How High Is Up? (1940) User Reviews

The Stooges Are Still 'Riveting'

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 16 February 2008]

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.

Fix Your Lunch-Pail For A Nickel A Hole?

[xyzkozak · 7/10 · 28 January 2015]

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.

Hair-Raising Stooges Short with Classic Gags

[mrb1980 · 9/10 · 14 December 2008]

The Stooges play pretty un-handy handymen in "How High is Up?", set in and around a skyscraper under construction. After a slow start with some hijinks with Curly's sweater, the boys sneak into a construction workers' locker room, where they punch holes in lunch boxes then offer to fix the holes for a fee. After being discovered, they flee into a crowd of men looking for work at the high-rise, and announce that they are the "best riveters that ever riveted". Sent to dizzying heights at the top of the building, the Stooges perform their usual mayhem and completely wreck their part of the construction job, riveting beams together in a haphazard pattern. Cornered by the enraged foreman (Vernon Dent again), the boys parachute off the skyscraper, land in their car, and drive off in a hurry.

Though obviously shot on a sound stage, the skyscraper scenes are hilarious and don't appear contrived. Many gags, like Curly slipping and sliding on a greasy beam, and Moe and Curly ineptly installing rivets (Curly even eats a rivet that landed in his sandwich), are Stooge classics. Vernon Dent is hilarious in his usual pompous way, especially when a hot rivet is tossed down the back of his shirt. All three Stooges have funny scenes, but Curly really shines (as usual) and even smacks Moe on the forehead at one point (!). Watch fast for Bruce Bennett as one of the construction workers during the initial locker room sequence.

Screamingly funny and non-stop gags will keep you laughing through the skyscraper scenes. Great for fans of the boys.

97th floor!

[slymusic · 1 September 2009]

"How High Is Up?" is a terrific Three Stooges short directed by a man who really helped to define the screen characters of Moe, Larry, and Curly: Del Lord. In this film, the boys are corrupt minute menders, puncturing construction workers' lunch pails and then offering to repair them. Then they get a job as riveters high atop a skyscraper. Just how high is up, you ask? Watch this short and you'll sure as hell find out how high is up!

My favorite scenes from this short: In the opening scene, the boys are sleeping on a mattress underneath their vehicle; when a nearby fire hydrant uncontrollably gushes water, the sleeping Stooges float down the street on their mattress. The construction boss (Vernon Dent) looks upward and sees the results of the Stooges' riveting ineptitude, and the boys let one hot rivet slip through their grasp and down the boss' shirt! Moe and Larry take a few minutes to try incongruously to free Curly from his sweater.

"How High Is Up?" is an example of life reflecting art. During Larry's earlier days as a vaudeville performer before he became a Stooge, he once took a summer job as a riveter at a shipyard in his hometown of Philadelphia.

Curly Stooges with a bit of vertigo

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 8 March 2021]

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.

Good Three Stooges short! Hilarious!

[Movie Nuttball · 10/10 · 18 March 2005]

The Three Stooges has always been some of the many actors that I have loved. I love just about every one of the shorts that they have made. I love all six of the Stooges (Curly, Shemp, Moe, Larry, Joe, and Curly Joe)! All of the shorts are hilarious and also star many other great actors and actresses which a lot of them was in many of the shorts! In My opinion The Three Stooges is some of the greatest actors ever and is the all time funniest comedy team!

One of the most hilarious Three Stooges shorts is How High is Up? In this short are Vernon Dent, Cy Schindell, and Bert Young. The acting by these actors are good especially by Dent, and Schindell. There are many funny scenes here that I think most Three Stooges fans will love! In My opinion this one of the most different Three Stooges shorts. I recommend this one to all!

Screamingly funny

[jhaggardjr · 10/10 · 14 March 2002]

"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.

Larry The Riveter

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 5 April 2011]

In a year when defense plants were starting to crank out material for war and employment was near full capacity, there were three guys who couldn't find work. I think you know who they are.

Ten years earlier the sight of Moe, Larry, and Curly sleeping under their truck no one would have noticed or bothered them. But in 1940 a cop tells them to move and they have to move even without repairing their flat tire on the truck with a salami. Don't ask about that one.

Anyway the boys in eluding some other working stiffs whose lunch pails they punched holes in, they get themselves hired as construction workers with Larry serving up hot rivets as a specialty. Don't ask about what Moe and Curly do with them.

With seeing the Three Stooges in How High Is Up doing construction, no wonder the women of America rose to the challenge and Rosie the Riveter was born. After seeing the boys why couldn't women do a better job.

But not in comedy, this is one of the best Three Stooges shorts ever.

Not my favorite

[rbverhoef · 7/10 · 1 May 2004]

'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.

How Far Is Down?

[StrictlyConfidential · 7/10 · 13 May 2020]

(*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!)

Lesser Short That the Stooges Make Work

[Michael_Elliott · 11 July 2011]

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.