Film

The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze

Name: The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1963
Cast: Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Joe DeRita, Jay Sheffield, Joan Freeman

Slapstick
Treasure hunt
Light-hearted

The Three Stooges race around the world in 1963, chasing a bet and a con man. It's slapstick on a globe-trotting scale—physical comedy, mistaken identities, and the trio doing what they do best across exotic locations. For anyone who finds their brand of mayhem irresistible, and doesn't mind a plot that's mostly an excuse for gags.

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It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World1963

A sprawling ensemble comedy about people racing across America for buried treasure. Same year, same spirit of controlled chaos, with a cast working together through increasingly absurd set pieces.

But Nearly three hours long, and the tone shifts between sentimental and manic in ways that don't always land. Some stretches feel padded.

Around the World in 80 Days1956

The actual template: a globe-trotting adventure with a famous wager, star-studded cameos, and genuine transport-based spectacle. Elegant proof that the premise itself is charming.

But It's a serious adventure film with romance and stakes. If you want the Stooges' brand of anarchic silliness, this is the straight version, which can feel slow.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein1948

Comedy duo loose in a monster movie: slapstick collides with genre mechanics in a way that shouldn't work but does. That same ratio of gags to plot, but earlier and tighter.

But The monster stuff competes with the comedy rather than serving it. Horror fans won't find scares; comedy fans might find it uneven.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein poster

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Targets1968

Both films examine the distance between an older entertainment tradition (horror, slapstick) and the modern world watching it. One celebrates that tradition, the other questions whether it has aged into something troubling. A good pair for thinking about how comedy travels through time.

Peter Bogdanovich's debut: a sniper plotline intersects with a drive-in screening of an old Boris Karloff horror film. A meditation on how entertainment ages, what we project onto it, and why safety is illusion. Tense, intelligent, unexpectedly moving.

But It's a thriller about real-world violence and mortality. No comedy, no lightness. The tonal distance from the Stooges is the entire point, and it can be uncomfortable.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Jubilant entertainment with a wafer-thin plot that exists to string together brilliant set pieces. Same philosophy: story is a clothesline for the fun.

But It's a musical, and a romance. If you're coming for slapstick, the sentiment and songs might dilute what you want.

The Pink Panther1963

Slapstick and detection collide in the same year. Jacques Tati's influence on physical comedy, with Peter Sellers making mayhem look elegant. Plot similarly secondary to chaos.

But The humour is quieter and more observational than the Stooges. If you want loud and obvious, this is the opposite.

Some Like It Hot1959

A cross-country chase comedy with a premise that spirals into increasingly absurd situations. Farce that trusts you'll follow the logic even as it breaks it.

But It's a love story first, comedy second. The sentiment is half the point, which changes the whole enterprise.

The Great Race1965

Blake Edwards directs a globe-spanning comedy heist: car races, disguises, slapstick on an epic budget. Same scale and energy, just a couple years later with a bigger star.

But It's very long and sometimes indulgent. The tone swings wildly between satire and sentiment. Pacing can feel slack.

Sherlock Jr.1924

A projectionist dreams himself into a mystery film. Physical comedy as pure architecture—every gag builds logically from the premise. Silent cinema's template for structure-based humour.

But It's silent, it's short, and the rhythm is alien to sound-era comedy. Modern viewers often find it slow and hard to read.

Sinbad the Sailor1947

Both films are journeys—globe-trotting or mythical—where the point is the spectacle of travel and exotic locations rather than plot coherence. Both trust the audience will enjoy the ride for its own sake. One gets there through gags, the other through stunts, but the engine is identical: movement, surprise, scale.

Technicolor fantasy-adventure with Douglas Fairbanks Jr., genuinely spectacular sets and stunts, played almost entirely for fun. An action film that knows its job is to delight. Gorgeous, silly, completely guileless.

But It's a straight adventure film with romance and heroics. No comedy, no irony. The tone is earnest in a way that can read as camp if you're not in the mood for sincerity.