The Sportsman is an American film comedy first released in 1921, directed by Larry Semon and Norman Taurog. The film stars Larry Semon, Lucille Carlisle, Al Thompson, Frank Alexander and William Hauber.

1922 film by Larry Semon

1921 film

A government official staying in a hotel puts some important secret papers in the hotel safe. A ring of spies out to get the papers manages to steal them from the safe, and a lady government agent enlists the help of the hotel's bumbling bellhop in getting back the papers and breaking up the spy ring.

Set in the middle ages, the stooges wish to marry their sweethearts, but the King won't give his consent until Princess Alicia gets married. The princess is abducted by Mergatroyd, an evil magician who plans to marry her and become ruler of the country. The stooges help the princess escape and then defeat the magician and his henchmen in a sword fight.

Buster, an ice delivery man, falls for one of his customers, not knowing she has a twin sister living next door.

The Stooges reminisce about the girls they met overseas while in the military. As they wait for the girls' ship to arrive, they get drunk and Shemp winds up asleep with his feet in a tub of cement. After sobering up, they free Shemp with a dynamite blast that lands them at the dock where their sweethearts are waiting.

Curly learns that he is named in the will of his rich uncle, so the boys head for the uncle's mansion to attend the reading of the will.

Moe is on trial for assaulting Curly and Larry with an ax. Moe relates how Curly and Larry took him on a hunting trip for his nerves. Out in the woods they confronted a bear which Curly and Larry stunned, and thinking it was dead, threw it in the back of their car, where it came awake, tossed Moe out and drove the car into a tree. The judge finds Moe not guilty and Moe promptly goes after Larry and Curly again with the ax.

Larry and Shemp reminisce about their experiences with Jean, a diamond crazy gold digger each of them was gypped by. After telling their stories, they have a run in with Moe, who is now married to the same women. When Jean shows up, they deliver some stooge-style revenge.

The Three Stooges, as the Wrong Brothers, aid the war effort by inventing a new plane in this below-average two-reel comedy. Actually, they are attempting to avoid the draft but when their plane, the Buzzard, fails miserably, they march off to war. Richard Fiske, formerly a busy supporting player in Stooges comedies, appears courtesy of stock footage from the earlier Boobs in Arms (1940). Ironically, Fiske had himself been drafted and would be killed in action in France in August of 1944.

The stooge's friend Jerry convinces them to take out on insurance on Curly and then have him act insane to collect. Moe and Larry put Curly on a leash and take him to the insurance doctor and have him act like a dog. Unfortunately, the insurance doctor wants to perform a brain operation (Cerebrum decapitation). The boys try to escape by hiding in the dog catchers wagon, but are caught and taken to the hospital. They escape again, this time by rigging a sheet to a gurney and sailing down the street, where they run into Jerry and knock him into wet cement.

The stooges are traveling salesmen stranded in Valeska, a tropical country prone to earthquakes. Having no luck selling fur coats to the natives they are arrested when they receive a telegram instructing them to "get rid of present wardrobe" and an official thinks they are planning to assassinate president Ward Robey. With the help of Rita, a beautiful revolutionary, the boys escape a firing squad, and are sent on a mission to deliver important plans to the revolutionary leader. When they deliver a rolled up calendar by mistake, they are once again heading for a firing squad but are spared when Rita arrives with the real plans.

The stooges escape from jail when they learn their father, who has just become rich, is planning to leave their mother and marry a young girl. Curly is mistaken for the stooges father (he plays both parts) and marries the girl instead. When they learn that she is working with gangsters who plan to kill their father for his money, they escape and take their father with them.

Elmer owns a gas station out in the California desert. Soon he has a business rival in Jim, who opens up another station, and is also trying to steal Elmer's girlfriend. She plays both rivals against the other and, because she is a baseball fan, both Elmer and Jim try to show each other up in the big local baseball game.