Blues Busters

BLUES BUSTERS (Monogram, 1950), directed by William Beaudine, the 20th entry to the long running 48 film "Bowery Boys" series, is regarded possibly the most entertaining of its entries. If not the best, then the most different from any film thus far or since. Following the earlier patterns of newspaper stories, "film noir" mysteries or even a hillbilly comedy, BLUES BUSTERS comes across as most original for being classified as a musical. Unlike their earlier "East Side Kids" series (1940-1945), the production values are first rate (though not with the MGM gloss) with good comedy, songs and fine story regardless of this not being highly original.

Naturally set in the Bowery district of New York City, the story starts off with the Bowery Boys: Whitey (Billy Benedict), Chuck (David Gorcey), Butch (Bennie Bartlett), and their ringleader, "Slip" Mahoney (Leo Gorcey), accompanied by their closest friend, Louie Dumbrowski (Bernard Gorcey), owner of Louie's Sweet Shop, visiting the hospital room where their goofy pal, Horace Debussy Jones, better known as "Sach" (Huntz Hall) is recovering from the removal of his tonsils. Later back at the suite shop, the Bowery Boys hear some nice vocalizing not from a radio but from Sach. To help pay back Louie for supplying the hospital expenses for Sach, Slip comes up with an idea of quick cast by showcasing Sach to the crooning sensation of a "Bing Crosby" or "Frank Sinatra." Rejected by Rick Martin (Craig Stevens), owner of the Cabana night club near Louie's, Gabe Moreno (Gabriel Dell), Slip's pal now working as a song plugger, assists the gang by reverting Louie's Sweet Shop into Louie's Bowery Palace. Sach's singing and tap-dancing specialty by Sally Dolan (Phyllis Coates), Slip's girlfriend, soon attracts crowds to standing room only. This forces Martin to lose customers and having his own vocalist, Lola Stanton (Adele Jergens) singing to a near empty night club. With the help of Lola, she manages to engage Sach, now known as "The Bowery Thrush," to go under contact with Martin. In spite of his fame and fortune, Sach lives to regret it. Others in the cast include Paul Bryar, Matty King, William Vincent and Alphonse Martel.

Songs include: "Wasn't It You?" "The Battle of Jerricho," "The Blue Birds Keep Singing in the Rain," "Let's Have a Heart-to-Heart Talk," "The Blue Birds Keep Singing in the Rain" (tap dance solo by Phyllis Coates); "You Walked By," "You Better Be Looking Out for Love," "Let's Have a Heart-to-Heart Talk," "Swanee River," "Dixie" and "The Blue Birds Keep Singing in the Rain" (reprise).

For anyone who has ever seen Eddie Bracken singing like Bing Crosby in the seldom televised OUT OF THIS WORLD (Paramount, 1945) may see similarities between this and BLUES BUSTERS. Naturally the singing voice for Huntz Hall is dubbed but not by the similar sounding Bing Crosby. Although a night club story has some rumbles, there's no Slip Mahoney giving out the signal to his Boys for a "Routine Six." Quite different in format yet change is often good for the advancement of a series such as this. Hall is still amusing but not overly goofy or childlike as he would be in the latter entries. Best moments: Slip trying to sing in Sach's place; and good somber moment between Slip and Sach that doesn't make any disturbance to the story. The finish, however, is true classic in the best Bowery Boys tradition. Of the series regulars, this would become Gabriel Dell's farewell performance as Gabe Moreno.

Available on DVD, BLUES BUSTERS, at 67 minutes, can be seen and enjoyed whenever it turns up on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: August 8, 1999). Next installment: BOWERY BATTALION (1951). (***)

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!

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.

Huntz gets a rare chance to show his serious side, and the result is an absorbing study into how much latent talent there always was within the Bowery Boys troupe.

Bernard and Leo Gorcey along with Huntz make a great comic film trio indeed. But in 'Blues Busters', Huntz becomes a teen singing idol following a tonsillectomy which changes his voice to a rich baritone a la Bing Crosby. (There's flawless dubbing to the real voice of John Lorenz.) Louie's Sweet Shoppe is transformed into a nightclub, as Louis Dumbrowsky and the Boys attempt to capitalize on Sach's newly-developed gift of song.

The great title tune "Bluebirds Keep Singing in the Rain" and other ditties make 'Blues Busters' a rare and offbeat must-see entry in the Bowery Boys saga, and will be a reminder of the great old moviegoing days when you left the theatre humming.

Highly recommended to all.

The Bowery Boys invade the world of music and nightclubs when after a tonsillectomy which the hapless Bernard Gorcey paid for leaves Huntz Hall with a radio crooner's voice. Naturally Leo Gorcey and the rest of the boys want to capitalize on this if for no other reasons than to pay poor Bernard Gorcey back. They don't want to lose the ambiance of Louis Dumbrowski's Bowery Sweet Shop as a hangout.

But the elder Gorcey gets in far deeper as song plugger Gabriel Dell and Leo get the Sweet Shop owner to turn his place into a nightclub as a showcase for Hall. That doesn't please Craig Stevens who owns a nightclub across the street with his featured singer Adele Jergens, they don't like the competition. That sets up the crazy antics of this Bowery Boys feature.

A few years earlier Eddie Bracken did a comedy at Paramount where he played his usual schnook character who is discovered to have a velvety singing voice. A guy named Crosby was also under contract to Paramount and they dubbed Bing's singing voice to Bracken's songs.

Monogram couldn't afford Bing Crosby so they grabbed a singer named John Lorenz to dub Huntz Hall. I'm sure Mr. Lorenz was like thousands of others who couldn't get a break because he sounded like Bing Crosby. Still he's effective in Blues Busters.

To waste a Crosby voice on Huntz Hall, the shame of it.