Bowery Boys coming from Warners per Leo Gorcey Jr. (1 Viewer)

[Steve...O]

The moderator of the Bowery Boys Yahoo group has a relationship with Leo Gorcey Jr. Recently he posted an e-mail he received from Leo Jr. A portion of it said



Obviously this has not been confirmed by the studio and there is no indication as to when these will be released. Still, if this is true, it is very good news for fans of the Bowery Boys everywhere. I am a bit surprised that Warners would commit to releasing all 48 films up front, but if they're willing to put 'em out, I'm willing to buy 'em.

Although Leo's post contradicts this, I would hope that the the 4 DVDs mentioned above are double features (the films are quite short) which mean 8 features would be released each go around, greatly speeding up the time needed to get the entire series out. This model has worked for Universal and their classic films.

Steve

 

[Michael Elliott]

I'd say we'll get four discs with two films each. I've only seen the Public Domain titles and didn't care too much for them but I'd still buy these sets. I know a certain buddy of mine will be real happy when he reads this in the morning.

 

[AlanBrom]

This is awesome news!

 

[Joe Karlosi]

This is sensational news, if true. I don't think Warner could go wrong by making "collection sets" as Universal did for their Abbott & Costello films and pricing them low.

This has got me really excited.

 

[Jay E]

Great news!

I'm a big time Bowery Boys fan. I love the East Side kids films too, but the Bowery Boys are my favorites.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Great news. I hope they do release them in sets. I'll be there for all of them.

Michael
The public domain titles are The East Side Kids and not The Bowery Boys which were better and funnier to most fans.

 

[Robert Crawford]

This news isn't surprising since Turner Classic Movies ran a bunch of "Bowery Boys" films last summer and this summer they've been running several of "The East Side Kids" films. Furthermore, on September 13th, starting at 8:00 p.m. ET, they will be showing 15 films of "The East Side Kids" in a row. The following films will be shown:

• East Side Kids
• Boys of the City
• That Gang of Mine
• Pride of the Bowery
• Flying Wild
• Bowery Blitzkrieg
• Spooks Run Wild
• Mr. Wise Guy
• Let's Get Tough!
• Smart Alecks
• 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge
• Kid Dynamite
• Clancy Street Boys
• Ghosts on the Loose
• Million Dollar Kid

Crawdaddy

 

[Michael Elliott]

My buddy has told me that the films from Warner are a lot better than what I've seen. I've only seen their early stuff with Bogart plus PD titles like SPOOKS RUN WILD, GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE, THAT GANG OF MINE, LET'S GET TOUGH and a couple others I believe. I actually thought all were fairly poor but I somewhat enjoyed the first two due to Lugosi.

Still, I'm certainly looking forward to the sets.

 

[R. Kay]

Anyone know what are considered to be the best Bowery Boys films?

 

[Chris Stainton]

"Blues Busters" is by far my favorite of theirs. I cannot wait for these to be released.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Crawdaddy

 

[Randy Korstick]

Robert
Your in Luck, 4 of your 5 favorites should make the 1st collection assumming that they will be Chronological.
With 48 films I'm sure every fan will have different favorites so a best of is hard to come up with.
My favorites would be:

Smugglers Cove
Master Minds
Blues Busters
Ghost Chasers
Let's Go Navy
Loose In London
Private Eyes

 

[BryanV]

I have only seen Dead End and They Made Me a Criminal the latter I own on a crap public domain issue. Where do these two titles fall in, are they Bowery or East Sidaz?

 

[Randy Korstick]

Actually they don't fall into either the boys/kids have a bit of a complicated history:

They began as "The Dead End Kids" which had them as supporting characters in Major studio movies which include the 2 films you mentioned as well as the popular "Angels with Dirty Faces". Then they got their own series from Monogram Pictures which retitled them "The East Side Kids". During this time some of the boys also appeared in a similar series for Universal Studios titled "Little Tough Guys". After these 2 series ran their course Monogram started a new series titled "The Bowery Boys" which was the longest running and most popular of the 4 series.

