Leo Gorcey Movies
The shortest and most pugnacious of the original Dead End Kids, American actor Leo Gorcey was the son of character player Bernard Gorcey. The elder Gorcey encouraged Leo to audition as one of the tough street gang in the 1935 stage production of Sidney Kingsley's Dead End, which Leo did reluctantly; he was content with his apprentice job at his uncle's plumbing shop. When he temporarily lost that position, Leo was cast in a bit role in Dead End, eventually working his way up to the important part of Spit, the gang stool pigeon. Producer Samuel Goldwyn decided to make Dead End into a movie in 1937, further deciding to hire Leo and his fellow "kids" Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsley and Bobby Jordan for the movie version. The six streetwise hooligans scored an immediate hit with the public, paving the way for several films starring or featuring "The Dead End Kids", the best of which was Angels With Dirty Faces (1938).In 1939, the kids splintered off into subgroups, some of them heading for Universal Studios as the "Little Tough Guys". The following year, Leo Gorcey was signed by bargain-basement Monogram Pictures for a new series of "B" pictures produced by Sam Katzman--"The East Side Kids". Gorcey assumed the leading role of Muggs McGuiness, and by the time the series had run its course after 22 pictures in 1945, he'd been joined by his old Dead End buddies Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan and Gabe Dell. Determined to get a bigger piece of the financial pie and to have more say over production, Gorcey and Hall teamed with their agent Jan Grippo to reorganize the East Side Kids as the less scruffy but no less trouble-prone "Bowery Boys". In 1946, the first Bowery Boy picture, Live Wires, was released, launching a lucrative series of low-budget features that lasted for 48 installments. The Bowery Boys personnel fluctuated in size and prominence over the next twelve years, but Leo Gorcey as malaprop-spouting, two-fisted Slip Mahoney and Huntz Hall as lame-brained Sach Jones were clearly the stars. Gorcey stayed with the series until the 1955 death of his father Bernard, who'd been cast in the supporting role of gullible sweet-shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowski in most of the films. Too grief stricken to continue, Leo bowed out of the series with Crashing Las Vegas (1956), leaving Huntz Hall to co-star in the remaining six "Bowery Boys" films with Stanley Clements. Working in films only fitfully over the next 14 years, Leo was content with managing his land holdings. By the time of his death in 1969, Leo Gorcey was financially secure thanks to TV residual payments from his 42 "Bowery Boys" features. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Lady lawyer Portia Merryman (Frieda Inescourt) defends woebegone Elizabeth Manners (Heather Angel), who is on trial for shooting her lover Earle Condon (Neil Hamilton). Ironically, Portia herself had once had an affair with Earle's father, powerful publisher John Condon (Clarence Kolb). She has a pretty good idea of what is going on in Elizabeth's head, since she herself was on the verge of killing Condon when he ruthlessly took custody of her illegitimate son (not Earle, though that certainly would have brought things full circle). As Portia toils and strains to free her client, she carries on a romance with Dan Foster (Walter Abel) -- the attorney for the prosecution. LA Law and The Practice have nothing on this one! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Abel, Frieda Inescort, (more)
- 1937
Mannequin stars Joan Crawford as Jessie Cassidy, a girl of the tenements (though this being an MGM film, her slum dwellings are cleaner and more lavish than most middle-class bungalows!) Hoping to escape her grimy surroundings, Jessie marries Eddie Miller (Alan Curtis), a childhood acquaintance who has made good with a variety of dishonest business ventures. Another refugee from Jessie's neighborhood is John Hennessy (Spencer Tracy), who has likewise worked his way up to fame and fortune, albeit more honestly than Eddie. Faced with mounting debts, Eddie callously orders Jessie to divorce him and marry John for his money -- then divorce John and return to Eddie with the cash. Jessie reluctantly goes along with the scheme, but she double-crosses Eddie upon falling in love with John. Things look bad for our heroine when Eddie, with blackmail on his mind, threatens to spill the beans to John about their little "arrangement" -- whereupon John solves the dilemma (and saves his marriage) by losing his own fortune. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Spencer Tracy, (more)
