Higher Than a Kite

This is a very funny short, especially the parodies of Rommel and Goehring. Vernon Dent was probably the greatest of all the Stooge foils and he has a great performance in this film. The ending scene where the Marine bulldog bites the picture of Hitler while its still stuck to Curly's rear end is an all time classic.

Larry, Curly, and Moe volunteered for the RAF in England but only ended up working in their auto garage. They are told to fix an officer's car but it goes badly. They hide in a sewer pipe but it turns out to be a bomb. The bomb is dropped behind enemy lines where the boys dress up to steal secret plans from the German high command.

It's completely ridiculous as the clueless trio battle the Third Reich. It's one of their anti-Nazi shorts during the war. The Heil Hitler bit is hilarious and it's even funnier than JoJo Rabbit. In a way, they remind me of Jacques Clouseau and other fools who bumble into success. It definitely hits both as comedy and as propaganda.

Higher Than a Kite (1943)

*** (out of 4)

In this short, the Three Stooges end up over seas where they hoped to get their wings but instead they end up in a garage working as mechanics. After completely destroying a car the three end up hiding in a pipe but this pipe turns out to be a bomb. The bomb eventually gets dropped behind enemy lines and the boys must battle some Nazies.

HIGHER THAN A KITE is yet another WWII spoof where the boys do whatever it takes to make Germany and Hitler look like a bunch of idiots. When you view these shorts today some might grow tired since many of the subjects were all the same but you have to remember that it was war time when they were released and people wanted to see the hated Hitler made to look like a fool. I think the best moments of this short happen in the first half as the boys cause all sorts of damage to the car they're working on. Moe gets his head caught inside a pipe and the majority of the laughs come from Larry and Curly trying to get him free.

No pun intended - and from repairing a car right into the middle of a war. Well it is the Stooges so suspension of disbelief is something that has to be there from the start ... and until the finish line (or is it German line in this case? Another pun you say?).

The short movie is quite nice and has a sort of break in the middle of it. We change scenery and tone in a way. But it all works out nicely. Even the drag clothing or whatever you would call it. Are there moral choices that are borderline and probably not political correct? Yes but I think there have been "worse" (or is it better?) examples of that ... everyone hates the Nazis so they are a great foe ... for Moe (and the others). That all being said this is as silly and in a way classy as the rest of the best of the Scrooge shorts ...

It's wartime and the 3 Stooges want to do their bit for the Allies. Semms like before the USA got into World War II, Moe, Larry, and Curly went overseas and joined the RAF. But all they wind up doing is garage mechanic work just as they were in the States. Poor Moe goes through the tortures of the damned as Larry and Curly try to get a piece of steel pipe removed from his head.

Now I realize this is a 3 Stooges short, but you would think Harry Cohn might have gotten a few players with British accents for the RAF scenes.

In any event they mess things up in the usual Stooge fashion and have to hide in what they think is a sewer pipe. Turns out to be a bomb and they're dropped over Germany right on to General Bommel's headquarters. He's expecting Field Marshal Boering to discuss secret plans for German victory.

Needless to say the boys prove to be valuable weapons for the Allies with Larry vamping Boering in some outrageous drag. Larry that is.

Perennial stooge nemesis Vernon Dent is Boering and veteran western heavy Dick Curtis is General Bommel. Both get a few laughs themselves and Curtis's case his characters usually didn't come in for any.

Nice wartime laughs.