Mr. Wise Guy

This was another East Side Kids flick in which the boys are sent to reform school for a crime they did not commit. One of the boys has an older brother who's also doing some time and is on the way to death row for also being framed. I'll stop there and just say that it's always a treat to see Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall whenever they banter on screen and Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison as Scruno is also pretty funny as well. This one has the added treat of seeing Billy Gilbert as the flustered stooge to a couple of real bad guys when he has to get some money for them. He's especially funny when dealing with a waiter played by Benny Rubin. All I'll say now is Mr. Wise Guy is worth a look.

The "Eastside" kids - "Mr. Wise Guy" gang leader Leo Gorcey (as Ethelbert "Muggs" McGuiness), "left hand man" Bobby Jordan (as Daniel "Danny" Collins), "right hand man" Huntz Hall (as Glimpy Stone), "yes man" David Gorcey (as Peewee), "no man" Bill Lawrence (as Skinny), and "black-out warden" Ernest Morrison (as Scruno) - are railroaded into reform school, for stealing a truck. There, they encounter rival gang kid Gabriel Dell (as Charlie Manning) and sadistic shoe-wielding guard Dick Ryan (as Jed Miller).

Also, Mr. Jordan's supposedly reformed big brother, Douglas Fowley (as Bill Collins) is convicted of murder. Pretty girlfriend Joan Barclay (as Ann Mitchell) and the "kids" think Mr. Fowley is innocent. Bumbling Billy Gilbert (as Knobby) and Guinn Williams (as Luke Manning) are crooked adversaries. Jaw-dropping moments to watch for include: the gang's brief swimsuit scene, Mr. Morrison's "white-wash" after chicken-thieving (he cries out "Deliver me from temptation!" in the coop), and Mr. Ryan's scene-stealing shoe beating.

**** Mr. Wise Guy (2/20/42) William Nigh ~ Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Billy Gilbert, Dick Ryan

The casting in this East Side Kids film is pretty weird. Three guys star as a gang of killers and thieves---yet all three of these guys usually played bumbling idiots (particularly Billy Gilbert). Who would have thought of making Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams the gang leader as well as Warren Hymer as the other gang member?! Odd to say the least.'

Also odd are the occasional logical lapses in writing. For instance, when the boy help a truck driver, the police later arrest them because the truck and its contents were stolen. Instead of looking for the driver, they just assumed the boys were guilty despite no real evidence...and they are sent to reform school. Later, the same sort of thing happens when Danny's straight-arrow brother is accused of murder...there really isn't any evidence and so it's up to the boys to get out of reform school and investigate things themselves (in other words, find one of the crooks and beat him up). A rather dopey episode...but at least it isn't one where Muggs (Leo Gorcey) is so obnoxious and unlikable like he is in "Kid Dynamite" and a few other East Side Kids films!

Monogram's Sam Katzman busted the studio piggy bank and came up with an unusually good and familiar cast of character players for the East Side Kids in Mr. Wise Guy. The story centers around the efforts of the lads to save Bobby Jordan's brother Douglas Fowley from the chair. That is if they can bust out of the reform school they're in.

Turns out the same guy Guinn Williams is responsible for the fix both brothers are in. The kids unwittingly help henchmen Billy Gilbert and Warren Hymer with Williams crashing out of Blackwell's Island and then are left with the stolen truck that was used. Then Williams and the gang stickup a drugstore and kill the clerk and Williams commandeers a car driven by Fowley for the getaway.

Billy Gilbert dusted off his eternally flustered character so familiar in major films like On The Avenue and His Girl Friday as the incredibly dopey henchman. Williams must keep him around for laughs because he really isn't much good for anything else. Williams gives him a chore to get the money for his getaway with a good sweepstakes ticket, but his moll Ann Doran decides to cash in herself with that one. Some days you can't trust anyone even if they're too stupid to think of a doublecross themselves.

Mr. Wise Guy is the usual East Side Kids Monogram programmer on the cheap side. But the character players especially Gilbert make this one a bit above average.

Hold on to your seat 'cause that opening's got enough Kids energy to light up a city, especially when goofy Huntz Hall gets his wardrobe from a ladies thrift shop. Pretty good East Side madcap as the guys try to save Jordan's brother from execution for a crime he didn't commit. But then that's only if they can escape reform school where they've been sent for a crime they didn't commit. Plus, who's going to reform the reform school that needs reform. Sound complicated?- yeah but who cares since it's the laughs that count.

Several points to mention. Note how the popular film star Billy Gilbert as fatso Knobby gets highlighted in the second part. But then he's a funny knock-about too. And, oh my gosh, is that Ann Doran as Dorothy the curvy youthful vamp. I only remember her from her middle-age roles like James Dean's mother in Rebel Without A Cause, (1955), among some 400 other screen credits! And add Douglas Fowley to the list, getting a sympathetic non-villianous role for a change.

Anyway, the flick's not an exceptional one in the Kids series, but does have its share of goofy chuckles. Meanwhile, as dictionary whiz Hall asks, ' Don't you like cinema on your toast'? I sure do, Huntz, especially when I'm munching a cheesy sandwich and watching your incomparable ditz.