Hold That Line

It was made for a certain audience at a certain time, and the producers, writers, directors and players delivered exactly what was called for...and had no idea that self-pointed critics would surface five decades later and...rate??? and critique it.

Against what? This one has two wealthy clubmen, Billingsley (Francis Pierlot) and Stanhope (Pierre Watkin), wanting to test a theory that their old school Ivy, can make blue bloods out of Bowery toughs. They didn't come any tougher and unpolished than the Bowery Boys and they are soon enrolled at Old Ivy.

Biff Wallace (John Bromfield), the college football hero wearing a name straight out of the days when only Yale, Harvard and Brown players made the All-American teams named by the Eastern sportswriters, Harold (Bob Nichols), editor of the school paper and determined to keep the hallowed halls pure and no white-trash or Commies allowed, Katie Wayne (Mona Knox), Penny (Gloria Winters), Candy Calin (Veda Ann Borg, evidently doing post-graduate work)and other students, are more than a bit dismayed to find the likes of Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall)---with lines---and Whitey (Gil Stratton Jr.), Chuck (David Gorcey billed as David Condon, because the producer didn't want more than two people named Gorcey in the cast) and Butch (Bennie Bartlett)---all with no lines but marks to stand on---mingling amongst 'em. The times, they were indeed a'changing at Old Ivy.

First rattle out of the box, Sach mixes up some vitamins that make him invincible as an athlete in all sports, and he did this without the aid of Balco Labs. Soon, the football team, thanks to Sach and no thanks to former BMC (Big Man on Campus)Biff, is undefeated and unbeatable. Biff is hacked and he approaches Big Dave (Al Eben) and his sexy girlfriend Candy (aha, she was more than a student)with a proposition. Dolls played by Veda Ann Borg were always open to propositions and sometimes came up with some on their own volition. Anyway, Candy vamps Sach just before THE BIG GAME with STATE, lures him to Big Dave's place, and Dave knocks Sach out with dope, and didn't even tell him it was an arthritis cream to be rubbed on his wrists so he'd be ready for baseball season.

Well, as usually the case when a college named Ivy plays one named State in Football, the odds are high that Ivy (even with handsome Biff in the lineup) will soon be getting their clocks cleaned and furrows plowed and this game is no exception. The questions now are will Biff confess so Sach can be rescued, will Sach be rescued and, if Sach is rescued, can he get to the game on time to win it for Old Ivy.

If you don't already know, far be it from us, to tell you.

But...any film with Mona Knox on the sidelines in a tight sweater, short-shorts two-sizes too small and carrying a megaphone and doing splits is a 10 (TEN)edging toward 11 (ELEVEN)...judged against any movie ever made.

It's a pity that How To Succeed In Business was a decade away from its creation. The song Grand Old Ivy would have made a perfect theme for this Bowery Boys comedy as the boys sample a bit of higher education in Ivy College. They probably could have used a bit of lower education before sampling Ivy.

Slip and Sach and the rest go to school on a bet by two older alumni of Ivy as to whether a bit of learning smooth the edges out in the roughest kind of material. Well they certainly picked the roughest material out there.

While there Huntz Hall plays around in the chemistry lab and discovers a formula that makes him super strong. Where else to use this new found ability but the gridiron.

I think you can figure the rest. This is Bowery Boy hijinks as usual but also with the added attraction of Veda Ann Borg as the gambler's moll trying to seduce Sach. No film with her should ever be missed.

It might have been interesting if Leo Gorcey had ever learned in college the real meanings of the words he mangles in every picture. But if he did half the comedy of the Bowery Boys would be gone.

It's the later Bowery Boys at the top of their game in this well-paced and satisfying comedy farce. Two elderly rich men make a bet that the classless Slip, Sach, and the rest of the group can be enrolled in a well-to-do college and still make the grade. While in chemistry class, Sach (Huntz Hall) then develops his own secret formula which transforms him into a powerhouse with super-strength, becoming a new football hero rivaling the All-American Football champ of the campus.

A recommended entry in this everlasting series which stands out a bit from most of the films.

**1/2 (of four)

I find it difficult to understand how this trivial bit of fluff got such high ratings. Like many of us, I enjoyed these films when I was a child, but, unlike others, these haven't withstood the test of time well. About the only thing that still works in these 'comedies' are Leo Gorcey's malapropisms. The rest is just lame. Huntz Hall may have been better in his younger days, but by the time this was made, the group was well into their thirties, and showing signs of age. And the supporting gang members have absolutely nothing to do in this film. Apparently they were just there for decoration. They barely even have any lines to say. Even the physical humor is a series of lame and hackneyed bits stolen from a dozen other comedians. Gorcey's real-life father is just another annoying yiddish comedian. One can see why he only appeared in these films. I rated this a 4 only for nostalgia reasons. And at least it's short and not dull...for the most part.

74/100. Exceptionally good Bowery Boys entry. A professor bets another professor that he can can make anyone a good student, and one professor insists that he gets to pick the person. Well, you guessed it, he picked some tough subjects, the boys themselves. This is sort of a distant twist of Pygmalion. Well, Ivy University has know idea what they are in for! Sach makes a mixture in chemistry that makes him very strong, and soon enough he is on the football team. The climax football game is quite similar to that of Harold Lloyd's The Freshman. Leo Gorcey does an exceptional job butchering the English language! Very funny, great pace and the boys are at their best.