As far as whats the difference in each series I would break it down as the following progression from Drama to Slapstick Comedy:

1.)Dead End Kids (7 Films): Drama with a little bit of comedy.
2.)East Side Kids (21 Films): Equal parts Comedy and Drama.
3.)Little Tough Guys (9 Films and 3 Serials): Equal parts Comedy and Drama.
4.)The Bowery Boys (48 Films): Began as Equal parts Comedy and Drama and then quickly turned to Pure Slapstick Comedies.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

BLUES BUSTERS may be one of the best, I agree.

I also love THE BOWERY BOYS MEET THE MONSTERS and MASTER MINDS.

 

[Robert Crawford]

A reminder that Turner Classic Movies is showing an East Side Kids Marathon starting tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET. A total of 15 East Side Kids films will be shown during this film marathon.

8:00 PM East Side Kids (1940) A street tough searches for evidence to get his brother out of prison. Leon Ames, Joyce Moore, Dennis Bryan. D: Robert Hill. BW 60m.

9:15 PM Boys of the City (1940) Street kids sent to a better environment in the country get caught in a haunted house. Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Dave O'Brien. D: Joseph Lewis. BW 62m.

10:30 PM That Gang of Mine (1940) A street tough tries to land a job as a jockey. Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Clarence Muse. D: Joseph H. Lewis. BW 62m.

11:45 PM Pride of the Bowery (1941) In search of a boxing camp, a street tough mistakenly signs on with a conservation group. Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Donald Haines. D: Joseph Lewis. BW 60m.

14 - Tuesday

1:00 AM Flying Wild (1941) When he gets a job at an aviation plant, a street tough stumbles onto an enemy spy ring. Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Donald Haines. D: William West. BW 61m.

2:15 AM Bowery Blitzkrieg (1941) An East Side Kid is saved from a life of crime when he becomes a Golden Gloves champ. Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, David Gorcey. D: Wallace Fox. BW 62m.

3:30 AM Spooks Run Wild (1941) A group of delinquents on their way to summer camp get stuck in a haunted house. Leo Gorcey, Bela Lugosi, Angelo Rossitto. D: Phil Rosen. BW 65m.

4:45 AM Mr. Wise Guy (1942) A group of delinquents try to clear a man framed for a gangster's murder. Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall. D: William Nigh. BW 70m.


6:00 AM Let's Get Tough! (1942) Too young to enlist, a gang of street kids try to solve the murder of an Allied agent. Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan. D: Wallace Fox. BW 62m.

7:15 AM Smart Alecks (1942) An attempt to raise funds for new baseball uniforms gets a group of boys mixed up in crime. Leo Gorcey, David Gorcey, Huntz Hall. D: Wallace Fox. BW 66m.

8:30 AM 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge (1942) The Bowery Boys come to the rescue of a young murder suspect. Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan. D: Wallace Fox. BW 61m.

9:45 AM Kid Dynamite (1943) A boxer is kidnaped by gamblers to keep him out of a big fight. Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan. D: Wallace Fox. BW 66m.

11:00 AM Clancy Street Boys (1943) A small-time tough enlists his gang mates to impress a visiting uncle. Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan. D: William Beaudine. BW 65m.

12:15 PM Ghosts on the Loose (1943) A gang of street toughs take on Nazi spies. Leo Gorcey, Bela Lugosi, Ava Gardner. D: William Beaudine. BW 65m.

1:30 PM Million Dollar Kid (1944) Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell. D: Wallace Fox. BW 65m.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I just stumbled on this thread by accident.

Holy Moley! This is sensational news.

About time these were considered for DVD release.

I'll have my REPLAY TV rolling tonight for some
of these films.

Which are the best ones out of this lot that I
should set my PVR to record?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Ronbo,
Some of my personal favorites are the following:

• Pride of the Bowery
• Bowery Blitzkrieg
• Spooks Run Wild with Bela Lugosi
• Mr. Wise Guy
• Smart Alecks
• 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge
• Kid Dynamite
• Ghosts on the Loose with Bela Lugosi

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Just want to caution newbies that these early EASTSIDE KIDS films are much different from the later BOWERY BOYS ones (which are more comedy than drama and are the ones I HOPE will be coming to DVD from Warner). Sometimes people get bored by the EASTSIDE films and never go on to see the BOWERY series as a result.

Personally, I enjoy both.