East Side Kids

This is worth seeing as the forerunner of the popular East Side Kids/ Bowery Boys comedies that used a very similar format with a different cast and characters. Despite the completely different cast, there are many obvious similarities. In itself, this feature is just fair, largely because the camaraderie and spontaneity is not nearly as strong as it would be in the main series. But of course this cast did not have the advantage of having worked together beforehand.

The story setup is much like those used for many of the later features. Leon Ames plays a police officer who takes an interest in a gang of youths, one of whom has a brother who is facing a murder charge. The main plot has the gang working with Ames to try to break up a counterfeiting ring, with numerous confrontations, frame-ups, and action sequences along the way. Most of it works all right in itself, but because the characters never quite come together, some of the scenes aren't quite as effective as they could have been.

Another interesting aspect, in comparison with the later series, is that once Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, and the others started their run together, the characters were simply presented for who they were, with few apologies or lengthy explanations. But here, perhaps out of uncertainty that audiences would accept these kinds of roughnecks as sympathetic characters, the movie has several of its characters repeatedly discuss how 'these are good boys who just need something constructive to do with their time, to keep them out of trouble'.

Overall, there should be enough to make this worth seeing for anyone who liked the series that followed, or if you simply enjoy the B-movies of the era. In itself, it's OK as very light viewing.

I get a kick out of reviewers who criticize old movies like East Side Kids for not being more modernized, forgetting apparently that they didn't have big computerized production studios back in the early '40s. These were simple, raw entertainment.

This movie is great fun, I believe it is a pretty fair account of street kids back in the '30s. So stop griping that life was so different back then and enjoy this movie for what it is - pure delightful raw entertainment with no Hollywood snazz.

The grownups involved in East Side Kids concern three men from the slums on the lower East Side of Manhattan. Leon Ames is a cop, Dennis Moore is in the rackets, and Dave O'Brien is in the death house. In fact he's taking a rap for shooting a cop in a job that Moore did. It's the code of the streets not to squeal and O'Brien would rather get the chair than do that so Ames is going to have clear him the hard way.

In the meantime Moore is now involved in a counterfeiting racket and uses a group of kids from the old neighborhood to spread his bogus currency. One of them is Harris Berger who is O'Brien's kid brother. In the meantime O'Brien and Berger's sister Joyce Bryant is being romanced by Ames as well.

For those of us who are used to seeing the clowning antics of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall this film is strictly on the serious side. There were no fatalities usually with the Gorcey/Hall group, but this one has a few. It's a nice B picture drama with a good pace to it.

Officer Pat "Leon Ames" starts a junior police club to get the youth off the streets. Pat believes from experience that "idle hands leads to trouble" so he finds donors that give equipment for the youth to "hang out." Knuckles is now on death row for killing a cop but Pat believes he is innocent. So Pat recruits knuckle's brother Danny who is the leader of the east side kids to find the real killer. Counterfeiters somehow fit into the killing of the cop. An engrossing tale of this officer and the gang battling for the truth. Film is highlighted at the end by a chase to the death, but for whom?

When you hear East Side Kids you think of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall but this was made before their appearances and definitely is a better film. Kids that look the right age, good acting and a good plot make this film a worthwhile film to watch. An exceptional performance by Leon Ames.

The first "East Side Kids" feature reaches back to the original "Dead End" formula, as another movie studio decides to cash in on the kids. "Monogram" couldn't obtain any of the six original young scene stealers, so they built their team around second stringers. The leader role, usually assigned to Billy Halop, went to Harris Berger (as Danny Dolan). Mr. Berger had joined the original stage play, and was already appearing in Universal's "Dead End" features.

The Bobby Jordan-type role is played by Hal E. "Hally" Chester (as Fred "Dutch" Kuhn), who was featured most prominently (of this cast) in previous "Dead End" films. Leo Gorcey and the others are replaced by: Frankie Burke (as Skinny), Donald Haines (as PeeWee), Edwin "Eddie" Brian (as Mike), and Sam Edwards (as Pete). And, for one film only, Jack Edwards (as Algernon "The Mouse" Wilkes) joins the group, playing the well-heeled "sissy" who wants to be "tough".

The "Dead End" plot variation involves grown-up juvenile delinquent Leon Ames (as Pat O'Day) trying to help out some young "Angels with Dirty Faces". Now a policeman, Mr. Ames decides to open a club for "Danny's Gang", to keep them out of trouble. Ames recalls his youth as a young gangster, with Dennis Moore (as "Mile-Away" Harris) and Dave O'Brien (as "Knuckles" Dolan). Although they are still friendly, Mr. Moore is on the wrong side of the law. Mr. O'Brien, Danny's big brother, is falsely imprisoned.

The film is rushed and rough - which, on one level, helps. With re-takes, Mr. Burke's background "scratch and sniff" scene would be "corrected", but it fits the "Dead End" kid atmosphere perfectly. The film, with some additional work, would be on par with the "Warner Brothers" features. The real Bobby Jordan took over the role of "Danny Dolan" for this film's sequel, "Boys of the City"; and, early in this "Monogram" series, some continuity between films in attempted.

****** East Side Kids (2/10/40) Robert F. Hill ~ Harris Berger, Hal E. Chester, Frankie Burke, Leon Ames