Mr. Hex

Mr. Hex (1946)

** (out of 4)

Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) both have a crush on a young lady but she's had to put her singing dreams on hold due to taking care of her sick mother. Slip gets the bright idea to hypnotize Sach so that he thinks he's a top boxer and they can win a large prize and in return help the girl out with her singing. This is far from a bad movie but at the same time it's not a very good one either. The biggest problem with this film is that it really doesn't know what type of film it wants to be or what type of story it wants to go after. The movie starts off as a comedy and goes for the Sach is an idiot route with him being hypnotized and doing various silly things. The film then takes a side turn and centers on the singing career for a while and the bad guys she gets involved in. The final act of the film turns to more drama as these bad guys turn violent in some of their ways of handling things. I'm really not sure if Beaudine was the proper director for a film like this, although I'm sure he got the thing made on time and under budget. The movie is pretty uneven from start to finish and the final ten-minutes takes place inside the ring when Sach must try and fight a ringer even after the hex on him gets broken by "Eagle Eye" (Sammy Cohen). This entire sequence runs on way too long and there just aren't enough laughs to make it worth while. Cohen is certainly giving it his all with all the facial gestures but it just doesn't lead to laughs. The comic timing is missing as Gorcey tries to find the right coin to put the hex back on Sach. There are a few good moments early on including the scene where Sach first gets hypnotized but that's about it. This fifth entry in the Bowery Boys series is a disappointing one that only fans will want to check out.

Years ago Major League outfielder Jackie Jensen tried hypnotism to cure his fear of flying. I guarantee it did not work as well as the hypnotism that Leo Gorcey learns from Ian Keith to work on Huntz Hall to make him a fearless boxing champion.

The Bowery Boys are back and in Mr. Hex they try to make some money to help Gale Robbins's singing career by hypnotizing Hall to become fearless in the ring. But as with every good gimmick there's always someone to take advantage of it. In this case it's racketeer Ben Welden and he's got several tricks of his own to put the old Double Whammy on the plans of the Bowery Boys.

In fact what makes this particular Bowery Boys film memorable is the presence of Sammy Cohen as Evil Eye Fagin who flashes those pop eyes in any direction and the weak crumble. See how the Bowery Boys deal with him.

Mr. Hex is not too bad an entry in the Bowery Boys series. You'll love the final climax in the ring where Welden puts in a professional ringer and sends Evil Eye Fagin to weave his magic. Lots of laughs here.

The boys are fans of their friend Gloria's singing. Only she is struggling to take care of her sick mother. Slip (Leo Gorcey) spots a poster offering $2500 prize for a boxing tournament and suggests giving the money to her. Sach (Huntz Hall) gets roped into fighting but he's not good. Slip has the idea to hypnotize him.

The boxing should be filmed closer and it probably doesn't need to go that long. The hypnotism idea is fun although I may suggest turning it around. Slip could be the fighter and being hypnotized. Sach would be hypnotized in the background since he's so weak-minded. This is a fun Bowery Boys caper.

Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) and "The Bowery Boys" are in Louie's "Sweet Shop" when mysterious hypnotist Ian Keith (as Raymond) enters, to buy some cigars. Commiserating about "Mr. Hex", the "happy hooligans" go to a nickel machine and listen to a song from their favorite vocalist, gorgeous Gale Robbins (as Gloria Williams). After listening to Ms. Robbins' "A Love Song to Remember", Mr. Gorcey, Huntz Hall (as Sach Sullivan), Bobby Jordan (as Bobby), William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), and David Gorcey (as Chuck) learn the blonde songstress has fallen on hard times, due to an ailing mother.

To help Robbins raise money for her mother (and career), Gorcey and company enter a $2,500 boxing contest, with Mr. Hall chosen (railroaded, actually) as the Bowery team's designated fighter. After Mr. Keith teaches Gorcey "the inner mysteries of the mesmeric art," he is able to hypnotize Hall into believing he is a winning strongman; consequently, Hall easily wins his boxing matches. Then, criminal forces employ both Gabriel Dell (as Gabe Moreno), and their own "Evil-Eye" Sammy Cohen (as Fagin) to halt Hall's winning ways, and take the $2,500 cash prize.

The hypnotist plot suits the series' comedy; and, the film gets off to a very good start with Keith and the cast practicing Hocus-Pocus; it's a nicely staged, and performed, scene. Hall has a "Shadow Boxing" scene to watch for, and he dominates the story, also. And, Robbins is a fine vocalist. Finally, Gorcey explains why he's called "Slip"; and, amusingly, he calls Butterworth "Butter-ball". The plot gets a little too wound up, but you do get Gabriel Dell and a bunch of engaging character actors in the mix.

****** Mr. Hex (11/9/46) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Ian Keith, Gabriel Dell

Just watched this on Turner Classic Movies this morning. Man do they need to upgrade their copy! The last half of the movie was blurry. It was like watching from behind a fishbowl. As to the movie itself it is a pretty minor Bowery Boys effort nothing special. The last few minutes are the best as things start to get slapsticky in the boxing ring.