Higher Than a Kite

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.

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.

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.

Regular Stooge director Del Lord took the reins in July 1943's "Higher Than a Kite." Duke York plays their boss, Kelly, as the Stooges are mechanics in the Royal Air Force's airport garage. This is the only time York is shown in a Stooges film not appearing in monster outfit. He demands they find and fix the squeaky noise in the colonel's car. After a series of mishaps, including dislodging Moe's head from a pipe, Kelly returns to drive the colonel's car, only to find all the parts of the engine falling. The three find refuge in what they think is a sewer pipe. In reality it's a blockbuster bomb that's immediately loaded onto a bomber and dropped behind enemy lines. The bomb lands in the Nazi officers' headquarters, where they survive. In the fourth of five movies where the Stooges disguise themselves as Nazis, they set out to steal military secrets. Curly unknowingly has a portrait of Hitler attached to his derriere, and is saluted by all the German soldiers he passes. That is until a bulldog with a U. S. Marine jacket starts chasing him down the German street, biting at Curly's buttocks. The ending fades to black, causing viewers to question whether the three were able to miraculously return to friendly lines. Defenders of such abrupt endings say with a 15-to 18-minute time span for each film, the screenwriters have little time to embellish how the Stooges would escape such fatalistic scenarios if brought to their logical conclusions "Higher Than A Kite" is known for several site gags, including Larry, instead of usual stalwart Curly, dressed in woman's attire to seduce the German officers while Moe secures the Nazi plans. Earlier, in the garage, the colonel's car takes a life of its own with the hood acting as a big monster's mouth, causing Curly fits. Also unusual for Moe he gets more than his fair share of punishment, from feathers in the face, to soot from the car's exhaust creating a mask of a bandit around his eyes, to his lengthy ordeal with his head stuck inside the pipe. Each idea by Larry and Curly to try to extract him from the pipe makes Moe's life more miserable.

Yes that's right & for a # of various reasons including that it's the one of which I've laughed the most hysterically to of them all & I even do remember when I'd 1st seen it during May of 1972 & then the 2nd time during July of 1983 & then the 3rd time during October of 1985,the 4th during December of 1985 & the latest was over a week ago but as for the other times in between that I remember was in March of 1986.Onward to the feature itself At home Moe gets abused more than usual to make up for when he usually gets the last hit in with his head in the pipe etc. Curly really get's the biz with the navigator etc.However the Laughs really pile up upon arriving in Germany & seeing the soldiers outside of the window of the building of which they crash land in,Moe did throw a bomb out of the window & the Nazi soldiers end up after the explosion in long underwear with swastikas on their backs. Also during that "checkers" game in which upon winning Curly does say to Moe "Crown me." and then when he does with the frame of the Hitler Picture of which upon doing so the picture does end up on Curly's rear end.Larry is most hysterical of this feature & as he's ever been dressed as & talking as that woman called "Moronika" incognito.The best we see of this long time Stooge foil of whom is played by Vernon Dent is when in his role of which as the head soldier while expressing his anger about finding The 28th Division in The Red Sea from Moe & Curly's "Checkers" game is hysterical too. On the whole it's the most hysterical of all of The Three Stooges features.Now back to the Hitler Picture on Curly each time he turned around the Nazis would say "Heil Hitler" & so then Moe,Larry,and Curly then knew that they had their secret weapon for distracting them and hitting them with champagne bottles to knock them cold & upon leaving the building to board a car Curly sees a Bulldog dressed as a soldier but without noticing that it said US Marines on it and then pointed to his Hitler picture thinking that he'd show the dog who's boss only to get bit & then he yelled one of his classic quotes,"Yang,yang."then the car took off without Curly in it & then he went chasing after it with the bulldog still attached to his rear end.The Hitler rendition was to parody how Nazis were supposed to salute a picture of Hitler each time they saw it at anytime one was seen whatsoever?During the 3rd time,I saw it in October of 1985 and after it was over my Mom asked My big brother,J.Kevin "Why is he Laughing so much?and then he said to her in response to her query "It's his favorite one."Also to this day I still do laugh at just as hysterically as when I'd seen it for the 1st time in 1972. The most hysterical parts are starting from when they landed in Germany.During the 2nd time that I saw it in 1983 even my Aunt,Mary Alice was laughing just as hysterically as I was too.The third time I saw it was in 1985 as was the 4th & the 5th was in 1986.During the 3rd time that I saw it My Mother,Mary E.(Garvey)was asking "Why is he laughing so much?" Then my Older Brother,J.Kevin said "It's his favorite one." Anyhow Please do check this film yourself.

Truthfully, Stephen "Steve" G. Baer a.k.a. "Ste" of Framingham,Ma.USA