Blues Busters

Sach is in the hospital. The gang fears that he's on death's door. It turns out to be a simple tonsillectomy and Sach's voice is changed into something beautiful. Louie is besides himself over the hospital bill. Slip comes up with an idea to make the money back.

This movie needs a Susan Boyle moment. I mean that it needs to do the standard competition prize story. It starts with a great premise. It just goes down a less compelling road. It doesn't have a ticking clock or the tension from a competition. This is still fun with Sach getting a big head and a small brain. This is generally fine.

I'm watching this one right now on TCM. Sach has his tonsils removed and suddenly finds that he can sing like Bing Crosby. Wonder why things like that never happened to Whitey? Rick Martin, the owner of the nightclub across the street from Louie's Sweet Shop, won't give Sach an audition and has Slip and Sach thrown out. The Boys turn the sweet shop into a night club with Sach, The Bowery Thrush, as the main attraction. Professional song plugger Gabe Moreno provides the publicity. Naturally, Rick across the street doesn't like the competition and is determined to get rid of it, one way or the other.

Gorgeous Adele Jergens and pretty Phyllis Coates provide the female touch. Phyllis is Slip's latest girlfriend. In a few years, she would become the first Lois Lane on the Superman TV series. Adele plays a singer at the rival night club and belts out "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" at the beginning of the movie. Both ladies really brighten "Bowery Blues." It's well worth watching.

Blues Busters (1950)

** (out of 4)

Sach (Huntz Hall) goes into the hospital to have his tonsils removed and when he comes out he has an amazing, crooning singing voice. Slip (Leo Gorcey) decides to make money off of him so they turn Louie's shop into a nightclub but this causes trouble with the club owner across the street. Number twenty in the series is one of the lesser entries as it starts off pretty well but the one-joke nature gets tiresome rather quick and in the end I had a hard time making it through the rather short 67-minute running time. The early jokes in the hospital were pretty funny as were the scenes where Hall discovers his talent but after this it's one boring joke after another. As I go through this series I'm starting to re-think my opinion on director Beaudine who previously had been a favorite of mine. When you see the style of his films and compare them to other director's in the series you really start to see a product that is rather rushed and one that really doesn't look like a "B" picture. There were several sequences that just seemed like they were under performed and that a little better editing and perhaps a different take would have made the scene better. For the most part we get a one-joke film as Sach becomes a hot property and you've got two sides fighting over him. The one thing I didn't understand is that, in the end, Louie is broke yet they had a pack house for three shows a night so why he was broke at the end is beyond me but then again, perhaps I'm just putting too much thought into it. I think Hall is in pretty good form as he is obviously having a good time singing even though he's dubbed. His "acting" of a crooner was pretty good and his facial gestures at least gave us a few nice laughs. Gorcey, both father and son, are also in good form but Gabriel Dell is pretty must wasted in his part. I wasn't too impressed with any of the supporting players as they all struck me as being underwritten and none of the performers brought anything to the role. The real stand out here is John Lorenz who dubs Hall and I must admit that I really enjoyed the songs and his voice. However, this is a comedy and I just didn't laugh enough to make the film work.

I'm not sure who to give the praise to, but this entry in the series is quite above the quality of of the other Bowery Boys efforts. It has a more polished look and feel to it and seems more in the style of the Universal-International comedy series of the time (i.e., A&C, Francis the Talking Mule, Ma & Pa Kettle, etc.)in terms of craftsmanship and production value (and like those other series mentioned, nothing hilarious in general, but pleasantly amusing). Overall, a Bowery Boys movie even non-fans might enjoy. Being a longtime fan of Bing Crosby's work, I would have SWORN it was Crosby dubbing the voice (especially in the sequence where we first see Satch performing at Louie's "new" nightclub) and I read somewhere here this was made in 6 days, which makes this film even more remarkable.

I think this and "The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters" are the two standouts in the series' run. As Orson Welles once said, "There are good movies, of ALL kinds." I guess this fits into that category!

When the story begins, Sach is in the hospital for an operation and has convinced everyone he's on death's door. The truth is it's just a tonsillectomy and soon he's discharged. But there's an unexpected side effect....Sach now is able to croon like Tony Martin and Bing Crosby!! I've had several operations and unfortunately never had that happen with me! But as you probably guessed, instead of just bringing Sach fame and fortune, it also brings problems. Are Sach and the gang up for all this?!

In many of the Bowery Boys' films, Sach develops some sort of amazing power--such as the ability to accurately predict outcomes in gambling and amazing intellect. Here, he's got a great singing voice. Overall, a cute installment of the series and like the rest, it's light and entertaining...but hardly life changing!