Clipped Wings

"A Writ of Habeus Corpuscle".

Edward Bernds, who worked on some of the Three Stooges shorts, had a hand in writing this one and directing so it's more slick than some others in the series. This is only one of a few Bowery Boys entries in which Bernds took part, and those films are usually all the better for it.

The Boys were pure slapstick comedians by this time, but provide only occasional chuckles as Slip and Sach unwittingly enlist in the Air Force while trying to help out a pilot friend in trouble.

So-So Bowery Boys.

By the early 50's, The Bowery Boys post-WWII formula had become a well-oiled machine. The "Boys" consisted of stars Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall, along with group members David Gorcey (here billed as "Condon") and Bennie Bartlett for reaction shots. And of course Leo's father Bernard Gorcey, as Louie, owner of Louie's Sweet Shop, where the gang hangs out. Comedy pros such as Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds were working their magic with the series, and Monogram/Allied Artists usually surrounded the boys with talented casts of lesser-known players (such as Renie Riano, hilarious as the hatchet-faced WAC leader who orders Huntz Hall around) and old favorites (such as Lyle Talbot, and unbilled, Tris Coffin and Arthur "Canadian Mounties VS Atomic Invaders" Space). Basically, by this time in the series, the Boys were put into a certain situation or locale or profession, and they were let loose. Here they are in the air force (by accident, of course), with Huntz Hall mistakenly assigned to the female WAC unit, and they help a friend in the air force catch some spies (by accident, of course!). If you like Gorcey's constant malapropisms, Hall's rubber-faced, Shemp Howard-style maniacal antics, and the wonderful physical comedy of both, you will enjoy this film. I enjoyed these as a child, and now my children are enjoying them just as much. Gorcey and Hall left a wonderful body of work, and they were still on a roll in 1953 when this was released. They did three or four films a year and were favorites among exhibitors as they brought in regular crowds who couldn't wait for the next entry. Classic slapstick never ages, and this film should bring a smile to any slapstick lover's face --whether you are seven or seventy.

Sach is pretending to be a flyboy. Neighborhood friend Dave Moreno is a real flyboy. Only he's stealing rocket secrets and gets caught. Slip and Sach are sure that he's innocent. They go to the base to support him, but they mistakenly end up in the recruitment office. They stupidly sign up for the Air Force. Sach has the same name as a female recruit and gets wrongly sent to the WACs.

This one has Sach with a bunch of beautiful babes. Let the comedic chaos begin. It's all low hanging fruits and they are too happy to pick them. WAC is the Army. WAF for the Air Force was formed in 1948. I want more with the babes and less of the espionage. They could have given more lines to the girls. There are planes and the guys get to fly one. I guess that's funny.

The Bowery Boys movies are a hit or miss kind of thing. A lot of them aren't really that good but the movies are usually pretty short so they're always worth a try. I've seen quite a few Bowery Boys movies now and I've learned that my enjoyment level lands on how annoying Sach is. I didn't watch these movies when I was a kid. A lot of my friends did and they always talked about how funny Sach was. Watching Sach now, he's usually just stupid. His antics are more annoying than anything else. The movies where Sach is funny are much better than the ones where's he's annoying. Sach is pretty funny in "Clipped Wings". That helped make it one of the better Bowery Boys movies.

This Bowery Boys feature finds Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall trying to help their friend Todd Karns who has enlisted in the Air Force out of a jackpot where he's been arrested for espionage. Of course these two geniuses who go to the Air Force Base which I assume is McGuire in New Jersey because it's the closest one to the Bowery to visit Karns, wind up enlisting in the Air Force.

Gorcey goes through the usual basic training, but Hall due to a mixup winds up getting assigned to a WAF barracks with the attention of a lot of female trainees. He also gets as a sergeant Renie Riano. She's worse than Gorcey's sergeant former heavyweight contender Lou Nova.

Anyway in a plot that's straight from that Cold War classic Shack Out On 101, June Vincent the waitress at the local hash house is the contract for an espionage ring. Karns is her target as he's working on some top secret guidance systems. Of course Gorcey and Hall don't know any of this, but they're on the job nonetheless.

The film also borrows as do most Bowery Boys films from previous comedy classics, a lot of Bowery Boys material was first used by Abbott and Costello. The Air Force scenes could have come from the A&C classic, Keep 'Em Flying.

The climax is straight from Bud and Lou as Gorcey and Hall get into a drone plane being used for target practice while chasing the villains who have grabbed Karns. Still the Bowery Boys do warm over comedy classics well by design or by "topographical error".