How High Is Up?

In a year when defense plants were starting to crank out material for war and employment was near full capacity, there were three guys who couldn't find work. I think you know who they are.

Ten years earlier the sight of Moe, Larry, and Curly sleeping under their truck no one would have noticed or bothered them. But in 1940 a cop tells them to move and they have to move even without repairing their flat tire on the truck with a salami. Don't ask about that one.

Anyway the boys in eluding some other working stiffs whose lunch pails they punched holes in, they get themselves hired as construction workers with Larry serving up hot rivets as a specialty. Don't ask about what Moe and Curly do with them.

With seeing the Three Stooges in How High Is Up doing construction, no wonder the women of America rose to the challenge and Rosie the Riveter was born. After seeing the boys why couldn't women do a better job.

But not in comedy, this is one of the best Three Stooges shorts ever.

Nearing to BIG 50. The Stooges 48th classic comedy short, and really, really trippy stuff. Let's put it this way -- had this been real life, these guys would have been TOAST.

This one is terrific. Absolutely. Moe, Larry and Curly get hired(?) as riveters on the 97th floor(!) of a skyscraper under construction. Director Del Lord's super camera work gets you paranoid at times, it seems so real. Curly, without fail, is the menace to society here, messing things up big time for Moe and Larry, not to mention nearly having them all fall off the building! There's always food around -- because these guy are hungry all the time -- and watch for the sausages, mistaken for rivets? The best gag.

Their hot tempered boss, Mr. Blake, is played to the hilt by Vernon Dent, the guy all us kids loved to hate. Look for actor Bruce Bennett as one of the workmen. Bruce would go onto appear in many Warner Brothers film classics, like TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE.

BEST comes at the end -- the Stooges use parachutes to escape the 97th floor!

Beautifully written insanity by Elwood Ullman, one of their best writers. Notes indicate the aerial shots of the building were filmed at the Empire State Building in New York City.

Thanks so much to METV for running these oldies Saturdays non stop. Always on dvd, remastered Columbia box set. Generally boxed by decades, 30s, 40s and 50s episodes.

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

One of the most hilarious Three Stooges shorts is How High is Up? In this short are Vernon Dent, Cy Schindell, and Bert Young. The acting by these actors are good especially by Dent, and Schindell. There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts. I recommend this one to all!

The Three Stooges were masters in creating memorable skits by stretching the simplest of tasks and making them sidesplitting hilarious. A prime example finds Curly struggling to get his tight sweater off in July 1940's "How High is Up?" Moe and Larry lend a hand, only to compound his problems. The three are paid tinkers who think they can do any job that comes their way-except for removing sweaters.

Between jobs, Curly's tight-fitting sweater causes him fits. Instead of simply pulling off the sweater over his head, Curly's head can't fit through the neck opening. Moe has the bright idea of using tools in his company's arsenal. Wedging two crowbars around Curly's neck, Moe and Larry attempt to slip the sweater over the tools, but instead press his nose between the two bars. Moe then takes the tactic to hit Curly in the head with a giant hammer while lifting the sweater in an attempt to smash down his skull through its neckline. Alas, after several wacks, Moe's hammer still hasn't produced the intended results. Finally, Moe opts for pulling the sweater over Curly's head and cutting his prized apparel with scissors. The plan has its disadvantages by destroying Curly's valuable sweater. But he finds himself with two mittens out of the carnage.

"How High is Up?" gets its title from the Stooges standing on the 97th floor of a building under construction. To drum up work, the three tinkers come across a construction site where the workers lunch pails are lined up. As Larry pokes holes in the containers, Moe offers to fix the workers' pails before the targets realize they've been had. Ducking into the site where the foreman (Edmund Cobb) is hiring riveters, Moe brags how he and his two colleagues are proficient in the task. One of the extras waiting in line for a job is actor Bruce Bennett, an Olympian silver medalist shot putter who played in the Rose Bowl for the University of Washington football team. He was picked by MGM to be its first sound version of Tarzan. But he broke his shoulder while filming the 1931 movie 'Touchdown,' and was replaced by Johnny Weissmuller. He later played roles in such classics as 1945's "Mildred Pierce" and 1948's "The Treasure of Sierra Madre."

How High is Up? (1940)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This Three Stooges short isn't one of their best but I think it's the perfect example of how talented Moe, Larry and Curly were and how they could take average material and make it better. It starts off with the three sleeping under their car until they end up floating down the street and nearly getting killed. To avoid a police officer they duck into a construction job where they're assigned the 97th story and of course they end up destroying it. HOW HIGH IS UP? isn't the greatest short out there and you can tell by some of the jokes, which never really work even though it's obvious the boys are doing their best with it. The scene has Curly wearing a sweater, which gets stuck on him so Moe and Larry must try and get him out of it. This sequence goes on for quite a bit and while we never get that really big laugh we at least get smiles because it really does seem as Moe and Larry are earning their money. The second part of the short deals with the construction stuff. We've seen countless occupations for the boys and usually they end up making a mess of things so that routine isn't really anything new year. As you'd expect, jokes range from the boys getting hurt using the tools and being up on the 97th story you know we're going to get some jokes where the boys almost fall off. All three are in fine form and they make more out of the material than most comedians would have.