Adapted by Lillian Hellman from Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play, Dead End concerns itself with several denizens of New York's East River district. Here the elite and the slum-dwellers rub shoulders due to the close proximity of the riverfront tenements with the East Side luxury hotels. Slum girl Drina Gordon (Sylvia Sidney) tries to prevent her younger brother Tommy (Billy Halop) from wasting his life as a member of the local street gang. Tommy and the other kids idolize Baby Face Martin (Humphrey Bogart), a onetime East- sider who has hit the "big time" as a notorious gangster. Dodging the cops, Martin makes a sentimental journey to the neighborhood to visit his mother (Marjorie Main) and his old girlfriend Francie (Clare Trevor). But Martin's mother coldly tells him to get lost, while Francie reveals herself to be a consumptive prostitute. Despite his depressed state, Martin is still admired by the local kids; this displeases sign painter Dave Connell (Joel McCrea), who hopes to escape the slums via his romance with wealthy Kay Burton (Wendy Barrie). Attempting to kidnap a rich boy who'd earlier been beaten up by the street kids, Martin is prevented from making the snatch by Dave, who shoots Martin down. Receiving a large reward, Dave decides to give the money to Drina so that she can afford a lawyer to defend her brother Tommy, who has wrongfully been accused of masterminding the beating of the rich kid. His outlook on life altered by this unselfish act, Dave gives up his mercenary romance with Kay Burton, choosing instead the poverty-stricken Drina. The film introduces the Dead End Kids--Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Gabe Dell, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsley and Bobby Jordan--all of whom were veterans of the Broadway version of Dead End and would be metamorphosed into the East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, (more)
Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan (James Cagney) and Jerry Connelly (Pat O'Brien) grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood. Rocky becomes a hero to a gang of teenaged boys (played by Dead End Kids Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bobby Jordan and Bernard Punsley). Father Jerry despairs at this, asking Rocky to lay off so he can keep the kids on the straight and narrow. Then Rocky's crooked business associates George Bancroft and Humphrey Bogart attempt to end Father Jerry's radio campaign against the rackets by killing the priest. Rocky (whose cynical outlook on life has been softened by his romance with true-blue Anne Sheridan) shoots them down and takes it on the lam. Arrested and convicted of murder, Rocky sits smugly on death row, fully intending to go to the chair with a smile on his face. A few moments before the execution, Father Jerry pleads with Rocky to "turn yellow" so that the tenement kids will despise his memory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, (more)
- 1938
This entry in the Dead End Kids series of adventures makes critical comments about the failings of reform schools. The story begins as the boys are sent to the Gatesville Reformatory, a cruel institution where the discipline is often violent. They boys do their best, but it is difficult to cope. Things get a little better when the deputy commissioner of corrections makes a surprise visit to the institution. He is appalled and immediately fires the sadistic warden. He then begins instituting gentler ways of treating the inmates. The grateful youths save the new warden's life after he is machine gunned during a political double-cross. As a reward, the boys are paroled. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, (more)
- 1939
In this entry in the long-running series, the Dead End Kids are freshly out of reform school when they find themselves victimized by the tough, corrupt head of the Hell's Kitchen Shelter. A reformed racketeer tries to help out, but he winds up violating his parole and getting sent back to prison. As he goes, he gets some satisfaction out of seeing the crooked superintendent sent up the river too. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, (more)
- 1939
