News Hounds

Slip is a newspaper copy boy and tries to write a story. The editor rejects him right off the bat although reporter Mark Morgan tries to be helpful. Slip brings the boys along while pretending to be Press. At the police station, they find acquaintance Gabe being taken by the police. Slip and Sach go undercover to do investigative reporting.

The boys do a bit of pretend-gangster, some Three Stooges, and finally a court drama. I can do without the court drama. It's the least interesting. I'm always a sucker for the Three Stooges and Sach does the eye poke block. That made me giddy. This is basic Bowery Boys hijinx.

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.

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.

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.

In this chapter of the Bowery Boys films, Slip wants to break in as a news reporter, so he tries to get the scoop on the fixed sporting events around town. Leo Gorcey (with his dad and brother, of course...) star with Huntz Hall, as they tangle with the local mob players trying to find Mister Big. the usual mixups, pratfalls, word-play, and running in circles. Billy Benedict and Gabe Dell are the supporting players (as always) in the story. Bill Kennedy stars as the ace reporter for the Chronicle, who gets fired when he also gets caught up in Slip's antics. watch for Christine McIntyre as the mob's moll, although she doesn't do any singing in this one. It's pretty good.. better than some of the slower movers in the long catalog of Dead End Kids and Bowery Boy films. this one moves right along. no big surprises, but good enough. directed by Bill Beaudine, also as usual. these are frequently shown on Turner Classics.