HIGHER THAN A KITE (1943) (original) (raw)

• Car Window
  When Kelly walks up to the car, the window on the passenger's door is closed, but when Kelly gets in the car, the window is suddenly open.

• Changing Order
  As the Stooges are climbing out of the hole in the ground, Larry crushes Moe's face while leaning on him to get out of the hole, and Moe grunts "I'll moider you when I get out of this! Then the camera cuts to the next shot, and Moe is suddenly out of the hole before Larry.

• Crowbar Change
  After Curly uses the forked end of the crowbar to get Moe out of the pipe and fails, Curly begins using the other straight end of the crowbar. The camera shows Moe yelling inside the pipe as the straight end of the crowbar keeps hitting him on the face, then it shows Curly and Larry yanking the crowbar, and when it shows Moe in the pipe again, the forked end of the crowbar is pressing up against his face! Weren't they just using the straight end of the crowbar?

• Disappearing Hat
  When Moe looks in the exhaust pipe, his hat is on. Then the camera shows a quick shot of Curly stepping on the gas in the car, and when it cuts back to Moe, his hat is suddenly gone.

• Early Soot Stain
  Right before the engine blows soot in Moe's eyes, you can see the area around Moe's eyes isalready blackened.

• Jump in Picture
  A noticeable jump cut in the film when Kelly's car runs the Stooges over.

• Magically Disappearing Pin
  As Curly is trying to bite open the hand grenade with the pin in it, the camera cuts to the next shot and suddenly, the pin has already pulled out of the grenade.

• Moe's Hands
  When Larry and Curly try to heat off the pipe on Moe's head, Moe has his hands on the pipe, but in the next shot his hands aren't on the pipe, then in the next shot, his hands are back on the pipe again.

• Mouthing the Same Line
  When Larry says "Maybe they're droppin' the pipe in the ditch, Curly mouths that line at the same time.

• Right or Left?
  When Curly and Larry twist Moe out of the pipe, they are turning him towards the right, but when the camera shows a close-up of Moe's head in the pipe, he's suddenly being turned to the left.

• The Bending Crowbar
  Curly has trouble opening the hood on the car. He picks up a crow-bar and tries to pry open the hood. The crow-bar bends back and forth in his hands. It must be made of rubber because he gets hit with it a few moments later.

• Unintentional Hit
  When Marshall Boring (Vernon Dent) comes riding into town on his scooter, as he stops on the curb, Dent accidentally elbows Dick Curtis...well...below his belly!

• Visible Wire
  When Larry lifts the car hood off of Curly's arms, you can see the wire pulling it up.

• Wrong Sound Effect
  When Moe pokes Curly in the eyes, we hear a honking sound effect instead of the usual "plunk sound effect. Either the sound effects men mistakenly thought that Moe hit Curly's nose instead of poked him the eye, or maybe since this is one of the first Stooge shorts to use a sound effect for the eyepokes, they were still working on different variations for the sound effects before settling on the plunk.

• "Did you get the squeak out?" "Boy, we got everything out."
  (Duke York and Moe)

• "Come here and sit on my lap." "What lap?"
  (Vernon Dent and Larry)

• "Pardon me, General, I think I know the Fro-lean.. Did you ever play football for the Giants?"
  (Moe)

• "Marshal Boring, ver iss your automobile?" "Dumbkoff, I only got an 'A' card."
  (Dick Curtis and Vernon Dent)

• "No wonder we're retreating."
  (Vernon Dent)

• "If this is what I think it is, you'll get your wings... and a harp to go with 'em!"
  (Duke York)

• Hitler-like Dictator
  Used alot during the 1940's as a spoof of the Third Reich. The Stooges have great fun in impersonating Hitler, Goering and Gobbels.
  Also used in: YOU NAZTY SPY! · I'LL NEVER HEIL AGAIN · BACK FROM THE FRONT · NO DOUGH BOYS

