ClassyWas Excellent, smart action film.

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

JohnHowardReid Associate producers: Lolly Cristillo, Shirley Feld. Producer: Charles Barton. Executive producers: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello. Copyright 4 March 1948 by Pathé Industries, Inc. Presented by Eagle Lion Films. New York opening at Loew's State: 28 May 1948. U.S. release: 17 April 1948. U.K. release through Universal- International/General Film Distributors: 6 December 1948. Australian release through British Empire Films: 1 December 1949 (sic). 7,139 feet. 79 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Lou manages to lose $50,000. The money belongs to a bookie (Calleia) who needs it to pay off a winning wager from a gambler named McBride (Errol).NOTES: A new contract signed by Abbott and Costello with Universal- International, allowed the team to make one independent movie a year. This was the first.COMMENT: This mild Abbott and Costello entry will delight their rabid fans but leave others feeling short-changed. The initial plot gimmick of running down 800 names would seem to offer some promise for amusing comic variations, but this issue is speedily resolved. Instead, the writers offer six or seven wheezy old vaudeville routines, including Try To Get Thrown into Jail, Dress/Undress, Fodder/Mudder, I Don't Like Mustard, Who's on the Phone and Someplace Else. Oddly, Abbott doesn't partner Costello in all these variations. Leon Errol plays straight man for Lou in Fodder/Mudder (and also teams with Lou for an hilarious game of billiards), whilst Abbott works Mike Mazurki for the first part of Someplace Else and then Costello, would you believe, takes over as straight man? But he doesn't stop at Someplace Else. He also usurps Abbott from Who's on the Phone in which Joseph Calleia (of all people) plays the victim. Both Errol and Costello do extremely well. Abbott, on the other hand, is so nastily aggressive in the long-winded Mustard routine, he loses all audience sympathy. In fact, in this instance he consistently displays a mean, persuasively spiteful streak that goes well beyond the customary cowardly bullying of the team's usual routines. Fortunately, as said, Leon Errol picks up a lot of the slack, whilst Cathy Downs makes an attractive heroine. Direction and other credits are competent but nothing special.A SECOND VIEW: Aside from the opening sequences with the sore tooth chase through various back yards, the foot in the bucket on the window ledge and the follow-up scene in the dentist's office, the humor is mainly verbal with the comedians (counting Mike Mazurki and Joseph Calleia, there are five of them) exhausting some elaborate routines based on the weakest of puns (often in extremely long takes). Although he figures in the action a great deal, Leon Errol, for once, is charmingly restrained. Perhaps, like us, he was unsure of the character's motivation (is he just lucky or is he really a plain nut?) and wisely decided to play it safe. The support cast is studded with favorite faces, almost all of them not credited, except for Fritz Feld. whose part is one of the smallest.

classicsoncall Here's an Abbott and Costello flick I didn't catch as a kid growing up but as it turns out, I didn't miss anything. All the bits here were either recycled from earlier films or done again later, so there was nothing new to see regarding their material. In fact, now that I think about it, the boys were so popular it wasn't surprising that they did their routines over and over again for appreciative fans. The backdrop for this story is a misplaced sum of fifty thousand dollars that puts Ted Higgins (Bud) and Tommy Hinchcliffe (Lou) indebted to a mobster (Joseph Calleia) who in turn owes on a big time gambling bet to Julius Caesar McBride (Leon Errol). As I think about it now, I wonder if it was really necessary to give their characters different names because let's face it, nobody ever relates to their being anyone else other than Bud and Lou. With backup support from actress Cathy Downs and former wrestler and boxer Iron Mike Mazurki, "The Noose Hangs High" delivers plenty of routines in staccato fashion even if the story itself is as improbable as they come.

Robert J. Maxwell I don't know. I hate to be a spoilsport but this is mainly a comedy made for kids. And I got a big kick out of Abbott and Costello when I was ten. But I'm not ten anymore, and hearing Abbott always snarling at his partner is something of a turn-off. If it ever seemed funny, it doesn't now. It just sounds rude. And Costello flipping his hands and wriggling his fingers like worms when frightened or confused. Much of their schtik came from vaudeville and burlesque. It must have gotten big laughs from the patrons while they waited for the burlesque queen to do her number. Strip tease dancing -- there's a bundle of lack of talent for you. It's disgusting. I used to try to get into the Empire Burlesque in Newark but they wouldn't let me in because I was underage.The story has something to do with a lot of money being mis-delivered by Abbott and Costello, two window washers who are mistaken for a bookie's messengers.The most amusing scene is supposed to take place in a dentist's office near the opening. It struck me as the lowest form of vaudeville-derived slapstick.It's too bad because you can do a lot with dentists. Think of both versions of "The Little Shop of Horrors" or "Ten", or even a Red Skelton comedy -- "A Southern Yankee", maybe -- in which the scene with the dentist's chair was staged by Buster Keaton. W. C. Fields did a number on it. There is a hilarious episode of "Married With Children", called "Tooth or Consequences", in which Joe Flaherty plays a dentist named "Dr. Plierson," and calls for his assistant to bring in a tarpaulin because he'll soon be "up to my knees in blood." They're all funnier than the dentist's chair pushing Costello's head through the ceiling.I am happy, though, that others enjoy it as much as they seem to. I'm certain the kids will feel the same rush I did. You know, in the end, you pay a price for growing up.

teamoxford While many A&C fans rate "Meet Frankenstein" as their favorite, Abbott & Costello's 1948 MGM effort, "The Noose Hangs High" is mine.This highly polished gem of a motion picture presents Bud and Lou with a tightly written script. Granted it is a little far-fetched at times, and the boys sure dress well for a couple of window washers. And how Cathy Downs, as a servant, could spend almost $50,000 in one day (in 1948 no less), is incredible.What really makes the film enjoyable is the boys' superb comedic timing. The last routine of the movie, which incorporates "Bore a Hole in the Wall", "Mustard", and "Marry a Little Girl", is the epitome of their career. Bud truly shows why he was known as the greatest straight-man of all time. Earlier in the flick, when Mike Mazurki starts to stumble through the "You're Not Here" bit, Lou's timing pulls the routine through.Being an MGM movie, the production values are a few notches better than the Universal films. "Noose" also doesn't appear on any of the A&C compilations either, but it is now available as a single on DVD. By all means, check it out.