La tragedia del puente

This time Muggs, Glimpy and the gang take on a real hard case: gangster Marc Lawrence, a cold-blooded baddie who entraps sweet young thing Ann Gillis (whose most recent film credit remains 2001: A Space Odyssey) in a murder case. Lawrence elevates this Poverty Row billfiller above its station; as always, he brings absolute conviction to his role. There's also a fun subplot involving a wheelchair-bound paraplegic played by Ed Wood regular Bud Osborne. The fact that these films were all shot on a shoestring oddly benefits the East Side Kids movies: the threadbare sets, minimal costuming, and muffed lines add a patina of Bowery believability to these endearing little films.

For a film that has survived 60 years, I wonder why I haven't enjoyed the East Side Boys before. Anyway, I got a DVD with four of their adventures. In this episode, the boys are moving furniture near the tenements by Manhattan's area near the Brooklyn Bridge. They get into a bit of trouble when they spot a beautiful but distracted young woman named Sylvia. Her stepfather wants her and him to leave their tenement apartment but she won't leave her paralyzed grandfather behind. Her stepfather is in some shady dealings. The East Side Boys sure can be tempted into joining the crime scene but choose to make an honest living in tough times. The film was on the end of the Great Depression and Second World War. Despite the predictability, the cast especially Leo Gorcy do a terrific job in making it entertaining.

Although in many of the Bowery Boys films the gang seemed like a bunch of hoodlums, they were never really THAT larcenous in their films. They just acted tough and the police were forever dogging them. But, as usual, they are the good guys in "'Neath Brooklyn Bridge"....and once again the police suspect one of them. This is because someone was horribly beaten to death and Danny (Bobby Jordan) was arrested because his weapons were on the murder weapon, a bat. Little does anyone know that a mute man who can only speak with his eyes was a witness. As for the gang, they spend a lot of the film taking care of a young lady who is in trouble and eventually they are instrumental in finding the real culprits. On hand as one of the supposed ex-members of the gang (he was a bit old for this...Noah Beery, Jr.).

Overall, this film is pretty typical of a Bowery Boys film--- modestly entertaining and nothing more. Worth seeing if you are a fan but not among their best.

Solid Kids knock-about. So can the guys clear their buddy Danny (Jordan) from the cops who're mistakenly holding him as a killer. Good thing the Kids have Navy man Butch (Beery) on their side, especially since he knows Morse Code. The antics fly fast and furious in typical Kids style, from Glimpy's fractured English, to Mug's 'pop-em' style leadership, to Scruno's big-eyed run-around. And catch lovely actress Gillis' sweetly demure Sylvia and the way she emotes with subtle eye shadings. Too bad she didn't have a bigger career. Then too, note the great supporting cast of Hollywood vets: Lawrence as the coldly mastermind McGaffey, O'Brien taking a day off from saddle and six-gun as a cop, and Robinson as the officious chief cop. It's also a good look at fashions from that early war-year of 1942, along with crowded studio streets not expected from these low budget productions. And, oh yes, one more note: over time I've gleaned that any time I see a purported city street blocked off at one end, it's really a studio street, as it is here.

Nonetheless, the Monogram production amounts to an ace hour of nutty entertainment from a crew of guys who deserve a lot more than Hollywood obscurity. So catch up with it if you haven't already.

Neath Brooklyn Bridge finds the East Side Kids helping a young girl played by Ann Gillis who is being beaten on by her stepfather Bud Osborne. Leo Gorcey uses the leg of a table to knock him out. Later on Osborne turns up dead and Bobby Jordan who came back for a change of clothes gets himself in a jackpot being found with the dead Osborne.

It's up to the kids on the East Side to help their pal out. The only witness to the crime is J. Arthur Young who is Gillis's grandfather and he's paralyzed and unable to speak and is in a wheelchair.

It's the Navy in the form of former gang member Noah Beery, Jr. who comes to the rescue of all concerned. The fact that Young is also a former sailor helps a great deal in cracking the case and bringing justice to all concerned.

Also in the cast is perennial movie heavy Marc Lawrence and henchman Gabriel Dell. Lawrence is a pretty crafty villain and his downfall comes from leaving a loose end at the scene of the homicide, namely a witness he thinks can't say anything.

This East Side Kids film runs at a nice pace without a let up in any of the action. One of their better films for Monogram.