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.

Very funny Abbott & Costello comedy that has the boys crossing a bookie (Joseph Calleia) and trying to find a way to pay him back $50,000 of his money they lost. Nicely paced with one great routine after another. I don't think there were any clunkers here. Sometimes the boys used bits that felt stale like they were dusted off vaudeville routines from twenty years before, but not here. Even the reworked gags feel fresh. Bud and Lou are in top form in this one. They had me in stitches. Great support from Calleia, Leon Errol, Mike Mazurki, and Alvin Hammer as a racetrack tout in one of the more subtly funny scenes. It's one of my favorite A&C comedies that didn't have monsters or the supernatural as part of the plot.

In their heyday, Bud Abbot and Lou Costello were so often sought after for personal appearances by adoring fans, studio executives and a host of worthwhile organizations. It's of little wonder as they gave the 40's the much needed laughter of their era. In the movies, they provided audiences with many memorable skits, vaudeville routines and standard films. This movie is one of the least known of all their successful runs. It's called " The Noose Hangs High. " The story is of a couple of window washers, (Bud Abbott and Lou Costello) who are mistaken for a delivery service, entrusted to deliver $50,000 to Nick Craig, a dangerous bookmaker (Joseph Calleia). The tasks goes awry when they inadvertently lose it. The female lead (Cathy Downs) who accidentally receives the money goes on a spending spree and explains she no longer has their money. When the mob boss promises to harms the boys, they all go on a mad quest to find someway to repay the debt. Although the movie does not contain their most memorable routines, it nevertheless has a few like 'better dress, no don't dress!' and 'Here's one for me, one for you, two for me, One, TWO for you.' The film also features big Mike Mazurki and Fritz Feld. This is one film which definitely belongs with anyone's Abbot and Costello collection. Good fun. ****

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.