Robacunas

Slip and Sach crash their laundry delivery truck. They start a laundromat in the back room of Louie's Sweet Shop. A young mother abandons her baby in a basket. The baby is heir to a large inheritance and there are relatives looking to steal the money. Gangster Cherry Nose Mason is looking to cash in on the reward and he knows the Boys have the baby.

The story is a bit convoluted. The plotting is a little chaotic. I would have the will reading up front and lay out the premise a lot clearer. The will reading can also give a ticking clock to the story. Mostly, it's a Bowery Boys film with Slip and Sach. You get what you expect.

"Don't interrupt my strain of thought"

The Bowery Boys open up a laundry service in the rear of Louie Dumbrowski's sweet shop and come across a bundle of joy that's been left there by its mom. Turns out the kid is the heir to a fortune and a group of greedy folks would love to get their hands on him. This is a typical entry in the series with most of the good lines and jokes coming in the first half of the picture. Contains a morbid moment where a doctor tries to convince authorities that the mother's crazy and gives her an unnecessary injection.

Standard Bowery Boys fare.

10 STARS

Prime Bowery Boys entry, with a terrific mix of drama and comedy. Good acting on the part of Anabel Shaw as Laura Andrews, whose baby is heir to a fortune and may be kidnapped. Anabel really turns on the tears. She had a distinguished career, having appeared opposite Vincent Price in the cult thriller SHOCK, a few years earlier. Her next film was GUN CRAZY (1950), in the role of Ruby.

This time around, Slip and Sach (with the help of Louie, of course) are running a successful laundry business? Laura, who believes her evil aunts will harm her child, leaves the baby with the Bowery Boys! This is really good stuff, and with some fine acting, especially veteran actress Ida Moore as the sinister aunt.

I agree with the last reviewer; Slip gets the best lines, but Sach gets into all the goofy trouble. There's a laugh out loud scene where Slip tries to commit Sach to an insane asylum(!) in order to meet with Laura, who is being held against her will. Slip plays a wacky doctor with thick glasses!

Gabe Dell is back at the detective, and fun to watch. This was the last appearance of Frankie Darro in the series, playing bad guy Bananas.

Best scene is when Slip pulls the baby out of a washing machine and exclaims.... "What'll they think of next!" Also Louie cooks up a hamburger, fries and a drink for the baby?

This story may have actually been influenced by the famous Gloria Vanderbilt custody case at the time, and the homicidal aunts were modeled after the two deadly sisters in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE.

Remastered by Warner Brothers in dvd boxes of 6 to 8 episodes.

The habitually unemployed "Bowery Boys" are losers at the laundromat; so, entrepreneurial Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) decides to "take in" laundry, using the spare room at father Bernard (as "Louie")'s Sweet Shop". As usual, Mr. Gorcey is amusingly assisted by Huntz Hall (as Sach De Bussy Jones), who fantasizes about "Cynthia", his department store wax dummy girlfriend. William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch), and David Gorcey (as Chuck) are also on hand. During the expected washing machine mishaps, a mysterious woman (Anabel Shaw) leaves a baby at "Mahoney Enterprises"...

"Hold That Baby!" finds the comedy team of Gorcey & Hall in fine form. Hall's scenes with "Cynthia" are a highlight, along with the entire "Midvale Sanitarium" sequence - watch as quick-thinking Gorcey passes Hall off as a nut-house hopeful, and poses as a bumbling doctor. The Charles R. Marion & George Schnitzer screenplay is excellent; and, each Jan Grippo performer is perfectly cast, with the entire production running very smoothly. It's ably directed by Reginald Le Borg, and features particularly outstanding appearances by Ida Moore and Florence Auer (as Faith and Hope Andrews), a delightfully greedy old duo.

******** Hold That Baby! (6/26/49) Reginald Le Borg ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Ida Moore, Florence Auer

Ida Moore and Florence Auer almost steal the movie as two sweet looking but actually grasping greedy elderly sisters trying to rob a baby of his rightful inheritance by having his mother committed to an insane asylum. Fortunately, the mother, played by Anabel Shaw, hides the baby in the laundromat attached to Louis' Sweet Shop and run by the ever enterprising (and usually unemployed) Terrence "Slip" Mahoney. The boys are up to their usual antics with Slip getting the best lines and Sach doing the most humorous routines. According to the grandfather's will, the baby or his Mom must be at the reading of the will for him to inherit. So the elderly sisters and their crooked partners want to keep the baby from the reading and the Mom in the asylum while the Bowery Boys want to get the Mom out of the asylum and make sure the baby inherits. The routine in the asylum where Slip gets Sach committed is a highlight. This one is a good entry into a long running series.