Though not a sequel to Angels with Dirty Faces, this Warner Bros. programmer does star the Dead End Kids-or, more specifically, Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, and Bernard Punsley. Fresh out of reform school, Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) promises his sister Joy (Ann Sheridan) that he'll go straight, and promptly joins the Beale Street Termites (the Dead Enders), a tough but basically good-hearted street gang. Local mobster William Kroner (Bernard Nedell), seeking out a fall guy for a series of arsons, frames Gabe for a fire in which helpless invalid Sleepy (Punsly) dies. With the help of the other Termites, crusading DA Pat Remson (Ronald Reagan) tries to prove Gabe's innocence, using surprisingly high-handed tactics to get results: arresting Kroner on a misdemeanor, he turns the crook over to the kids, who force a confession out of the terrified crook. In this and several other instances in the film, the gang's rowdy behavior is "purified" because the end justifies the means. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan, (more)
- 1939
In this entry in the long-running series, one of the Kids goes to military school and learns, with the help of his late father's friend who promised to watch over the lad, to be a real man. The kid is initially, quite rebellious. One boy tries to help him, but the kid throws him out a second story window. Eventually the kid grows up and becomes a hero by saving another boy's life during a dangerous fire. This was the final entry in the series. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, (more)
- 1939
Probably as a reward for her energetic performance in Torchy Plays with Dynamite, pert Jane Wyman was given another Glenda Farrell-like leading role in Private Detective. Wyman plays gorgeous P.I. Myrna Winslow, the principal rival of male gumshoe Jim Rickey (Dick Foran). The case at hand concerns the murder of a millionaire, with the dead man's wife and her boy friend as principal suspects. Also adding to the intrigue is an enormous trust fund, set up in the name of the millionaire's adopted son. A goodly portion of the film takes place in a deserted mansion at midnight, with Myrna snooping where she shouldn't. The finale finds Myrna and Jim joining forces to capture the real murderer in a well-staged donnybrook. Private Detective runs 57 minutes-and "runs" is the right word here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Wyman, Dick Foran, (more)
They Made Me a Criminal opens in New York, depicting the latest victory in the ring for Johnny Bradfield (John Garfield), a young boxer who seems headed for a championship. When a reporter finds Bradfield drunk and carousing with women, and learns that the squeaky-clean image that he has cultivated is a complete lie, he threatens to blow the lid off the boxer's real life, and is beaten to death by Bradfield's manager. Bradfield, who was in a drunken stupor during the fight, is framed for the killing by his manager, who rolls him for his wallet, watch, and anything else of value, makes a run for it, and is killed in a fiery car accident. As far as the police are concerned, the case is closed, "Bradfield" having been identified in the wreck by the watch he was wearing. But Johnny Bradfield now has to disappear from New York and anyplace else he's ever been seen, in order to stay "dead." He is sent on his way by his crooked attorney with just a few dollars in his pocket, thumbing rides and walking west. Bradfield collapses one day from exhaustion and near starvation outside of a ranch in Arizona. The ranch is run by May Robson as part of a relief effort to help a group of boys from the New York slums -- Tommy (Billy Halop), Spit (Leo Gorcey), Dippy (Huntz Hall), T.B. (Gabriel Dell), Angel (Bobby Jordan), and Milty (Bernard Punsly) -- keep out of trouble. Identifying himself as "Jack Dorney," he first tries to see what he can get in the way of a free ride from the kids and Tommy's sister, Peggy (Gloria Dickson), who doesn't trust Dorney or his influence over the kids. Meanwhile, back in New York, one police detective, Phelan (Claude Rains), is convinced that the body found in the burned wreck of Johnny Bradfield's car wasn't Bradfield. Phelan is an outcast in his department for having once presented "conclusive" evidence in court against a man who was executed for murder, only to discover later that the man was innocent. He sees this as his chance to redeem himself and his career, and he is such a pariah that his chief gives him permission to follow up leads anywhere he needs to. At the ranch, Dorney takes a genuine liking to the kids, and sees Peggy as a kind of woman he's never known, who has no "angles" in her approach to life. The ranch may have to be sold, however, as there is no more money coming from the church in New