Bowery Blitzkrieg

I enjoyed this lightweight pre-war drama/comedy.

In those days I guess life was simple. Tough Irish kids had golden hearts if you could just get them a mentor in the police department. Fighting showed character. There were good guys and bad guys. Loyalties ran strong. Not much a good right/left combo would not solve.

But, you know, this movie was fun. It all fell together. There were moments of drama. There was some humor. Muggsy, the anti-hero turned hero was a likable kid. The lines were snappy. The exposition brisk.

So, hey, watch this movie with your young kids. See the gang at the pool hall. Learn about bad guys trying to fix fights. Learn about loyalties to the family, to the gang, and to the police force. See Muggsy take on all comers, from the college-bound kid, to the police, to organized crime, to the reform school.

Leo Gorcey has a chance to redeem himself if he doesn't throw a fight. This was Huntz Hall's first time in an East Side Kids flick and he has quite a goofily amusing presence so it's not surprising that he and Leo eventually took over the series and made them actual comedies when the team became the Bowery Boys. Keye Luke-Charlie Chan's No. 1 son-plays a pool hall worker named Clancy. Charlotte Henry (L & H version of Babes in Toyland, 1933 live-action version of Alice in Wonderland) is the lady who's involved in the cop who's trying to reform Gorcey. Oh, and Pat Costello-yes, Lou's brother-has an amusing scene with Hall as a boxing trainer. I really liked this entry in the ESK series so on that note, Bowery Blitzkrieg is worth a look for fans of the people I just mentioned.

I was expecting the usual East Side Kids comic knock-about. You know, Gorcey, Hall, and guys playfully pummeling each other while the plot only serves to advance these goofy antics. I get a kick out of the usual series entries which is what I expected here.

But there's none of that in Blitzkrieg. Instead it's second-rate drama where Gorcey tries to escape clutches of urban crime and maybe get back together with estranged buddy Jordan. As a result, the comedic gang is reduced to secondary on-lookers as the dramatics take over. Too bad, since the plot threads meander in not very involving fashion.

But at least the flick works in a pretty girl (Charlotte) for some relief from all the ugly guys. Then too, there's the neat little blood-donor twist that makes the flick's upshot less predictable as to who will win Gorcey's big boxing match. Too bad the movie's remainder doesn't show similar skills.

Anyway, it looks like the hour's mainly an effort at showing Gorcey as more than just a comic, which, in fact, the drama does. Now, I'm not against departures from a good series norm, (here East Side Kid antics), but the exception should be a good one. Unfortunately, this one ain't.

This East Side Kids melodrama introduces Huntz Hall, one of the original Dead End boys, to this series, and quaintly casts Keye Luke, Charlie Chan's "Number One Son" as a pool hall manager (named Clancy!), but each performer plays only a small role in this story of Muggs McGinnis (Leo Gorcey) and his gang. Released before the U.S. entry into WWII (ergo the Teutonic title), the film is devoid of the customary wartime propaganda that the series featured, but it is also shorn of the snappy ad libbing that caught the Gotham flavour of most of these affairs, and we must settle for a rapidly moving but largely uninvolving account of Muggs' decision to go straight amidst the usual background of the fight game and gangsters.

This sixth "East Side Kids" film is one of the better Bowery boy adventures. During this era, the movies focused on the characters played by Leo Gorcey (as Muggs) and Bobby Jordan (as Danny). Usually, Mr. Jordan and an adult relative provided the storyline, for leader Gorcey and the lads. Criminal activity and reform school were a part of many plots. "Bowery Blitzkrieg" has all the elements which were, obviously, very popular with young audiences (or, they wouldn't have made so many of these films).

The storyline is a "Bowery Blitzkrieg". Apparently, Gorcey and Jordan have taken up boxing (wouldn't you know it?). It's clear from shirtless Jordan's opening workout (cut from some versions of this film) that hunky Jordan is the gang's choice for champ. Instead, Jordan decides to pursue an education. Probably, this put a strain on the otherwise tight Gorcey/Jordan (Muggs/Danny) relationship. This would help explain some, but not all, of the ensuing contrived, continuity-starved events...

Jordan meets sleazy, seductive Bobby Stone (as Monk Martin), and is sucked into becoming the driver for Mr. Stone's petty thievery. Stone drives a wedge between Jordan and "The East Side Kids" by telling him that Gorcey has been talking dirty about Jordan's sister, Charlotte Henry (as Mary Breslin) and her "copper" fiancé. At the local pool hall, Jordan gets the best of his old pal, which helps land Gorcey in reform school. After becoming chummy with law enforcement, Gorcey is paroled, by Jordan's sister's policeman boyfriend, Warren Hull (as Tom Brady).

Officer Hull wants Gorcey to become law enforcement's champion boxer. Gorcey is a success at boxing, but draws criminal interest; and, he is paid to throw an upcoming "big fight". Meanwhile, Jordan continues to drive the getaway car for more of Stone's robberies. On the eve of the "big fight", policeman Hull catches up with Jordan and Stone; then, a dramatic shoot-out connects Gorcey and Jordan in life-or-death struggles…

Jordan and Gorcey do very well with the script (and they can still pass for reform school age delinquents). Future regular Stone has one of his best "Bowery" roles; he and Jordan have an unusual (gay?) relationship, and their dramatic shoot-out is surprisingly well done (by director Wallace Fox), for the series' budget. Former "Dead End" kid Huntz Hall joins the "East Side" cast, happily; he's an amusingly thirsty ringside trainer. And, intelligent Ernest Morrison's "Scruno" has a great "against type" bit. Watch for some of the cast's better Bowery moments.

******* Bowery Blitzkrieg (8/1/41) Wallace Fox ~ Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Stone, Huntz Hall