News Hounds

The thing NEWS HOUNDS has going for it is the stellar cast. There are some great actors on board here who chew up the scenery, though you can NEVER top Leo Gorcey's malaprops!

As I've said before, the difference between the 40s episodes of the 50s episodes was the balance between drama and comedy. This story relies more on high drama, but it's still fun to watch, sort of in a noir-ish Bowery Boys slant. In this case, Slip and Sach are now working at a newspaper and -- in their own insane way -- help crack a sports fixing ring.

That all said, Huntz Hall makes good use of his screen time (thanks to director William Beaudine), by staging some fun pratfalls, including a laugh out loud scene where he (as newspaper photographer) sits high atop a bunch of stacked and wobbly tables at Louie's snapping pictures. He does it all over again in the last reel. It's one to see.

Getting to the super cast, John Hamilton (best known as Perry White on Superman) is very convincing as the notorious ring leader. We also get to see Tim Ryan, who plays Slip and Sach's boss, who actually wrote most of the BOWERY BOYS scripts over the years.

Rounding out the cast is popular heavy Anthony Caruso (who has a good old fashioned fist fight with Slip) and Christine McIntyre (as Jane), long time featured player in the THREE STOOGES short films. Nita Bieber (as Mame, Gabe's beautiful gal pal) was an actress, dancer and model and a few years later would be on the front cover of LIFE magazine.

This is also one of the few episodes where Gabe flirts with the bad guys, but saves the day! And don't miss the outstanding courtoom scene as lawyer Slip(!) addresses the judge and jury?

Released via Warner Brothers on dvd box sets of 6 to 8 films each. Classic color box covers, usually film posters. Thank you TCM for running this outrageous series.

While working at the "New York Daily Chronicle", "The Bowery Boys" get involved in exposing a gambling ring. Journalistic leader Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) is the newspaper's copy boy - and aspiring investigative reporter. Hapless Huntz Hall (as Sach Jones) wants to be a photographer. Bobby Jordan (as Bobby), William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), and David Gorcey (as Chuck) help deliver the papers. Former chum turned mob flunky Gabriel Dell (as Gabe) provides the lads with libelous leads. And, fatherly Bernard Gorcey (as Louie) runs their "Sweet Shop" headquarters.

The Bowery regulars follow an intermittently clever screenplay, by Tim Ryan and Edmond Seward, which makes this one of the more enjoyable movies of the series. The Ryan/Seward writing team would reach a peak with their follow-up "Bowery Buckaroos" (October 1947). And, Ryan, a notable character actor, essays one of his bigger Bowery roles, as "Chronicle" editor John "Bullfrog" Burke. The bad guys, led by Anthony Caruso (as "Dapper" Dan Greco) - "Greco, it's quite an accomplishment to be the village idiot in a town the size of New York" - and Ralph Dunn (as "Dutch" Miller) lead a perfect supporting cast.

****** News Hounds (8/13/47) William Beaudine ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell

Good entry in the Bowery Boys series has a more busy plot line than usual, but that actually works in its favor. Some fun chuckles abound when frustrated copy boy Slip (Leo Gorcey) tries to get a big newspaper story happening around a group of criminals involved in a fixed boxing match (one of them is John Hamilton who'd later wind up as Perry White on TV's SUPERMAN). We get to see Gorcey once again doing his "smooth-talking tough guy in a suit" act as he impersonates another crime boss, and it's hilarious when he mangles the English language in the process (like talking about dealing with the weather's "heat and humility", which he says with a straight deadpan face). And Leo's mixed-up words in general are well-misconstrued this time around. Bernard Gorcey's Louie the sweet shop owner is getting funnier at this point, and Huntz Hall as Sach starts trying really hard to get some laughs (with mixed results for this viewer). Three Stooges regular Christine McIntyre plays the pretty blonde publisher of the newspaper, and Nita Bieber is drop-dead easy on the eyes as Gabriel Dell's latest girlfriend. Speaking of Gabe, it's still difficult to know what to make out of his "friend/foe" appearances in this series. He always struck me as an actor that wanted to try and stand out from the rest of the boys, but usually comes off as an unwelcome liability in these films. *** out of ****

News Hounds (1947)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) find themselves working at a newspaper where they're helping another reporter trying to crack down on a sports fixing ring. The dumb duo end up getting a libel suit against the newspaper so they then must try and get an important photo to back up their story, which ties an important man to some gangsters. This seventh film in the series is certainly a step up from the previous few films due in large part to a better than average story. The movie isn't a complete screwball comedy as we do get some minor drama added in but what laughs are here are quite good. The story is the real key and what surprised me most was that they obviously put some thought into it because the plot dealing with them trying to get the goods on the bad guys was well drawn out. I thought the story also managed to cover the drama of having some goons going after the media pretty well. With that said, you do have to wonder how Slip or Sach got hired in the first place but this here would be putting too much thought into the story. We get a couple very good gags along the way including a hilarious sequence where the two idiots find themselves in a room with the real gangsters and they don't know it. The funny facial gestures from Gorcey really adds to this scene and Hall too comes off pretty good. The supporting cast of Bowery Boys are pretty much wasted, although Bobby Jordan does get a few more minutes on screen here. Bill Kennedy does a nice job as the real reporter and Ralph Dunn, Tim Ryan and Anthony Caruso are good as the thugs. There are still some pretty bad moments here including a really bad sequence where Sach is "blinded" by a kid picking on him. This entire scene doesn't contain a single laugh and actually comes off pretty embarrassing. With that said, the writing makes this entry better than you'd expect for fans of the series.

The seventh Bowery Boys film from Monogram has the boys getting into the newspaper business. Slip is an aspiring reporter and Sach is a bumbling photographer. Bobby, Chuck, and Whitey are all paperboys. Gabe is in his own side storyline working for gangsters (again). When Slip exposes the gangsters for fixing sporting events, they take a rather unusual step for a movie -- instead of having him killed, they sue his newspaper for libel! Now Slip and the boys have to get some photographic proof to back up Slip's story. It's a fun entry in the series with a little more plot than normal. The regular cast is great, as usual. Christine McIntyre and Nita Bieber (no relation to Justin) provide the pretty. Bernard Gorcey once again steals his few scenes as Louie the Sweet Shop Owner. It's a funny movie with many malapropisms from Leo Gorcey and lots of slapstick silliness from Huntz Hall and the others. One of my favorite bits is very early in the movie when we get a glimpse at the article Slip is writing titled "Pardon, But Your Slip Is Showing." The camera shows us what he's typed and he actually types like he speaks -- yer for your, Sanity Claus for Santa Claus, etc. Classic.