Paris Playboys

When the film begins, you learn that one of the smartest men in the world, the Frenchman Professor Gaston Le Beau, is missing. However, he turns out to be an exact double of Sach...and soon some UN officials see Sach and think he's the brilliant guy. Well, even when they soon realize it isn't Le Beau, they decide to bring him as well as Slip and Louie to Paris and pretend they've found the Professor. Not surprisingly, Sach behaves like a cretin and his goofiness is explained away by saying Le Beau has amnesia. Unfortunately, there are some killers who are planning on doing away with the Professor...and soon the real Le Beau shows up as well.

This installment of the Bowery Boys is typical in some ways for the later films in the series in that it's really all about Sach (Huntz Hall), Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Louie (Bernard Gorcey)...plus calling these middle-aged men 'boys' is a bit ridiculous! It's not so typical because the film is a bit goofier than usual, such as the stupid scene involving the Professor's favorite drink (not one of cinema's finer moments). Plus, while Hall playing Sach is ridiculous, his playing the real Frenchman is REALLY over the top! Of course, folks don't expect Shakespeare or an art film when they see the Bowery Boys!!

By the way, I was curious after hearing one of the characters say 'sacre bleu' in the film and I looked up this curse. Apparently, real French folks never say this and it's something foreign films show supposedly French people saying!

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.

If you are expecting, based on the title, from this movie to take you on a tour of Paris, forget it. It's pretty obvious that the cast and the production crew never set foot outside the Hollywood studios where this was filmed (there are only some brief establishing shots outside). With that said, the film is lively and short enough not to cause any boredom. Huntz Hall gets to play a dual role, and he does it well, while Veola Vonn is gorgeous as the Parisian fiancè. Funniest scene (in my book): the Boys changing the rules of a high-class French dinner, with the guests gradually joining in. **1/2 out of 4.

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

The thirty-third Bowery Boys movie has Sach impersonating his doppelganger, a missing French scientist. Of course, Slip and Sach must head to France and we get the usual "fish out of water" story that the series had beaten into the ground by this point. Still, the stories were never the strong suit of this series so give it a look if you like Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and Bernard Gorcey doing what they do best, malapropisms and rubberfacing and so on. The other two members of the gang, Chuck and Butch, are left behind when the others go to Paris. This is no big loss since all they usually do is stand around anyway, waiting on their one line per movie (if they even get one). Ultimately, this is a fairly lame picture but it'll pass an hour and change if you're desperate.