Cinema Revisited: The Noose Hangs High (1948)
The Noose Hangs High
Directed by Charles Barton. Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Leon Errol, Cathy Downs, Joseph Calleia, Mike Mazurki, Fritz Feld. Running time 77 minutes. Released April 5, 1948.
An indie project that Abbott and Costello made outside of their usual studio of Universal, “The Noose Hangs High” is uneven and not very well structured, but is filled with great comedy material. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were not actors in the traditional sense, and certainly were not filmmakers. They were Burlesque comics and their best films utilized their talents within the parameters of a motion pictures. When the boys acted as their own producer (as Lou Costello does here in an executive capacity), their control usually results in something with even less of a cinematic structure. But the laughs remain plentiful.
The story has Lou accidentally losing track of an envelope containing $50,000 cash, and getting between two battling groups of dangerous gangsters. Joseph Calleia is appropriately menacing, while big, imposing Mike Mazurki is typically bumbling. Leon Errol is tossed in as an eccentric gambler who never loses, while Cathy Downs is the feminine beauty as a woman who received the money and unwittingly spent most of it. She feels it is her duty to help the boys recover it in enough time.
On this premise, many comedy vignettes and wordplay routines are crammed into the 77 minute running time. There is a bit where Lou suffers through the pulling of a painful tooth by a sadistic dentist (Murray Leonard). And there is also a fun slapstick closing gag involving a vat of wet cement. Also, veteran comic Errol gets to display his expert sense of timing by taking the Abbott part opposite Costello doing the old mudder-fodder racetrack routine.
Perhaps the highlight of the entire movie is when Bud and Lou, in a restaurant, have a conversation that incorporates a number of their routines, including “Hole in the wall,” “Mustard,” and “Let’s say you’re 40.” They all flow naturally, the boys have the words and timing down pat, and it is a truly hilarious several minutes of what is really no more than two guys talking. Their prowess as Burlesque comics really shines in this scene.
This is one of Abbott and Costello’s least noted efforts. Their films after the war were not quite as popular as those made during, and a few recent movie experiments (working in separate roles and not as a team, a tardy sequel to one of the first big hits) had caused them to slip a bit at the box office. Only months after the release of “The Noose Hangs High,” the duo’s cinematic masterpiece “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” came out, was a massive hit, and put them right back at the top of the movies’ box office draws. But “The Noose Hangs High” is just a lead-up to that movie and is, therefore, often overlooked. It shouldn’t be.
“The Noose Hangs High” is not among their top films, and was produced away from the studio that best mounted their movies, but this little indie feature is brisk, breezy, and filled with funny moments. Its purpose to entertain remains intact. Check it out.