A Plumbing We Will Go is the 46th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges, released April 19, 1940.
On trial for stealing chickens from a hen house, the trio are found not guilty due to apparently insufficient evidence. However, Curly pulls out his hat and chicken feathers fly out, which he claims is merely dandruff. As they exit, they antagonize a police officer (Bud Jamison). Next, they try to catch some food at a pet store by fishing in an aquarium tank with a rod and reel. The same police officer sees them. They hide, and Curly punches a mannequin of a police officer. While repeating this for Moe and Larry, the same officer from the courtroom shows up, and punches Curly after he remarked that he always wanted to punch a cop. The Stooges run away and steal a plumber's van. The police officer runs after the van and gets on its trailer. Curly and Larry disconnect it, and the officer falls off. After several minutes of driving, Moe stops the car and Larry and Curly fall out. A butler approaches them and says, "HEY! I called you plumbers an hour ago!" Curly begins to explain but notices that the police officer is coming closer. They run inside with the plumber's equipment. They are told that the leak is in the basement, and they spend the rest of the short, predictably, ruining the mansion in an attempt to fix the leak.
This short would be remade with Shemp in 1949 as Vagabond Loafers.
The film is a fan favorite, highest rated on International Movie Database, and was also a personal favorite of Curly's.
Tropes
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Curly at one point "always wanted to punch a cop right in the nose". One comes up behind him. And when Curly tries to punch the cop, he gets punched back, causing the Stooges to run for it.
- Bigger on the Inside: The magician's box at the end of the short, which the stooges run out of while being chased by an entire police force.
- Blatant Lies: In the courtroom hearing at the beginning of the short, the Stooges pass the big bunch of feathers falling off Larry's hat (which is where they stashed the chicken they were caught stealing) as "dandruff". The judge believes them and sets them free.
- Butt-Monkey: The house chef (Dudley Dickerson) suffers from the plumbing calamities the Stooges, especially Curly, cause.Chef: This house is sho' gone crazy!
- Courtroom Antics: Briefly. Silly questions involving houses and doghouses, slaps by Moe to the other two stooges, "dandruff" ahoy, and the cop kicks Curly's rear as they leave the courtroom after the trio was found not guilty.
- Do-It-Yourself Plumbing Project: Their attempts at plumbing had water coming out of the stove, the light bulbs, telephones, and a very primitive television set. A screenshot from the short even provides the trope's main image.
- Double Take: The poor chef does this when he hears the clock spinning backwards (courtesy of Curly): he glances up to see what the sound is, shrugs...and then the realization hits. He's left gawking in equal parts fear and confusion until the clock pops loose of the wall and lands in his cake batter.
- Hello Again, Officer: The officer from the courtroom at the beginning of the episode has two more run-ins with the stooges throughout the short, after catching them trying to catch an aquarium fish.
- High-Class Glass: A guest of the mansion's owners apparently doesn't even take his off in the shower.
- Hot Pursuit: Mostly on foot after a cop catches the trio stealing fish. Until the Stooges steal a plumber's truck and use that to get away.
- Kangaroo Court: The judge (John Tyrrell) overlooks the feathers that sprung out of Curly's hat, when the Stooges were all on trial for attempting to steal chickens from a coop.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The judge acquits the stooges all of accusations of attempting to steal chickens from a coop, but then they agree to take up a plumbing job that they're not trained and qualified for simply because they need a place to hide from the police who caught them stealing fish from a pet store. They flood the entire house and destroy all the water, power and steam pipelines. It turns out it's that same judge's house.
- Non-Nude Bathing: The man upstairs taking a bath was already wearing a towel (and shorts) when Curly tears open the curtain and forces him out. Played for laughs, but there for obvious Hays Code reasons.
- Of Corsets Funny: Larry finds a "Straightjacket" to cover up a hole in a heating vent.
- Off on a Technicality: In the opening scene, as the cop showed no hard evidence that the Stooges were in Mrs. Throttlebottom's chicken coop (believing that the trio was "in the house" and the feathers around Curly was "dandruff"), the trio was let go.
- Oh, Crap!: Near the end, the owner of the house falls through a hole that Curly made to get out of his pipe trap. As the Stooges help him up and reprimand him for ruining their work, Curly recognizes him as the judge from earlier and they flee from him.
- Pipe Pain: Administered by Moe.
- Plank Gag: Done with pipes this time.
- Right Behind Me: While Curly is talking about how he's always wanted to punch a cop right in the nose, one comes up behind him.
- Rump Roast: Curly accidentally burns Moe's butt with a blow torch.
- Spanner in the Works: Moe actually did fix the leak himself. "Who says you need brains to be a plumber?" he'd quip. Too bad he sent Curly upstairs, who would create holes on the bathroom floor (as he was stuck in his own piping) and send the floor and pipes crashing into the basement, destroying the plumbing job and sending Moe back to square one.
- Stage Magician: The Stooges intrude on a magician's act, somehow for selling hair tonic, while evading the cop.
- Television Portal: A comedic version. Midway through the short, the Stooges mix up the electrical pipes with the water pipes. Meanwhile, the wife of the owner was going to show off her new TV set to her guests. They got a broadcast from Niagara Falls — which then, thanks to the Stooges' meddling, splashes water all over the room!
