Paris Playboys

United Nations dignitaries spot habitually hapless Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) in the "Sweet Shop" and mistake him for a missing French scientist. Before you can say "Jacques Robinson," Mr. Hall is off to Paris with "Bowery Boys" leader Leo Gorcey (as Terrence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney) and father Bernard Gorcey (as Louie Dumbrowsky). Abroad, Hall poses as the amnesiac "Professor Maurice Gaston Le Beau" and gets to court busty fiancée Veola Vonn (as Mimi Du Bois). Oui, oui!

The elder Gorcey has a faulty memory, forgetting the gang's "Loose in London" (1953) trip by asserting Hall had never been out of the United States. Hall, now billed equally with Gorcey in the opening credits, continues to dominate the comedy; his "dual role" performance and the "special effects" give this entry its better moments. Regulars David Gorcey and Benny Bartlett are briefly glimpsed extras. "Paris Playboys" is otherwise routine. The next two 1954 films showed they could do better… and worse.

**** Paris Playboys (3/7/54) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Bernard Gorcey, Veola Vonn

At the UN headquarters, diplomats are searching for missing famed French scientist Professor Maurice Gaston Le Beau. One claims that he spotted Le Beau at a sweet shop in the Bowery. He does look exactly like Sach (Huntz Hall). When they go to the sweet shop, all they find is Sach and the rest of the gang. They invite the gang to go to Paris so that Sach can be a decoy.

The fake French accents can get a little annoying. Sometimes, an established franchise goes to Europe for a bit of exotic fun. These guys are never actually going to Paris, but they could fake it better. It could be a funny gag for Sach to be walking in front of various Paris backdrops. This does get funnier with the doubling of Sach. They do a mirror bit although not the one that I'm expecting. All in all, it's fine but not as funny as it could be.

MUCH later in the Bowery Boys series of films... but it's another ongoing episode of Sach and the guys stumbling into trouble. When Sach (Hunts Hall ) is mistaken for a famous french scientist, he and Slip (Leo Gorcey) take a quick little trip to Paris to help in some escapade. of course, Gorcey's real father Bernard and brother David are also here. Veola Vonn is "the girl" Mimi, but she played so many tiny parts, she doesn't even get a photo in imdb. the usual clever word play and pratfalls by the guys, but no-one seems to notice. it's all very silly and fluffy, but makes the time go by. (the three stooges must have been busy that day...similar humor and pranks) meh. no great work here, but entertaining enough for fans of the bowery boys. Directed by William Beaudine, who had directed many of the bowery boys films.

If you are expecting, based on the title, from this movie to take you on a tour of Paris, forget it. It's pretty obvious that the cast and the production crew never set foot outside the Hollywood studios where this was filmed (there are only some brief establishing shots outside). With that said, the film is lively and short enough not to cause any boredom. Huntz Hall gets to play a dual role, and he does it well, while Veola Vonn is gorgeous as the Parisian fiancè. Funniest scene (in my book): the Boys changing the rules of a high-class French dinner, with the guests gradually joining in. **1/2 out of 4.

Paris Playboys finds Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall off to Gay Paree for the life of a pair on bon vivants. I doubt either could spell that and Gorcey was sure to misinterpret the words.

It's all a case of 'mistaken indemnity' as a quartet of continental gentlemen enter Louie's Sweet Shop on the Bowery and are sure that Hall is a famous French rocket scientist who disappeared as he was working on a new fuel formula. As the scientist was known for being quite the ladies man as well as a brilliant researcher, it ain't rocket science to figure out Horace DeBussy Jones isn't him even if he does look alike.

Still in a scheme to aid the free world, Hall, Gorcey, and Bernard Gorcey head to Paris in the hope that the ringer Hall might lure out those who are trying to disrupt his work one way or another.

Despite Leo Gorcey's usual command of the English language this Bowery Boy film belongs to Huntz Hall in his dual role as the simple minded Satch and the playboy scientist. For Huntz Hall's fans.