• Mistaking Moe for a burgular
  A Stooge unknowingly throws eggs or soot over Moe's eyes. When Moe walks up to that Stooge, the Stooge mistakes Moe for either a burgular or for having sunglasses.
  Also used in: BUSY BUDDIES · SHIVERING SHERLOCKS · HOKUS POKUS · OF CASH AND HASH · FLAGPOLE JITTERS

• Sticky Stuff
  A Stooge's head (or some variation) is stuck inside of something (usually Moe) and the other two spend half the short trying to get that Stooge out of the trap.
  Also used in: HEALTHY, WEALTHY AND DUMB · HOW HIGH IS UP? · CACTUS MAKES PERFECT · HOLD THAT LION! · A SNITCH IN TIME · A MISSED FORTUNE · LOOSE LOOT · THE OUTLAWS IS COMING

• Stooges in drag
  A Stooge dresses up as a woman, usually to escape enemies that the Stooges are being chased by.
  Also used in: POP GOES THE EASEL · UNCIVIL WARRIORS · MOVIE MANIACS · WHOOPS, I'M AN INDIAN! · WEE WEE MONSIEUR · MUTTS TO YOU · NUTTY BUT NICE · FROM NURSE TO WORSE · ALL THE WORLD'S A STOOGE · MATRI-PHONY · MICRO-PHONIES · RHYTHM AND WEEP · SELF MADE MAIDS · DON'T THROW THAT KNIFE · BLUNDER BOYS · THE THREE STOOGES MEET HERCULES · THE OUTLAWS IS COMING

• This is one of the few times Duke York does not play a monster in a Stooge film.

Re: HIGHER THAN A KITE
Posted 2010-05-12 01:27:06 by Shemp_Diesel

What does a navigator do; a navigator crawls in a swamp until it becomes a suitcase.

3 pokes

Reviewer's Rating: (7)

Re: HIGHER THAN A KITE
Posted 2001-10-27 01:40:00 by Mike Holme

Forget the technicalities unless they are huge. Like for example, the movie "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" takes place in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge is shown. The Golden Gate bridge wasn't built until 1937 but "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" is still one of the best movies of all time. Now for this short. This was a classic short with tons of hilarious gags. 4 pokes

Re: HIGHER THAN A KITE
Posted 2001-08-17 05:06:00 by [Deleted Member]

What "Moe" can a fella say that hasn't already been said? I think Larry probably had the best line- "What lap?"I tend to get the garage scenes in this short mixed up with the garage scene in "Dizzy Pilots." Probably because in both of these scenes, Larry and Curly get Moe out of a tough jam. Does anyone else have this trouble?ISLIPP- you SLAPP. ©2001

Re: HIGHER THAN A KITE
Posted 2001-05-20 13:30:00 by sickdrjoe

One of those two-part shorts. Part 1 (Stooges in the motor pool) is a priceless clinic in big time, fun-for-the-whole-family PAIN. Moe is at his funniest and most hostile; the punishment he inflicts is almost as hilarious as the hate-faces he makes while inflicting it. Then he gets HIS, as Larry & Curly attempt to free his trapped head from a tunnel-pipe - "Oh no not that!!" It's scenes like this that are the whole reason I watch the Stooges. (That said, the one type of effect they never did convincingly is extreme violence to the mouth area; any time a gag calls for crowbars in the mouth, or even hard mop-handle shots to the teeth, the movement is too slow to convince and the sound fx poorly synched. Mind you, I'm not suggesting these guys should have busted their bridgework for their Art, but maybe if the film was slightly speeded up, the bit would sell easier.) Part 2 is Stooges vs Nazis behind enemy lines; funny stuff, but it can't compete with Moe twisting Larry's nose into ruined cartilege with a spanner!

Re: HIGHER THAN A KITE
Posted 2001-03-31 13:22:00 by NicktoBarada

I really love this short. Best part is "Moronica," the fetching lady with the tutti-frutti hat (Larry). I used this clip for a project at school about the art of comedy (what better place to look than the stooges?) My whole class loved it.