Paris Playboys

At the UN headquarters, diplomats are searching for missing famed French scientist Professor Maurice Gaston Le Beau. One claims that he spotted Le Beau at a sweet shop in the Bowery. He does look exactly like Sach (Huntz Hall). When they go to the sweet shop, all they find is Sach and the rest of the gang. They invite the gang to go to Paris so that Sach can be a decoy.

The fake French accents can get a little annoying. Sometimes, an established franchise goes to Europe for a bit of exotic fun. These guys are never actually going to Paris, but they could fake it better. It could be a funny gag for Sach to be walking in front of various Paris backdrops. This does get funnier with the doubling of Sach. They do a mirror bit although not the one that I'm expecting. All in all, it's fine but not as funny as it could be.

United Nations dignitaries spot habitually hapless Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) in the "Sweet Shop" and mistake him for a missing French scientist. Before you can say "Jacques Robinson," Mr. Hall is off to Paris with "Bowery Boys" leader Leo Gorcey (as Terrence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney) and father Bernard Gorcey (as Louie Dumbrowsky). Abroad, Hall poses as the amnesiac "Professor Maurice Gaston Le Beau" and gets to court busty fiancée Veola Vonn (as Mimi Du Bois). Oui, oui!

The elder Gorcey has a faulty memory, forgetting the gang's "Loose in London" (1953) trip by asserting Hall had never been out of the United States. Hall, now billed equally with Gorcey in the opening credits, continues to dominate the comedy; his "dual role" performance and the "special effects" give this entry its better moments. Regulars David Gorcey and Benny Bartlett are briefly glimpsed extras. "Paris Playboys" is otherwise routine. The next two 1954 films showed they could do better… and worse.

**** Paris Playboys (3/7/54) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Bernard Gorcey, Veola Vonn

MUCH later in the Bowery Boys series of films... but it's another ongoing episode of Sach and the guys stumbling into trouble. When Sach (Hunts Hall ) is mistaken for a famous french scientist, he and Slip (Leo Gorcey) take a quick little trip to Paris to help in some escapade. of course, Gorcey's real father Bernard and brother David are also here. Veola Vonn is "the girl" Mimi, but she played so many tiny parts, she doesn't even get a photo in imdb. the usual clever word play and pratfalls by the guys, but no-one seems to notice. it's all very silly and fluffy, but makes the time go by. (the three stooges must have been busy that day...similar humor and pranks) meh. no great work here, but entertaining enough for fans of the bowery boys. Directed by William Beaudine, who had directed many of the bowery boys films.

I would give the BOWERY BOYS a 10 rating anytime, because they made me laugh out loud as a kid, and still do to this day. These guys were off the charts, no shame, who cares --and let's do it our way. You have to give them a lot of credit. They're still around.

If you watched the series from the beginning, you'd notice the 1940s episodes were far different than the 50s episodes. The earlier installments were more semi-comedies, the gang vs gangsters between routines. The 50s films relied on more camp situations, much like the THREE STOOGES, and rightly so because Edward Bernds, who wrote and directed the Stooges comedies, was called in to make changes. His trademark is everywhere here.

There was a turnabout in the series that would find Sach the subject of cartoonish-like gags; whether he suddenly possessed special powers, such as acquiring super strength or reading minds. In this case mistaken identity? Sach is mistaken by French professors as a distinguished scientist. A dead-ringer for the guy. What are the chances?

The distinguished gentlemen send Sach, along with Slip and Louie to Paris, due to the fact the real rocket scientist, Professor Le Beau, is missing. Where all the insanity begins mixed with Gorcey's rapid fire malaprops.

Not to forget Louie. Bernard Gorcey (Leo's dad) gets into the act and offers his lines of Yiddishisms, which are hilarious, ranging from schlemiel to mishugah? Basically, it's a three man show, at least for this episode.

Yes, the Bowery Boys got smaller, usually with just David Gorcey (as Chuck) and Bennie Bartlett (as Butch), and they're left back in New York while Slip, Sach and Louie head out to Paris. Ed Bernds later commented that both David and Bennie got used to being out of the picture... sometimes... because they were just hanging around.

Sach meets up with beautiful Veola Vonn (as Mimi DuBoise) and his arrogant, egotistical "twin"--that only Huntz Hall could play to the max. Veola Vonn was married to Frank Nelson, the hilarious "yeeeeess" guy in tv and films.

Keep watch for some Stooge gags; Slip's bow tie spinning like a propeller (which would usually happen to Shemp), Sach's hair spikes up (like Moe) and smoke coming from Louie's ears (as was the custom with Larry or Curly). This happens when the guys drink a spiked cocktail. Also some well known character actors who would pop up in the episodes, in this case veteran actor Steven Geray, playing Gaspard. Prior to this film he was cast as a hotel manager in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES. Look for comedian, Fritz Feld, the mouth popper guy, playing Marcel. His second appearance in the series.

Plastered with goofy one liners (ad libs many times) and wait for the ending. PARIS PLAYBOYS was followed by BOWERY BOYS MEET THE MONSTERS. What a double feature! Restored in dvd box sets by Warner Brothers, which contain about 6 to 8 episodes per box. And a special thank you to TCM for rerunning the Bowery Boys once again.

Paris Playboys (1954)

** (out of 4)

Weak entry in the series has a few good ideas but the execution is rather poor. In the film Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) head to Paris after some French scientist mistake Sach for a brilliant professor who has disappeared. Their hopes is that the real professor will see the impersonator, get jealous and come back home but sure enough some bad guys mistake Sach for the real thing. One-Shot Beaudine returned to the director's chair for this thirty-third entry and you can tell due to the slower pacing compared to the previous few films. Once again we're treated to some rather good things but the majority of the film is just deja vu as we've seen this stuff countless times before. It's amazing how little the series has changed even after thirty films as we get the same basic set up and then the familiar conclusion as a group of bad guys get involved and mess everything up. The bad guys here are all poorly written and appear to be rejects from countless other movies that we've all watched. Another problem is that nothing really goes on here until the very end of the film when things finally pick up. When the "professor", also played by Hall, shows up the film goes into overdrive and we actually get several laughs because the professor is an insane jerk who is constantly slapping Gorcey around and even Bernard Gorcey is brought to tears by his meanness. Hall finally got his name above the title and next to Gorcey and it was about time as the series is certainly going into his direction. Hall handles Sach with ease but the really impressive bits come from him playing the professor. The French accent is fun but seeing him playing a passionate lover and tough guy was great fun and he pulled it off nicely. It's just too bad they saved this until the end of the movie. Gorcey goes through the motions but is fine and good old Bernard gets some funny moments as well. In the end, Paris PLAYBOYS is pretty much what you'd expect.