El castillo misterioso

The beginning of this film is VERY similar to "Spooks Run Wild" (another Bowery Boys film); the boys keep getting into trouble in the city and are sent "into the country". They wind up in a "haunted house", containing secret panels, ghosts & a MURDERER!

This film is unique in that it was probably Minerva Urecal's biggest role.....she's wonderfully "creepy" in many of the scenes (and, in the very end of the film, she actually SMILES for the only time on camera!).

A seldom-seen film that is unknown, even by many Bowery Boys fans......see it if you have the chance!

Norm

En route to a boys camp for the summer, our favorite juvenile delinquents find themselves stranded overnight at a crooked judge's house. There they battle racketeers and the usual old dark house tropes. This is former Dead End Kid (and future leader of the gang) Leo Gorcey's first entry in the East Side Kids series (also the first for his brother David). As such it feels like much more of a proper start to the series than the first film did. Returning from the first one is Dave O'Brien as Knuckles, the reformed gangster acting as the boys' guardian. It's a forgettable movie in every way. At this point Gorcey hadn't yet developed his malapropism-spouting character and he doesn't have Huntz Hall, either, and he was always best with Huntz. Plus the Kids, regardless of which version, did this material better in several other pictures.

The pieces weren't quite all there yet (paging Huntz Hall!), but this erratic poverty row feature set the parameters for the long running Bowery Boys series. Additionally, the film was directed by Joseph H. Lewis, who did his best to add interesting camera angles and spooky lighting to this low budget affair. Unfortunately, TCM's print is in very rough condition and a lot of Lewis' work has been washed out by decades of mishandling. Nonetheless, this is well worth a look for fans of the noir director as well as those who enjoy the teenage antics of the East Side Kids.

If there's one regrettable element in Boys of the City, it's the appalling racism of screenwriter William Lively's script. One of the most commendable things about the later films in this series is the (generally) colour blind approach to Sammy Morrison's character, but in this effort, poor Sammy was burdened with jokes about spooks, watermelon, the ol' plantation, and his beloved Mammy. Still and all, he does a good job with the material and remains (after Gorcey and Hall) the most memorable of the series' characters.

The cigar scene at the country estate is worth it all! Full of belly laughs! Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison is at his classic comedic best. Frankie Burke, the young Cagney look-alike from "Angels with dirty faces" has a role as one of the boys and does a fine job...you'll notice he can move like cagney, as well as look, act and sound like him when you see him jumping over that sofa in the guest room! Many sight-gags and tongue-in-cheek humor in this film. The shame is its lack-luster title and description. This is one you have to see. One warning, however...there are racial overtones. But you must remember, this *was* 1940 and Mr. Morrison handles them with his precise, exceptional talent. All in all, this is a must-see film for classic buffs. For anyone looking for clean fun!

Cheap sets. B-list performers and some typical-for-the-era (but nonetheless annoying) racial stereotypes fail to distinguish this tale of embezzlement and murder set at a creepy country mansion.

Leo Gorcey and the gang provide the comic relief, which -- except for the cigar scene -- is not particularly funny. Unless, that is, you get a kick out of things like watching Ernest "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison get pop-eyed over graveyards and spooks, or listening to him extol the virtues of a big slice of watermelon.

Though Minerva Urecal did a fairly good job as a sort of cut-rate Mrs. Danvers, I'd only recommend this one to rabid Gorcey fans and B-movie antiquarians.