La tragedia del puente

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.

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.

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.

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.

'NEATH BROOKLYN BRIDGE (Monogram Pictures, 1942), directed by Wallace Fox, stars The East Side Kids (Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, "Sunshine" Sammy Morrison, Stanley Clements and Bobby Stone) in their eleventh installment to one of the studio's most popular series. Though Gabriel Dell's name is listed among the gang members, he's actually a rival character playing a different role from one movie to the next, which started with his debut segment for MR. WISE GUY (1942). A near improvement over the previous episodes mainly because it doesn't focus on the Gorcey's arrogant character through long stretches that often causes friction between him and his friends. With one of the many landmarks of New York City being the Brooklyn Bridge, aside from its opening shot and the boys sitting on the pier admiring the bridge from afar, that's where the mention of the Brooklyn Bridge begins and ends, leading to the gang in another venture of trouble, rumbling and some comedy.

The story begins with Muggs (Leo Gorcey), Danny Lyons (Bobby Jordan), Scruno ("Sunshine" Sammy Morrison), Pee-Wee (David Gorcey), Stash (Stanley Clements) and Skinny (Bobby Stone) helping Glimpy (Huntz Hall) and his mother (Patsy Moran) move to a new apartment. Muggs is approached by Skid (Gabriel Dell), a big shot working for McCaffy (Marc Lawrence), manager of the Bridge Cafe, to make some easy money by doing a job for him. With Muggs' attempt to stay honest, which makes Danny's brother, police officer Phil Lyons (Dave O'Brien) happy, situations occur to change all that. Morley (Bud Osborne) enters McCaffy's office and gun-points McCaffy to give him the money owed him for a job. Placing McCaffy, Skid and Sniffy (Jack Raymond) in the office closet, Morley takes the money from the safe and escapes through the window. He returns home ordering his stepdaughter, Sylvia (Anne Gillis), to pack up and leave with him. Sylvia refuses due to her caring for her paralyzed wheelchair-bound grandfather (J. Arthur Young). When Morley gets physically abusive with Sylvia, she runs outside the building that attracts the East Side Kids to come to her rescue. Leaving Morley unconscious in the living room, the boys locate the runaway Sylvia on the pier to find out what it's all about. Getting the full story, the kids agree to hide Sylvia in their clubhouse disguised as a boy. In the meantime, Danny returns to the apartment to get Sylvia's clothes only to be confronted by the police for the murder and arrest of Morley (whose body now rests in the kitchen), with the only witness being Sylvia's grandfather, who is unable to speak on Danny's behalf. With the police guarding the building, the gang must plot on how to get the old man out of the apartment and back into the care of the hidden Sylvia while trying to clear Danny. Co-starring Noah Beery Jr (Butch, a member of the East Side Kids on leave from the Navy); Dewey Robinson (The Police Captain); Betty Wells (Bunny) and Jack Mulhall (Sergeant Clancy).

Bobby Jordan and Dave O'Brien return playing brothers, again. Initially their roles for PRIDE OF THE BOWERY and BOYS OF THE CITY (both 1940) had them playing Danny and Knuckles Dolan. For FLYING WILD and SPOOKS RUN WILD (both 1941), Jordan resumes his Danny role while O'Brien plays different characters. For 'NEATH BROOKLY BRIDGE, they assume new surnames of Lyons rather than Dolan. Overlooking these inconsistencies, for what it's worth, 'NEATH BROOKLYN BRIDGE is quite entertaining. While Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall have minimum comedic byplay, before the 60 minutes is over, their closing scene is something not to be missed.

Available on video cassette and DVD formats, 'NEATH BROOKLYN BRIDGE has played on cable television, notably Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: April 26, 2004). Next installment: KID DYMANITE (1943) (**).