York to keep it going. In order to save the ranch and set Peggy and the kids up in a roadside business pumping gas -- an idea of Tommy's -- Dorney decides to enter a prize fight for money against a barnstorming boxer. On the eve of the fight, however, Phelan shows up, drawn by a newspaper photo of Dorney, his face obscured but using the same unusual left-handed boxing stance he used as Johnny Bradfield. Dorney goes into the ring, and finds himself up against a brute who has already flattened two opponents in less than one round each, trying to hide his identity by fighting right-handed. He gets savaged, round after round, until Phelan tells him from ringside that he knows who he is. Free to use his left, Dorney saves himself. Phelan confronts him in the dressing room, and Johnny tells him he'll give him no trouble -- they're about to head back east, with Peggy and the kids trying to thank him, and it dawns on Phelan that possibly this is one case that might better be left "solved" officially the way it is already, even though it means the detective going back to his job as a laughing stock. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Garfield, Gloria Dickson, (more)
Despite the ridicule of the rest of the East Side Kids, Mugs Maloney (Leo Gorcey) aspires to be a jockey. He gets his chance with the help of elderly stablehand Ben (Clarence Muse), the owner of a thoroughbred race horse. Ben agrees to train Mugs on the condition that the rest of the gang raise enough money to enter his horse in a Big Race. Alas, Mugs turns out to be a terrible jockey, but this doesn't dissuade a wealthy horseman from offering to race the thoroughbred with a different boy in the saddle. Resentful of being passed over, Mugs does everything he can to sabotage the rival jockey, but in the end he relents and allows the other boy to ride the horse to victory. Beautifully directed by Joseph H. Lewis (especially in the racing scenes), That Gang of Mine is a superior "East Side Kids" romp, marred only by the unecessary racist badinage between black actors Clarence Muse and Sunshine Sammy Morrison. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, (more)
- 1940
Invisible Stripes is a cookie-cutter Warners prison drama which rounds up the usual suspects. George Raft and Humphrey Bogart are top-billed, and as is often the case in such a circumstance, it is Raft who is given the larger (albeit less interesting) role. Raft plays Cliff Taylor, an ex-convict who finds that his "invisible stripes" prevent him from getting a decent job. Cliff's younger brother (William Holden) shows unfortunate signs of following his older sibling's footsteps when he is pressured into crime to support himself and his girl friend (Jane Bryan). To save his brother, Cliff joins Humphrey Bogart's gang and earns enough dishonest money to set his brother up in business. But movie censorship prevails, and all of the miscreants in Invisible Stripes--even those motivated by good intentions--must pay the penalty. Side note: The prankish Humphrey Bogart spent so much time needling newcomer William Holden that Holden nearly came to blows with the older actor; the animosity persisted into the Bogart-Holden costarring feature Sabrina, made fourteen years later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, Jane Bryan, (more)
- 1940
Though its title suggests a war picture of some sort, MGM's Gallant Sons actually concerns the efforts of a group of kids to solve a murder. Young Johnny Davis (Gene Reynolds) is beside himself when his gambler father (Ian Hunter) is arrested for murder. In truth, Davis' pop is shielding several other people, whose reputations might have been ruined during his trial. Sensing that something is amiss, Johnny's pal Byron Newbold (Jackie Cooper) and his ragtag collection of tenement cronies play detective themselves to clear the elder Davis' name and trap the actual killer. Bonita Granville, at the time Jackie Cooper's girl friend, plays the only female member of the crime-solving gang. Coincidentally, Cooper, Granville and costar Gene Reynolds would later go into the production end of the business; in fact, in the early 1970s Reynolds would hire Cooper to direct an Emmy-winning episode of MASH. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Cooper, Leo Gorcey, (more)
