest Stooges fan. It is probably not among their most or least known efforts. For me personally, it is somewhere in the middle too as I have seen better and worse. By the way, this is apparently one that did not get remade. All in all tolerable for the running time, but as a whole not good enough for me to give it a positive recommendation. Watch something else instead unless you quite like the gang.

genius

[stormshadow_99 · 10 January 2004]

This may be the funniest of the stooges shorts, besides the one where they build a house for their new wives. shouldn't be missed by any fans of comedy. The world would be better if the stooges and marx brothers were still living.

I myself never laughed at any predicaments that the friends or will and grace get into, but seeing moe hit curly with a shovel, pure comic gold.

thank you william

Fun Short

[Michael_Elliott · 13 October 2008]

We Want Our Mummy (1939)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Classic Three Stooges short has the boys playing detectives who are given the case of going to Egypt and locating the mummy known as King Rootin-Tootin. A museum will pay $5000 for him but what the boys don't know is that there is a curse with it. This here is pure madness and ranks as one of the best Stooge shorts out there. Everything people love about the Stooges can be had in this short as we get a great storyline, classic laughs and some terrific dialogue. There are many highlights here but one classic scene has Curly accidentally smashing the mummy and having to be wrapped up himself to try and fool some bad guys. Another great moment is when Moe looks through a telescope to see the desert but he ends up seeing something else. There's really not a dry moment anywhere in this film as it gets started with some great laughs and just keeps getting funnier as it moves along. As a die-hard horror fan I'd also go out on the limb and call this one of the best mummy movies ever made. It's certainly a lot better than many of the spoofs out there that deals with the mummy creature.