After a friend is killed in the boxing ring, the Bowery Boys (Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and the rest) go after crooked fight promoters. Frankie Darro has a decent role as a comeback kid with a tie to the victim, and Lyle Talbot makes an effective heavy. The thirteenth entry in the series is a …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Fighting Fools</em> (1949)”
The Bowery Boys are back in the seventh film in the series. This time around, Slip (Leo Gorcey) is working as a copy boy at a local newspaper, and the guys help him get the goods on gangsters who are trying to fix sporting events and ensure the paper can avoid a libel suit. There’s …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>News Hounds</em> (1947)”
This early entry in the Bowery Boys series offers another example of the blend of crime and comedy so often found in the films. This time, thanks to a photographer friend, Sach (Huntz Hall) ends up suspected of involvement in a bank robbery, one in fact committed by a gang led by Ace Deuce (Sheldon …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Bowery Bombshell</em> (1946)”
The Bowery Boys (Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and the rest) square off against a strong-arm taxi company on behalf of the independent hack drivers in this early series entry that benefits from a supporting cast including Jane Randolph and Douglas Fowley. The boys’ usual antics provide action and humor in a movie that zips right …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>In Fast Company</em> (1946)”
After six years as the East Side Kids (for a total of 22 movies), several of the actors who started out in Dead End moved over to the long-running Bowery Boys series. Live Wires was the first of 48 Bowery Boys movies made through 1958, and like many of the other entries, it provides a …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Live Wires</em> (1946)”
The boys tangle with phony spiritualists and Sach gets help from a real ghost (played by Lloyd Corrigan) in this enjoyable Bowery Boys outing. There are plenty of laughs for fans. Mildly recommended. Otto judiciously thinks this movie is OK. Movie 560 for 2021.
The Bowery Boys, newly graduated from exterminator college (all save Sach), get their first job tackling pests in a reputed haunted house… and soon end up tangling with a mad scientist (Douglass Dumbrille) with designs on Sach’s brain. There are some good gags involving various members of the group. I tend to like the boys’ …
Read the full post →“Monogram Monday: <em>Spook Busters</em> (Monogram, 1946)”
As a new money-making venture, Slip (Leo Gorcey) and the boys turn Louie’s into an escort bureau, with the guys as the sophisticated escorts, while Louie (Bernard Gorcey) and his wife are away on vacation. They soon obtain some beautiful (and unlikely!) clients, including Joan Marshall (Adele Jergens), but the gals are part of a …
Read the full post →“<em>Blonde Dynamite</em> (Monogram, 1950)”
A number of the Bowery Boys pictures revolve around something strange happening to Sach (Huntz Hall), and the amusing Master Minds is no exception. This time, Sach develops the ability to predict the future, and Slip (Leo Gorcey) looks to exploit it by setting him up as a carnival attraction. Yet there’s menace in the …
Read the full post →“<em>Master Minds</em> (Monogram, 1949)”
Fans of mid-century wrestling will get a kick out of this Bowery Boys entry, as an unexplained medical condition renders part of Sach’s anatomy impervious to pain, making him a powerhouse in the wrestling ring as he takes on various real-life wrestlers on his way to the championship. Of course, there’s a scheming villain — …
Read the full post →“<em>No Holds Barred</em> (Monogram, 1952)”
