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Boys of the City (7/15/1940) - Directed by Joseph H. Lewis. Written by William Lively. Produced by Sam Katzman. Costarring Vince Barnett, Inna Gest, Dave O'Brien, Minerval Urecal, Dennis Moore, Forrest Taylor, Stephen Alden Chase. In order to avoid jail, the East Side Kids are sent to Algy's...

On Dress Parade (11/18/1939) - Directed by William Clemens and Noel M. Smith. Written by Tom Reed and Charles Belden. Produced by Bryan Foy, Hal Wallis, and Jack Warner. Costarring John Litel, Cecilia 'Cissie' Loftus, Selmer Jackson, Aldrich Bowker. Slip Duncan (Gorcey), a tough kid from the...

I have to say right off the bat that there was a huge gap in between my viewings of these next few films and the review process, so this post might not be as organized as some of my previous ones. :) Angels Wash Their Faces (8/26/1939) - Directed by Ray Enright. Written by Michael Fessier...

Teaser for the new Bowery documentary... looks like it's coming out soon!

Code of the Streets (4/14/1939) - Directed by Harold Young. Written by Arthur T. Horman. Costarring Harry Carey, Juanita Quigley, El Brendel, Leon Ames, Paul Fix, Marc Lawrence. A detective's kid (Frankie Thomas) teams up with the Little Tough Guys to help clear Danny's older brother (Paul Fix)...

If anyone hasn't picked up a copy of it yet, THE PHYNX is set to air on TCM Friday, August 19 at 4:00 AM. Set the DVRs!

They Made Me a Criminal (1/28/1939) - Directed by Busby Berkley (!). Written by Sid Herzig. Based on the novel and play by Bertram Millhauser and Beulah Marie Dix. Costarring John Garfield, Claude Rains, Ann Sheridan, May Robson, Gloria Dickson. Boxing champ Johnnie Bradfield (John Garfield) is...

Newsboys' Home (12/23/1938) - Directed by Harold Young and Arthur Lubin. Written by Gordon Young and Charles Grayson. Costarring Jackie Cooper, Edmund Lowe, Irving Pichel, Samuel S. Hinds, Edward Norris, Horace MacMahon, and Harry Beresford. Country boy 'Rifle' Edwards (Jackie Cooper) relocates...

Just as the Boys are entering the house for the first time in Spook Chasers, Huntz ad-libs a line to Jimmy Murphy - "You - you wait in the car in case there are any calls," or something like that. Myron then calls Sach an "idiot." Is it just me, or was Jimmy trying not to laugh during that brief...

Spook Chasers also introduces Eddie "Blinky" LeRoy to the cast. Blinky was supposedly written in because it was felt Huntz needed another comic to play off - by this point, it's pretty obvious that Stanley Clements was more of the straight man. Eddie was a stand-up comic whom Huntz met on...

Little Tough Guys in Society (Nov. 1938) – Directed by Erle C. Kenton. Produced by Max H. Golden. Written by Edward Eliscu and Mortimer Offner. Costarring Mischa Auer, Mary Boland, Edward Everett Horton, Helen Parrish, Jackie Searl, Harold Huber. While fleeing the law, the Little Tough Guys...

Boy, I'm lucky to have time off during the summer. At least untim something else inevitably comes up! I going through these films faster than I'd thought I would. Little Tough Guy (7/22/1938) - Directed by Harold Young. Written by Gilson Brown and Glenda Weisberg. Produced by Ken Goldsmith...

"Hold That Hypnotist" is definitely my favorite of the Clements films! And I actually sort of like "In the Money." It does feel a bit rushed, yes, but I liked it more than the awfully boring "Looking for Danger!" Filmation did, among other things, "The New Adventures of Superman," "Aquaman,"...

I'm no legal expert, but don't parodies fall under fair use? Ha! I can picture Huntz getting a nice fat scolding from the Mrs! If anyone else is curious about the Brothers, Marx pilot - skip ahead to about 48 minutes in. Voices were reportedly provided by future sitcom stars Pat Harrington...