In their second Monogram caper, Knuckles (Dave O'Brien) and the East Side Kids (Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Sunshine Sammy Morrison, et al.) are on their way to camp in the Adirondacks when they offer a lift to Judge Parker (Forrest Taylor) and his ward Louise (Inna Gest), who are having car trouble. Much to the boys' derision, the judge is the very same who wrongly convicted Knuckles in the previous film. And if that isn't enough, the learned jurist's secluded mansion proves to be in the haunted house category complete with sliding panels, hidden passageways, and a deranged housekeeper (Minerva Urecal). When the judge is found murdered and his ward missing, henchmen Giles (Denny Moore) and Simp (Vince Barnett) naturally accuse Knuckles, who has a motive but no alibi. In their bumbling search for the judge's missing ward, the boys stumble across a prowling detective (Alden Chase), however, and the real culprit is soon unmasked to be none other than -- well, suffice it to say, the killer is the least likely candidate, the East Side Kids, Louise, and Knuckles not included. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, (more)
Former Dead End Kid Huntz Hall made his first appearance with the East Side Kids in 1941's Bowery Blitzkrieg. The plotline concentrates on Danny Breslin (Bobby Jordan), a good kid in danger of going bad thanks to the influence of two-bit crook Monk Martin (Bobby Stone). When Danny is disqualified from the upcoming Golden Gloves boxing championship, his pal Mugs (Leo Gorcey) takes his place. Thanks to the chicanery of Monk and his gambling cronies, the public becomes convinced that Mugs intends to throw the fight. Nothing could be further from the truth, but for a while it looks as though both Mugs and Danny will be kayoed permanently by the villains. As "Limpy", Huntz Hall doesn't have much to do except act as Mugs' dimwitted stooge; Hall's unique comic gifts wouldn't fully blossom until the next East Side Kids entry, Spooks Run Wild. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, (more)
In their first of two Monogram spook comedies, the East Side Kids and Bela Lugosi square off in yet another haunted house. On their way to summer camp, the malapropism dependant East Siders are warned of a "monster killer" loose in the area, and, sure enough, almost immediately encounter Nardo (Lugosi) and his weird little helper Luigi (Angelo Rossitto). Nardo does very little to repudiate the Kids' impression of him as a vampire (the Kids say "vulture" lest Monogram should get in trouble with Universal, who held the rights to Dracula), but is he really the monster killer? Perhaps Doctor Von Grosch (Dennis Moore) knows, the famed mystery writer and "monster hunter" having arrived like clockwork at the creepy Billings mansion with camp nurse Linda Mason (Dorothy Short) in tow. Although Peewee (David Gorcey) is at one point feared to have become the victim of the "vulture," the smart aleck turns up safe and sound, and Muggs (Leo Gorcey) and the Kids decide to trap the killer. And so they do, ably assisted by young attorney Jeff Dixon (Dave O'Brien), who, for reasons not immediately clear, has a vested interest in the well being of the East Side Kids. O'Brien and leading lady Dorothy Short were married in real life. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bela Lugosi, Leo Gorcey, (more)
- 1941
Down in San Diego was previewed as Young Americans, which is why prints still exist bearing both titles. The film is essentially a gussied-up MGM version of an "East Side Kids" pictures, even unto casting Leo Gorcey in a major role. A gang of teenagers with too much time on their hands decide to pool their energies when the marine-cadet brother of pretty Betty Haines (Bonita Granville) gets into trouble. It all leads to the roundup and capture of a Nazi spy ring, bent on sabotaging San Diego harbor. Much of the film appears to be an audition for several of MGM's fresh young contractees, including singer-dancers Ray McDonald and Dan Dailey Jr. Down in San Diego was also a milestone of sorts, representing the 100th film made by supporting player Henry O'Neill within an eight-year period. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ray McDonald, Bonita Granville, (more)
- 1941
Widowed mother Charlotte Lord (Katherine Alexander) would like to marry wealthy Guy Barton (Sidney Blackmer), but Bartons' avaricious ex-wife Sybil (Binnie Barnes) insists upon contesting their recent Mexican divorce. Charlotte's daughters Jane (Jane Frazee), Leni (Leni Lynn), and Marilyn (Marilyn Hare) conspire to put Sybil out of the way by pairing her off with Steve Nelson (Edward Norris), gilding the lily by convincing Nelson to pose as Argentine cattle baron Don Pablo Viscente (Gilbert Roland). The ruse almost works, but then the real Don Pablo shows up. Undaunted, the Lord girls concoct a variety of additional schemes to smooth the path of romance for their mother and the eligible Mr. Barton. And on and on it goes, slapstick set pieces alternating with musical numbers for the remainder of the film's 72 minutes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Binnie Barnes, Gilbert Roland, (more)
