How High Is Up?

Larry, Curly, and Moe are the Minute Menders using scams to get by. They look for small jobs working out of their slap-dashed truck. They sleep under their truck at night. They get jobs as riveters on the 97th floor on a construction site.

This one is not for people with vertigo. It's fun but it leaves me with butterflies in my stomach. It's a little exciting which is an interesting addition to a Three Stooges short. It has a bit of Harold Lloyd feel. It's good fun with some thrills.

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?" 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.

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.

(*Curly quote*) - "Did you see where I landed!?"

Without even a moments notice - The ever-adaptable Stooges make a U-Turn and immediately switch careers from being incompetent "Minute Menders" (at a nickle-a-hole) to that of being 3 of the best riveters who ever riveted a rivet.

Now high up on the 97th floor of a skyscraper still in its early phase of construction - We find Curly frantically dealing (as best he can) with his deep-rooted acrophobia (a fear of heights). While Moe (right on cue) dishes out the face slaps, eye-pokes, and insults as only he could possibly deliver them.

All-in-all - I'd definitely say that (without a doubt) 1940's "How High Is Up?" ranks right up there as being the Three Stooges engaging in some of their better moments of classic slapstick comedy from yesteryear. (Nyuck! Nyuck! Nyuck!)