Fighting Trouble

Anyway, Miss (according to some sources) Kate Kelly (Queenie Smith) runs a rooming house called Mrs. Kelly's and some of the boarders include "Sach" (Huntz Hall), "Duke" (Stanley Clements), Chuck Andrews (David Gorcey as David Condon) and "Butch" (the very-much credited Danny Welton but a WHO? then and now.)"Sach" has become a camera fiend so, in the pursuit of some ready cash, "Duke" takes him and his photographs to the editor of the New York Morning Blade, Mr. Ray Vance (Tim Ryan.) He hires them to get some photos of gangland boss Frankie Arbo (Thomas B. Henry) but Mr. Arbo does not care to have his picture in the papers and dislikes cameramen for the same reason.

"Sach" and "Duke" pose as interior decorators in the penthouse of Mae Randall (Adele Jergens, who was billed above Marilyn Monroe in "Ladies of the Chorus, although the MM-revisionists don't seem to be aware of it nor accept it)in order to get photos of Arbo. Later, at Arbo's night club, the boys learn that the gangster is importing a tough hoodlum from Chicago---and no one in the East knows him. "Sach" and "Duke" lure the visiting gunman, Handsome Hal Lomax (Joe Downing, who must have replaced a handsome actor first cast in the role)to Mrs. Kelly's and trick him into staying there through false police calls.

"Sach" masquerades as Handsome Hal (and is at least as handsome as Joe Downing) and gets away with it, and he and "Duke" manage to get into Arbo's inner office with the Boss and his henchies, which, compared to the henchies in the earlier Bowery Boys films, are a sorry and wimpy lot, and the boys are cut into the gang's racket, which is counterfeit money.

Then Handsome Hal shows up and things are getting dicey for the boys until Handsome Hal's jilted sweetheart, Dolly Tate (Laurie Mitchell, indeed a dolly of the 50's) makes her appearance, and she is so put out with getting jilted by the not-handsome Handsome Hal that she ups and identifies "Sach" as the real Handsome Hal, and fingers Handsome himself as the impostor. Handsome taking up with two interior decorators may have been what hacked Dolly off the most.

"Sach" has been taking photos with a miniature camera hidden in his cigarette holder, but accidentally unloads the camera, and the film falls out, exposing the boys and the film. What a revolting development! The gangsters then shoot the boys dead and the film ends. Wait, that was some other film. Probably one of those non-Noir Noirs. Something else happens here.

Sach (Huntz Hall) is trying to be a photographer. Sach and Duke (Stanley Clements) go to the newspaper and the editor gives them an assignment to photograph gangster Frankie Arbo. Unbeknownst to them, everybody who tries end up with a beating.

Leo Gorcey left the series over money. Sach is without Slip. It doesn't work as well. There is a relationship chemistry that is missing in this one. Huntz Hall hasn't changed but Stanley Clements is not the same. Most of the comedy is just falling flat. As for the story, nobody watches these movies for the stories. This is an old franchise on its last legs.

I actually enjoy the 1956-8 finale of the Bowery Boys series. Despite the absence of Leo and Bernard Gorcey, the series still gave us the usual quota of laughs and fun. Huntz Hall did get a bit over the top now that he was the lead player but Stanley Clements complemented him well as Duke Covaleske. There wasn't much time to develop chemistry as Gorcey left the series in early 1956. Taking that into consideration, I thought Clements was an able replacement. Two of the entries from 1957, Hold that Hypnotist and Spook Chasers are personal favorites and have much of the spirit of the 3 Stooges with predictable slapstick. We also have the old standby David Gorcey and good support from Jimmy Murphy and Eddie Leroy. The Mike Clancy character was a good idea bringing back shades of Louie Dumbrowski. These last Bowery Boys adventures have their moments and don't deserve the dire reviews from my colleagues.

Fighting Trouble (1956)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

This forty-second film in the Bowery Boys series finally had Huntz Hall getting top-billing as Leo Gorcey retired from the series after the previous film. Stanley Clements, who appeared in several East Side Kids films, replaces Gorcey and this first offering of the new comic team doesn't work at all. After one of their friends is falsely accused of stealing two-hundred dollars, Sach (Hall), Duke (Clements) and the rest of the gang decide to start working for a newspaper editor who needs a photograph of a notorious gangster. Sach, the camera man, must try and snap a picture but before long the boys are in over their heads. The Gorcey-Hall team were never going to be confused with Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello but they were decent in their "B" movies. After watching this film you can see how much chemistry they actually had together because Hall and Clements certainly don't mix and match very well. It really seems like two comedians trying to work together but not knowing each others style or timing because there are some really embarrassing moments throughout the film. One happens when the boys bust in on the editor and it appears the two just don't know how to do the bit or how to time everything off the other. Another silly sequence has the boys sneaking into the gangster's girlfriends apartment where they pretend to be fashion designers. No laughs follow simply because of the bad timing between the two. Hall's Sach getting the lead was a long time coming but the character really comes across quite annoying when Gorcey isn't here to level him out. Just take a look at the scene where there's an easy picture to take but the way Hall blows it is just annoying and never funny. As you'd expect, there's silliness running throughout the picture and when the boys come under attack by the gangsters nothing funny happens. This first film in the "new" series is certainly a major bust and at just 60-minutes it still feels way too long.

With leader Leo Gorcey retiring from the Bowery series due to personal problems (see "Crashing Las Vegas"), "Fighting Trouble" introduces streetwise Stanley Clements (as Stanislaus "Duke" Covelske) to lead the group. A good fit, but not all the film series needed, Mr. Clements was a member of previous group "The East Side Kids" (as Stash) for a few films during 1942-43. Breaking from the juvenile gang roles, Clements won critical acclaim for his performance in "Salty O'Rourke" (1945), but found his career stalled thereafter...

With no story explanation, Clements would lead "The Bowery Boys" to their final comic escapades. Long-running sidekick Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) now held star-billing. In this wearisome outing, ever-present David "Condon" Gorcey (as Chuck) and one-shot Danny Welton (as Danny) round out the quartet. To help the latter, Clements and Mr. Hall arm themselves with binoculars and a camera. Eventually, everyone becomes involved with gangsters. A heart attack made this regular Tim Ryan's last Bowery adventure.

*** Fighting Trouble (9/16/56) George Blair ~ Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, Tim Ryan, David Gorcey