Muggs Maloney (Leo Gorcey) is supposed to be preparing for the Golden Gloves competition but he doesn't want to train anymore in a stuffy slum building. His friend Danny (Bobby Jordan) lures him upstate to what he thinks is going to be a training camp, but instead turns out to be a Civilian Conservation Corps camp, where young men sign up to do land reclamation in exchange for support for their families -- Muggs feels cheated, but his mother can use the money and the labor is keeping him in shape, so he sticks it out, even saving the life of another boy, though his pugnacious, self-centered attitude quickly alienates most of the camp from him. When Willie (Bobby Stone), one of the few friends he has, tells Muggs that he stole $100 from the captain's office to send to his mother, Muggs decides to help him out by taking up a local fight promoter (Carleton Young) on his offer of a prize fight; he wins and tries to replace the money, but gets caught by the captain. Muggs won't squeal on Willie and is dismissed from the camp, but Danny won't let the issue go and forces Willie to confess his role in the crime. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, (more)
Mugs McGinniss (Leo Gorcey), top dog of the East Side Kids, takes a job at an airplane plant. Here he grows suspicious of Dr. Nagel (George Pembroke), operator of a flying ambulance service. Mugs becomes convinced that Nagel is using his plane to smuggle aviation secrets to a gang of enemy agents, but he can't prove his allegations. With the help of his East Side pals Danny (Bobby Jordan), Scruno ("Sunshine Sammy" Morrison), Peewee (David Gorcey) and Louie (Bobby Stone), Mugs gets the goods on the duplicitous Doc-but nearly gets killed in the process. A not-bad combination of comedy and melodrama, Flying Wild offers the viewers a more intelligent group of "East Side Kids" than they're accustomed to. Even so, this is the film in which Leo Gorcey introduces the comic malapropisms for which he became famous. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, (more)
- 1941
Out of the Fog is the film version of the Irwin Shaw play The Gentle People, refashioned to mollify the Hollywood censors by expert wordsmiths Robert Rossen, Jerry Wald, and Richard Macaulay. Humphrey Bogart lobbied strenuously to play the leading role of charming but ruthless waterfront loan shark Harold Goff, but in the end Warners chose the more "bankable" John Garfield. The terror of Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, Goff is able to extort five dollars per week from people like tailor Jonah Goodwin (Thomas Mitchell) and short-order cook Olaf Johnson (John Qualen), knowing full well that his victims are too good-hearted to fight back. Making matters worse for Goodwin is the fact that his restless daughter, Stella (Ida Lupino), seeking to escape her humdrum existence, has fallen in love with the fascinating Goff, leaving her mild-mannered sweetheart George Watkins (Eddie Albert) in the cold. The Irwin Shaw play was a symbolic plea for a united front against European fascism, suggesting that the only way that dictatorial bullies like Goff can be destroyed is for good men to forget such edicts as "turn the other cheek" and "love thy neighbors." Originally, The Gentle People ended with Jonah and Olaf, pushed to the brink when Goff seduces Stella and then demands all their money, conspiring to murder the villain-and getting away with it. Hollywood's Hays Office, however, would never approve of an unpunished murder, no matter what the justification, so the screenplay contrives to have Goff killed by accident. This still doesn't resolve the moral guilt suffered by the two elderly conspirators, so the screenplay takes several dizzying twists and turns before it can arrive at a censor-proof happy ending. Atmospherically photographed by James Wong Howe, Out of the Fog was film noir before the term was even invented. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Lupino, John Garfield, (more)
