Angels in Disguise

Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) are lowly copy boys in the New York Daily Chronicle newspaper. They get news that their police friend Gabe Moreno is in the hospital after a shootout. They decide to go undercover to do their own investigation.

This is a satire of a noir crime drama. It's Slip and Sach pretending to be hard. That's a funny concept and I really like the premise initially. The jokes level off and the movie loses steam over time. The funny premise doesn't lead to a lot of laughs. The movie seems to struggle between the two opposing genres and can't quite combine them. It needs to be funnier.

This film of the Bowery Boys series finds them as Angels In Disguise. Though Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall are only newspaper copy boys they go undercover as investigative journalists to track down the notorious Loop gang which has been pulling robberies all over the city. Their latest robbery wounds police officer Gabriel Dell and kills another officer who was a friend to the Boys.

Gorcey's skill with a pool cue gains him entry to the gang which is headed by Edmond Ryan who is a really chilling character, a bit out of the general fun of a Bowery Boys film. The gang has been getting inside information on which places to rob, but I will have to say that the way it is transmitted is one of the cleverest gimmicks I've ever seen on film. Talk about hiding it in plain sight.

The film is narrated by Gorcey with his usual command of the English language and syntax. And Huntz Hall is as clueless as ever. Definitely Angels In Disguise is one of the better Bowery Boys films.

Charles R. Marion, who wrote many Bowery Boys films (later the ADDAMS FAMILY on tv), must have been inspired by the film noir rage of the late 1940s. The net result was ANGELS IN DISGUISE, a goofy on steroids mystery/adventure with lots of shady characters, and, of course, Leo Gorcey narrating the crazy proceedings?

Here, the gang goes undercover, to avenge the death of a veteran cop and friend, getting the goods on a notorious ring of robbers. The moody music, the dark settings and a shoot-out make this one a lot of fun, add Gorcey destroying the English language.

Louie (Bernard Gorcey) steals the show as "Big Louie", carrying a violin in a violin case meant for a machine gun? Check out the slickster threads the gang wears, particularly Whitey (Billy Benedict) as they try to impress the bad guys. Edward Ryan (a former child actor) plays the short-fuse leader of the Loop Gang. Former model Jean Dean plays the alluring gun mall, later to appear in movie serials. Jean Yarbrough, who was also associated with Abbott and Costello, did a fine job of directing and you can tell everybody was having a blast, especially Huntz Hall.

Yes, this was filmed around Monogram Pictures, you can see the famous brick alley, used in many other films and office windows. The building is still around today, and now owned by Public Television in Hollywood.

One of the best of the entire series, and it shows. What a treat. Remastered by Warner Brothers and in box sets, generally containing eight episodes each.

"Angels in Disguise" is certainly the most unusual Bowery Boys film. Instead of their usual style, this one is told like it's film noir...with Leo Gorcey providing noir-style narration and a much darker and more serious tone than their other films. It's also a lot more violent and gritty. It's a real shame...as I think this is the best film the team made...and a shame they didn't do more like it.

Sach and Slip are copy boys working for a newspaper. Soon they learn that a cop friend of the gang is injured...and his partner killed by some mobsters. As you'd expect, Slip decides to investigate on his own and soon ends up involved with the gang...a gang headed by a most unusual and cultured young man.

While Sach is, as usual, dopey and annoying, it's nice to see Slip playing a more serious role...along with his usual malapropisms and odd way of speaking. My favorite of these is in summary!

Overall, a very welcome change for the team. While I've seen nearly all the Bowery Boys' films, I must admit that they are very uneven and quite a few of them are downright terrible. "Angels in Disguise" certainly is not terrible. In fact, I really enjoyed it.

"Angels in Disguise" is a mixed bag. While it does a great job of putting the Bowery Boys in a film noir style movie, it does not do a great job delivering many laughs. This movie is more interesting than it is funny. In fact, there are very few laughs. There is, on the other hand, a surprising amount violence. It's worth a watch but not repeated viewings.