A Bird in the Head on AllMovie

This is the first Three Stooges short that Edward Bernds directed. However, Curly Howard had begun suffering the series of strokes that would eventually sideline him, and he wasn't up to speed here. To save Bernds' job, producer Hugh McCollum held the film back until the director and the boys made the far superior Micro-Phonies. That's not to say that this wasn't a fun short; it certainly has its entertaining moments. The Stooges are paperhangers, or at least they say they are. "You won't recognize the joint when you get back," Moe Howard assures his boss. That's for sure -- when the boys are done, the room looks like it was haphazardly papered with napkins. The boss is furious and to escape him the boys dash into the laboratory of the mad Professor Panzer (Vernon Dent). Panzer wants to put a human brain into a gorilla's head, but he hasn't been able to find a brain small enough...until he meets Curly. He entices the boys to stay in his home, but they discover what he plans to do. They also discover the gorilla. Curly finds a kindred soul in the ape and soon they're destroying Panzer's lab. Panzer tries to stop them with a machine gun, which the gorilla snatches away and begins firing. After the professor is knocked cold, the boys beat a hasty retreat -- and Curly makes sure that the gorilla comes along.