The second Bing Crosby/Bob Hope "Road" picture casts Crosby as a penny-ante sideshow promoter and Hope as Crosby's only client, "Fearless Frazier." Under Crosby's tutelage, Hope has been shot from a cannon, zapped in an electric chair and nearly strangled by an octopus. Now they're practically broke and stranded on the African coast. Crosby spends the last of their money to spring helpless Dorothy Lamour from a native slave market. Actually, Lamour and her pal Una Merkel are scamming Crosby and Hope to finance a safari across Africa, so that Lamour can link up with her wealthy fiance in Zanzibar. En route through the deepest, darkest jungle, both Hope and Crosby fall in love with Lamour. But when they find out they're being taken for chumps, the boys leave the safari and strike out on their own. Captured by cannibals, the boys try and fail to win their freedom by having Hope wrestle a particularly grumpy gorilla. Making their escape after teaching the natives their time-honored "Patty Cake" routine, they head for Zanzibar. Once again, Crosby spends his ready money to spring Lamour from her captured-by-slavers con game, obliging Hope, Crosby, Lamour and Merkel to try to earn passage money home by staging a "sawing the lady in half" routine for the locals. Crosby: "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Hope: "If I don't, one of us is going back half fare." Like the earlier Road to Singapore, Road to Zanzibar sticks too closely to the script and plot to allow those inveterate adlibbers Hope and Crosby free reign. Still, there are some choice moments: our favorite bit occurs when Crosby comments to Lamour on the artificiality of movie musicals--whereupon the sound of an orchestra pops up out of nowhere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, (more)
In this "East Side Kids" escapade (the eighth in the series), the gang, led by Muggs McGinniss (Leo Gorcey), help a man load a barrel on a truck. Little do they know that the man is a crook; accused of trying to steal the truck, they are immediately and without due process sent to reform school. Meanwhile, a gang members' brother is framed for murder and sentenced to death (justice is dispensed with remarkable swiftness on the East Side). The imprisoned gang watch a newsreel which features the man whom they'd helped load the truck. The man was filmed picking up a lottery prize for the his boss, a supposedly dead gangster who committed the murder for which the boy mentioned a few sentences back was framed. With the flimsiest of evidence, Muggs and his boys figure that the barrel loaded on the truck contained the murderous gangster. They escape from reform school (almost as easily as they'd gotten in), track down the gangster's henchman, extract a confession and save the condemned boy at the last minute. Insanely illogical, Mr. Wise Guy is lifted ever so slightly from mediocrity by the supporting performance of Billy Gilbert as the gangster's stooge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, (more)
- 1942
Another graduate of MGM's short-subject department, director David Miller proved he had what it took to helm a feature film for the studio in Sunday Punch. The harmless but diverting story concerns the rivalry, in and out of the ring, between prizefighters Ken Burke (William Lundigan) and Olaf Jensen (Dan Dailey Jr.). Both boxers are sweet on showgirl Judy Galestrum (Jean Rogers), and in fact it was for the love of Judy that shy, oafish Olaf quite his janitorial job to become a pugilist. When Olaf realizes that it's Ken whom Judy truly loves, he does the "right thing" by sending Ken off to dreamland during an important match, thereby encouraging the latter to give up boxing and return to his medical studies. The best aspect of Sunday Punch is the performance of Dan Dailey Jr., whose portrayal of a simpleminded Swede is convincing without ever lapsing into stereotype or condescention. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Lundigan, Jean Rogers, (more)
- 1942
The combination of Ann Sothern and Red Skelton pays off in giggles, chortles and guffaws in Maisie Gets Her Man. Broke and stranded once more, showgirl Maisie Revere briefly works as the wrong end of a knife-throwing act, then dedicates herself to helping would-be comedian Hap Hixby (Skelton) overcome his debilitating stage fright. The plot then goes off on an entirely new tangent, as the hapless Hap gets mixed up with cherubic con artist Denningham (Lloyd Corrigan). Things end happily for both Maisie and Hap, but not quite in the way that either one of them would have predicted. It's a tribute to the comedy genius of Red Skelton that he can raise laughs while playing a character who can't raise laughs! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ann Sothern, Red Skelton, (more)
