‘Noose Hangs High’ coming to Blu-ray

ClassicFlix will release Abbott and Costello’s first independent film, The Noose Hangs High (1948), on Blu-ray this summer. Noose is also notable for containing of many of their best routines, including “Pack/Unpack,” “Mudder and Fodder,” “Mustard,” “You’re 40, She’s 10,” and “Hole in the Wall.”

Variety wrote, “All of the gags are good, with several that reach the acme of hilarious nonsense.”

Noose was scheduled to be made at Universal as early as 1945. The original story was written by Julian Blaustein, Daniel Taradash, and Bernard Fein, and first filmed as For Love of Money (1939). Blaustein worked in the story department at Universal; Taradash later won an Oscar for the screen adaptation of From Here to Eternity (1953); and Fein later co-created Hogan’s Heroes.

Directed by Charles Barton, The Noose Hangs High was filmed just before Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The supporting cast includes Cathy Downs (My Darling Clementine), Leon Errol (Mexican Spitfire), and Joseph Calleia (Touch of Evil). Release is tentatively scheduled for August 15, 2017.