Three Men in a Boat (1956 film) is happy to get away from his job at the bank. Harris is glad to get away from Mrs. Willis who is pressing him to marry her daughter Clara; and 'J' is more than anxious to take a holiday from his wife, Ethelbertha. George meets three girls, Sophie Clutterhouse and sisters Bluebell and Primrose Porterhouse, who are also taking a ride up the river, and he hopes to see them again. The travellers get into all kinds of complications with the weather, the river, the boat, food, the Hampton Court Maze, tents, rain and locks. They do connect with the
Three Men and a Comic Book by William Golding. Bart trying to save Milhouse from falling from the treehouse is a reference to a scene in the film from Alfred Hitchcock from 1942, "Saboteur". The title of the episode is a reference to the 1987 comedy film "Three Men and a Baby" in which three men have to take delicate care of a baby. In its original broadcast, "Three Men and a Comic Book" finished twenty-third in the ratings for the week of May 6–12, 1991, with a Nielsen rating of 12.9, equivalent to twelve million viewing households. The episode was the highest-rated show on the