News Hounds

Generally, the earlier Bowery Boys films were better than the later ones. "News Hounds", the seventh film in the series, is proof that some of the early films would be rather poor. This is a bit surprising since the film still has Bobby Jordan (he left after the next film due to his having less and less to do in these movies)...and he was a good addition to the gang.

Inexplicably, Slip (Leo Gorcey) wants to be a reporter. Considering he never talked about this in any of the movies before or after, this is a surprise. Considering he's a complete moron who cannot write a coherent sentence, his aspirations are a bit odd. In order to get his name in print, Slip and the gang are determined to get the goods on some local gamblers who are fixing sporting events. The problem is that they need proof...not just gut instincts and suspicions. Slip's eagerness to do this results, in part, in a lawsuit against the paper, so it's up to the gang to prove conclusively to the court that the news story published about the crooks is accurate...and that seems very unlikely.

So is this any good? Not particularly...though it's not among the Bowery Boys' very worst...and certainly NOT among their best. It's passable entertainment only and offers few surprises and is a surprisingly dull outing.

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.

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.

Slip Mahoney is working as a copy boy for a large N.Y. newspaper, and has aspirations of being a reporter; Sach is a photographer. Slip wants to expose big-time gamblers, like Dapper Dan Greco, who are fixing sporting events. Slip is assisting a reporter, Mark Morgan, whose girlfriend is Jane Ann Connelly (Christine McIntyre, who was in 32 "Three Stooges" shorts). One of Greco's henchmen, Gabe, is arrested and immediately sprung. Gabe heads to Louie's sweetshop, to talk to the Bowery Boys, and show off his girlfriend Mame. In the sweetshop, Mame (the fabulous Nita Bieber), strikes a cute pose and says, "I've gotta watch my figure." Gabe (noticing Slip, Whitey, Chuck and Bobby staring) retorts, "Well, there's no sense ALL of us watching it!" However, Gabe's tip sets the Bowery Boys into action. Slip and Sach go undercover, approaching crime kingpin Greco, in their aliases "Pete the Blaster" and "Ermine the Crow." Saying they are working for Dutch Miller, they get the inside scoop on the sports fixing racket. But the Bowery Boys get their tell-all story printed in headlines too soon, without photo evidence of their accusations. The newspaper gets sued for $4 million libel. "Gee, ain't that swell," says nitwit Sach, "we're libel to get $4 million!" How will they get out of this mess? Watch the movie and enjoy it. Overall, it's a bit too serious and has too much plot for your typical Bowery Boys movie. But for fans of the series, watching any of their movies is the "pinochle" of enjoyment.

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.