(1963) has some distinction among the few features made by Moe and Larry with Joe DeRita. Basically a retelling of the Jules Verne classic, the plot has the added twist of Phineas Fogg III having to emulate the experience of his ancestor but without paying a penny in doing so. Again there is a bank robbery that is blamed on Fogg, but this time the culprits actively attempt to stop his progress since the perpetuator is the very villain who made the bet to begin with. A personable Jay Sheffield plays the circumnavigator straight and love interest Joan Freeman does what acting she can, given a stereotyped role. What is interesting is that the Stooges, at least in their opening scenes, try to play English servants, accents and all, but they fall into more familiar patterns as the film progresses. While in India, the three get to reprise the vaudeville routine of the nearly blind Maja who goes "Aha?" (done better by Curly in "Three Little Pirates"). While in San Francisco, they reprise the fight sequence of "Punch Drunks" (again surpassed by Curly in the second Stooges short way back in 1934) in which Curly Joe can win only when driven berserk by the sound of "Pop Goes the Weasel" as played by Larry. In lieu of the expected chase at the end, there is the wild attempt to get to the club just before midnight to win all the side bets Fogg had placed on his 80-days deadline. Their arrival through a solid wall is a fitting ending to a film that just might induce youngsters to read the original book. A very respectable Three Stooges effort.