Well, here we go... Dead End (Aug. 27, 1937) - UA - Directed by William Wyler. Written by Lillian Hellman. Adapted from the play by Sidney Kingsley. Produced by Samuel Goldwyn. Costarring Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart, Wendy Barrie, Claire Trevor, Allen Jenkins, and Marjorie Main...

Number 6 on the list. :) Yeah, I was never a big fan of those animated adaptations of the comedy teams. Although I did finally get to see an unsold Marx Bros. pilot from Filmation and found it surprisingly enjoyable! Ray Dennis Steckler - the Grade Z filmmaker behind the likes of "Rat Phink a...

"Gas Pump Girls" may not be my thing, but darn it if this isn't a giant ear worm. That and theme song from Skidoo. Sorry to get all "Rain-Man" on you guys, but here's a full list of the various DEK/LTG/ESK/BB films in chronological order. Most sources will split the films up by series, so...

I really need to check out Leo's autobio. Also "Me and the Dead End Kid," which I have laying around somewhere. And Huntz's bio, too! There are more BB books out there than I thought! I have "Films of the Bowery Boys" by Brent Walker and David Hayes, "From Broadway to the Bowery" by Len Getz...

Does anybody know if Soap's Richard Muldoon was at all influenced by Huntz Hall? I was watching 1979's Scavenger Hunt (a film obviously inspired by Mad, Mad World), and his performance in that particular movie seemed very Sach-like ("steal my suit of armor, will ya?").

Leo and Huntz in "Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar." Poster for "Second Fiddle," with cartoon versions of Leo and Huntz. Leo and Huntz in "The Phynx," with Cass Daley and members of Xavier Cugat's orchestra. Deleted scene from "The Phynx." One of the few promotional items for "The...

More on "The Phynx," apparently, the film was never released theatrically - at least not to the general public. The fact that no promotional material has been found (save for a World Premiere ad) supports this claim. From what I can gather, that poor quality print that used to be the main copy...

Not the greatest quality, and the audio seems to be sped up 4%, but here are Leo and Huntz's bits from "The Phynx." Warner Archive released a very nice restored version some years back. Worth picking up if you're curious to see the entire weird mess! One of the members (Dennis Larden, I...

You know, I've had thoughts of doing weekly (or perhaps bi-weekly?) reviews of these films myself. I'd like to start all the way back with "Dead End" and work my way up through the Universal and East Side Kids movies, before going into the BB. I might skip the 12-Chapter "Junior G-Men" serials...

"Fighting Trouble" also looks and sounds like an atypical Bowery Boys film. The editing has a slight '50s sitcom feel to it, at least in the fade-to-black scene transitions. Additionally, Marlin Silkes' score is replaced with (then) contemporary jazz music. And the caricatures of Slip and Sach...

Leo and Huntz did fine - maybe a tad off their game (Huntz uses his "peasant catchphrase a few too many time!). But the chemistry was definitely still there. And Leo threw in some funny ad-libs ("I majored in Spelling in reform school!"). They also had a cameo in the very strange "The Phynx,"...

Interesting piece of trivia! Another sign of Leo's drinking - he has a tenancy to shout his dialogue in some of the later films. It's especially obvious in "Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar," one of the 'reunion' movies he and Huntz did in the '60s!

Also introduced in "Vegas" is Mrs. Kelly, the Boys' landlady. She appears in the first few Clements films as well. She's played by Doris Kemper here, and by Queenie Smith in the next three films. A Louie replacement, no doubt.

This was also Benny Bartlett's last film. He decided to leave show business to go into the insurance field. As a replacement, Leo Gorcey would bring in Jimmy Murphy ("Myron"), a struggling young actor whom Leo found working as a parking attendant. I feel like Leo's drinking was really...

Exactly a week before the release, yes.

Odd that Louie had a smaller role this time. You ever notice that when David Gorcey's character has anything important to do, it almost always involves him staying in a hospital bed, and actually having less screen time? "In Fast Company," and the East Side Kids' "Flying Wild" and "Spooks Run...