How High Is Up?

"How High Is Up?" is another explosively funny Three Stooges short. Moe, Larry, and Curly find themselves working on the 97th floor of a not yet completed skyscraper that's currently under construction. Ineptitude and slapstick follow. Big, big, big laughs in this one.

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."

In this classic, 3 Stooges, comedy-short from 1940, Curly, Larry & Moe, of Minute Menders Inc., offer the public, from the convenience of their vehicle, cut-rate repair work while-u-wait.

In an attempt to dodge the wrath of angry construction workers whose lunch-pails they deliberately punctured with holes (for the sake of business), our 3 crazy guys get themselves hired on by Apex Construction, claiming to be "the best riveters who ever riveted".

Hoisted up to the 97th floor of a building still only a shell, The Three Stooges waste no time fouling things up as only they could possibly foul things up (with, the usual, guaranteed hilarious results).

Featuring all of their trademark shenanigans (face-slaps, eye-pokes, belly-wallops, and all), How High Is Up? is yet another first-rate example of Three Stooges' slapstick-comedy at its laughable best.

The Three Stooges must have tried at least 50 to 100 occupations in their films, most of the time failing in them but sometimes accidentally succeeding and being heroes. Here, they are repairmen but, once again, not too successful. You can kind of tell in the opening scene when you see The Boys sleeping in the street, under their car! (At least they had pillows, mattresses and blankets!)

There are lines the Stooges used in here a few times that still make me laugh, a half century after I heard them the first time. For instance:

MOE: "Hey, jugglehead, did you get the tools? LARRY: "What tools? MOE: "The tools we've been using for the last 10 years." LARRY: "Oh, those tools.."

After a comedy skit that goes on too long, one involving trying to get Curly out of his tight sweater, the main "joke" of the film occurs: the boys being riveters on the 97th floor of a construction site.

It's there - on the beams way, way up - that we get some great slapstick gags, ones most people remember for a long time. Poor Curly. He's afraid of heights. You can imagine some of the scenes!

Actually, it was the sound-effects that made me laugh the hardest in this film, such as Curly crunching on a rivet that he thinks is a sausage.

Overall, definitely worth viewing (many times) if you are a Three Stooges fan.

'How High Is Up?' is not my favorite Three Stooges short but it is a nice entry. Moe, Larry and Curly are the 'Minute Menders', they repair anything. They sleep under their own car, which leads to the first nice moment. When they really go to work no one will hire them so Larry punches holes in lunch boxes of workmen hoping they will hire them. Of course they get caught and when they are trying to get away they accidentally sign up for some work on 97th floor of a building that is still under construction. Especially Curly has some trouble with the height.

Although the start of this short is terrific and the ending on the building is very good too, the middle part is a little too slow. Fortunately once they are on that building there are enough laughs again and that makes this comedy short worth watching.