The Noose Hangs High (1948)

Having recently watched "The Noose Hangs High" for the first time in probably 25 years I was delighted to find it extremely funny. Having grown up watching Abbott & Costello on Sunday mornings I have subliminally memorized many of their movies in the deep recesses of my brain. While the gags from this movie kept coming back to me seconds before they actually happened I found myself laughing out loud and enjoying this film thoroughly. "Noose" is essentially a series of gags held together by the flimsiest of plots. The boys run afoul of gangster Nick Craig and must return the $50,000 Lou has misplaced or else. In the midst of this A&C manage to shoehorn in many of their most famous routines; all of which are well-known to their fans but within this film they are done with such gusto that one overlooks their familiarity. The film also dispenses with the insufferable romantic subplots that derail many of their films and the annoying musical numbers that further slow down the story. Cathy Downs, who portrayed the title character in John Ford's "My Darling Clementine," adds a touch of feminine interest but doesn't bog the proceedings down. Two standout sequences for me were the dentist scene and the scene where Lou gets attacked by an automobile. At the beginning of the film Lou has a toothache and finds himself in the chair of nearsighted dentist Murray Leonard, who portrayed the wacky prisoner tormenting Costello with the "Slowly I Turned . . ." bit in "Lost In a Harem." The scene is so fresh and spontaneous I defy anyone not to laugh. And watching Costello tangle with the unruly car nearly had me in stitches. Besides A&C, who are superb, the supporting cast is very strong. Joseph Calleia as Craig is both menacing and hilarious minus his trademark mustache. Leon Errol, whom I find annoying in almost everything, is actual entertaining as a goofy gambler that never loses. And Mike Mazurki is really hilarious in a scene where he gets scammed out of $10 first by Bud and then Lou. He stumbles over some words in his exchanges with the fast- talking Costello but this only adds to the humor. A pleasant surprise, "The Noose Hangs High" is a delightful film that is superior to anything the boys did after 1946 with the possible exception of their classic rumble with the Universal monsters in "Meet Frankenstein."

Tommy is having a painful toothache. When we first meet him, he is trying to use an unorthodox method to get rid of the pain he is feeling, but alas, it is not meant to be. The following day, the pain is no better. Perched on a window of a skyscraper, Tommy and his pal Ted are cleaning windows. Ted decides to bring his friend to a dentist in the building. The dentist proves to be the wrong man to deal with the problem at hand and Tommy has his own way solving his own problem.The duo is confused with men from a security service by Nick Craig's henchmen. He must make a payment of money J.C. McBride won on a bet he placed with Nick, who gives the money to Ted and Tommy to take it to the winner, but he does not intend to do so. He gets his guys to rob the naive would be messengers. The window washers manage to elude the criminals by entering a mail order firm where the money goes the wrong way, beginning a series of adventures for Ted and Tommy.Directed by Charles Barton, a veteran of Hollywood comedies and closely associated with some of the best pictures for the hilarious Lou Costello and Bud Abbott. This 1948 production recently showed in DVD format. The transfer is excellent. This seldom seen movie will delight fans of Abbott and Costello's fans. They were at the height of their popularity. The comedy has the comedians go from one routine to the other with such ease, the fun never stops.The cast includes Joseph Calleia, who is seen as the heavy Nick Craig. Leon Errol plays the lucky gambler at the center of the plot and whose identity is never revealed until the end of the story. Cathy Downs appears as Carol, the lucky recipient of the missing money. Mike Mazurski, who made a career playing tough men is at hand to liven things up.

As window washers the boys get mixed up with crooks and a missing $50,000 they're on the hook for.Sub-par A&C, at best. The 80 minutes are practically wall-to-wall routines, some of which work, but too many of which are either too thin or over-long. That dinner table routine goes on too long, but it is classic A&C with the expert timing and word gags. Speaking of word gags and semantics, Lou out-witting tough guy Mazurki is a little gem of the unexpected. I also like the sidewalk routine that trades too on the unexpected. However, the plot is scattered and lacks the usual tight situations that heighten the fun. It's almost like the boys strung together a number of routines and then made up the plot as they went along.It's also A&C's first feature apart from the resources of Universal studios and frankly it shows. Except for the window washing high above the street, the sets are dull to look at, while the action never leaves the sound stage lot. Lou also took on the big role of the film's producer, at the same time IMDb lists his mother Lolly Cristillo as a co-producer! Apparently, the boys weren't too happy with the results since they quickly signed a new contract with Universal and returned to the fold. From there, they went on to make some of their best comedies by meeting up with Universal's stable of classic monsters—Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, etc. So unless you're a die-hard A&C fan like me, skip this one since there are so many better ones.

The Noose Hangs High marks Abbott&Costello's only film for the short lived Eagle-Lion Productions. This was an effort by J. Arthur Rank over across the pond to break into the American film market with his own production and distribution company.Bud&Lou are a pair of window washers who are mistaken for messengers that are employed by bookie Joseph Calleia. It seems as though he's been taken to the cleaners by one of his bettors and though it hurts he has to pay off. The messengers are to get the money from Ben Welden and deliver it to Calleia.Of course Welden has ideas of having the boys held up and stealing the money for himself. Costello actually eludes the crooks, but sends the money to Cathy Downs by mistake. Now he and Bud have 48 hours to come up with the money or ELSE.Leon Errol is along for the ride as his usual drunken playboy and he subs for Abbott as Lou's straight-man a couple of times. Though in those routines I can't tell who's the one really getting the laughs.What always gets me about The Noose Hangs High is Calleia and how he could be that dumb to mistake these two for good help. What's that say about him. Proof of that is a routine where both Abbott and Costello make a monkey out of big dumb leg breaker Mike Mazurki. The Noose Hangs High is a remake of the Universal film For Love Or Money. I haven't seen the original, but the material was definitely rewritten to suit Bud&Lou. It becomes nothing more than a vehicle for the boys to do several of their burlesque routines. Which for their fans is more than enough.