Million Dollar Kid

In this East Side Kids entry, the gang help keep a wealthy man from being mugged and get use of his gym as the reward. They find out he has two sons and a daughter, all grown. One of those sons is in service, the daughter is supposedly engaged to someone also like that, and another of the sons is...Don't want to reveal too much here. Let's just say some reforming is warranted. Among returning players are Noah Beery Sr.-previously in Clancy Street Boys-playing a police captain and Pat Costello-Lou's brother, previously in Bowery Blitzkrieg-as one of the lowlifes. I liked this one very much especially when someone like Iris Adrian is featured. So on that note, Million Dollar Kid is well worth seeing. P.S. This was the first of the series not to feature Bobby Jordan, who was drafted, or Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, who eventually left show business after one more film appearance. I'll mention what happened to him after I review that movie-Greenwich Village-in a few days...

They should have been called the Bowery Boys in my opinion. This film takes place during World War II in New York City and doesn't forget that there is a war going on the world at the time. Leo Gorcey plays Malone, the leader of the East Side Boys who live in the Bowery which was the poor side of Manhattan. In this film episode, the East Side Boys help a millionaire when he is attacked by thieves. The East Side Boys save the day and the millionaire's gratitude is quite generous. He invites the boys to his wealthy home and introduces him to the pretty young lady who is engaged to a questionable foreigner and his son who lives at home. The millionaire's other son is off in the war. There is a party and the boys help out. This film was cute for it's time period and doesn't shy away but also entertaining with some laughs along the way.

One of the milder Kids cut-ups from that generally hilarious series. There're still chuckles aplenty from the trademark fractured grammar to the slappy roughhousing. As usual, Gorcey and Hall shine in their comical roles, though Hall trades more slams with Herbie (Stone) than with Gorcey-- Stone acting and looking like goofus Curley from The Three Stooges. My favorite part is with the brassy, blonde Iris Adrian as cheap floozie Mazie. She's a perfect female counterpart to the crack-up boys. I wish they had more scenes together, the comedic potential is certainly there.

Still, there's more serious plotting to the story than the usual comedic throw-aways. Unfortunately, however, the serious side doesn't always blend well with the usual nonsense humor. Still, the non-comedic side is understandable since 1943 was war time, so things had to serious up a bit. Note the close relationship between the wealthy, non-comical Cortland family and the comical poor-boy East-siders. That's likely a touch of needed class solidarity during those trying times when such was needed. At the same time, I expect that also accounts for the Kids becoming self-proclaimed 'do-gooders', a departure from their usual 'just a bunch of tough guys' behavior. That too's understandable given the overall need for not only class solidarity but national solidarity, as well. However, these serious sides don't always complement the kind of throw-away humor that elevated the series to sheer escapist entertainment.

Despite this sober side, fans can't help but be amused by the priceless lunacy of stars Hall and Gorcey-- always a sure bet. So, catch it up anyway. (In passing-- I couldn't help noticing a surprising resemblance between actor Durand (Dave), a striped sweater gang member, and a young Marlon Brando. See what you think.)

This is easily among the better of the many features starring the East Side Kids. It has an interesting story that includes some thoughtful moments in addition to the broad humor. It also has plenty of the group's spontaneous horsing around, and it includes a funny (and all too brief) scene between Leo Gorcey as Muggs and his father Bernard as a messenger.

The story has Muggs, Glimpy, and the rest of the crew saving a rich man from a mugging, befriending him, and then trying to protect him and his family from a variety of criminals and impostors. It works surprisingly well, even most of the more serious moments. Gorcey's style is effective in this kind of story, because he keeps his character's hardened edge even when he is doing something good, thereby usually making him more believable.

The main emphasis is still, of course, the raucous comedy, and the gang gets some good moments at the expense of all of the other characters at one time or another. It's a good movie, and it's probably one of the entries in the series most worth seeing.

An east side kids story, as they were known before they were the bowery boys. The sound quality is pretty terrible, but the story is solid, if you stay with it. The version showing on tubi streaming is a copy of a copy, so hopefully you can find a better copy. The east side kids help a millionaire when he gets mugged. When his family experiences even more drama in the next couple days, the gang sticks around to help out. Co-stars noah beery, who died in 1946, just a couple years after this. Keep an eye out for the telegram messenger... that was bernard gorcey, leo's real pop, in one of his many, early, uncredited roles. Later in the bowery boys films, he would run the shop where they kids hung out. It's pretty good, if you can get past the ambient sound issues. Directed by wallace fox for monogram pictures, in a 65 minute shortie. Fox directed a bunch of the east side kid films in the 1940s. The war was still going, so that is part of the story too. Keep an eye out for john duncan (roy)... he was robin, in the 1949 version of batman and robin!