Spy Chasers

Princess Ann (Lisa Davis), daughter of a deposed European king (Sig Ruman) asks Louie Dumbrowsky (Bernard Gorcey) for help because spies from her home country are following her. It seems that Louie's brother Felix is a General in Truania working underground to restore the king. The princess gives a half coin to Louis which, when joined with the other half, signals that the king can return to Truania. But there is treachery and skulduggery afoot and it takes the Bowery Boys to sort it all out. A highlight scene is when a little tomboy (Linda Bennett) accidentally ends up with the half coin. It often happens that in B movies one can see both actors on their way down and actors on their way up. Sig Ruman was such a talented actor that this role must have been a let down for him. On the other hand, as a fan of both The Naked City and Twelve O'Clock High television shows, it was fun seeing Paul Burke early in his career in an uncredited bit part as a messenger from Truania. This is a pleasant and enjoyable Bowery Boys outing.

Princess Ann visits Louie Dumbrowsky (Bernard Gorcey). Louie's brother is a military leader working to return her family back to the throne. Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall), Butch, and Chuck join Louie at a meeting with the King who wants to make Louie's shop a communication center.

It's a Bowery Boys screwball comedy. It's got their usual stupidity. It is nice to have a spunky little girl deliver some fresh energy. She plays well with the boys. She's smarter and more capable than them. It's too bad that she only has a couple of scenes. She steals the scenes right out from under the boys.

As I have written before, Ed Bernds, who was the director for the THREE STOOGES, pooled his resources and poured lots of stooge antics into the Bowery Boys films. Actually, by this stage in the series, the guys just let it ride, putting insane Huntz Hall out front to lead the charge. The story is also rather clever.

Slip and Sach come to the aid of Princess Ann (Lisa Davis) from a small country called Truania(?) --where Louie happened to be born. There's some nasty business brewing with the introduction of crafty Colonel Baxis (played by popular character actor Leon Askin), who is trying to overthrow the kindly king ( Sig Rumann).

Rumann was a staple in many classic films and plays well off Huntz Hall. The magic to many of these later episodes was the introduction of some popular actors who you can tell were having fun. In fact, behind the scenes Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall had a blast and producer Ben Schwalb commented they both became their roles, and knew what would work.

Many years later, Bernds added that he had his fair share of disagreements with Leo over material, and it was tough going. He sat down one day and watched one of the films being rerun on tv, one that he directed, and admitted Gorcey was right the whole time. Had they did it any other way, the film would have been flat. Credit a lot of ad libs too. The masters of this were actually Laurel and Hardy, who came up with ideas as they filmed their scenes.

Also a super running gag here with the introduction of half of a mysterious rare coin, which will identify the rightful couriers to the king. Had to been inspired by many old mysteries.

As always, some laugh out loud fight and busted furniture scenes. Slip and Sach turn up at a greasy spoon run by a guy named Nick, played by Mel Welles. Welles was a staple in Roger Corman's cult films, like LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.

Nick is connected to the bad guys and Sach retaliates, claiming he's gotten food poisoning from his lousy burgers. He gags, chokes, drops to the floor and manages to wreck the place in about thirty seconds. Nick gets slugged and Princess Ann -- being held captive by him -- is FREE. Huntz Hall is totally BANANAS and if you watch Leo Gorcey closely, he is trying very hard not to burst out laughing.

Also some very good sets in this production, adding a more realistic side to the elite royalty backdrop.

Author Leonard Getz, who wrote the most recent book on the Bowery Boys, called "From Broadway to the Bowery" noted throughout the series the gang's home life was debatable, including Louie. They're basically just sitting around the sweet shop waiting for something to happen. Louie, in earlier episodes, was apparently married, yet generally sleeps in a back room.

Earlier episodes briefly saw Slip's mom (played by Mary Gordon, better known as Sherlock Holmes housekeeper), and he also had sister. Here, Louie has a brother called Felix -- but he's nowhere to be found?

Do not miss this one. Remastered by Warner Brothers, generally allowing 6 to 8 episodes per box set. Thank you TCM for showing this oldies on Saturdays.

This Bowery boys entry is one where the production code was slightly ignored as the "Mata Hari" character loses a dress and is not wearing a slip; she's wearing a teddy. The Old Production code prohibited showing the female form that revealingly, but that was a crazy idea. Leon Askin was here and playing a version of the middle European villain he always played; whether it was in Hogan's Heroes, What did you do in the War Daddy?, or One,Two, Three. The difference here was he was not facing Bob Crane or James Cagney; he lost to Huntz Hall. It is light hearted fare and should be taken as what it is, a B-movie and the equivalent cinematically of a hot dog.

Spy Chasers (1955)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Number thirty-eight is certainly a step up in the series has a King and Princess from a fake European country find themselves hiding in the Bowery after being kicked out of the country. It turns out Louie (Bernard Gorcey) is the brother of a rebel who is fighting to bring the King back but in the meantime Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) must fight the bad guys who plan on double-crossing the King. Considering how fair to poor the previous few films were I really wasn't expecting too much out of SPY CHASERS but it actually turned out to be pretty good and in the end it delivered more laughs than many in the series. The plot is certainly a very stupid one with one big hole after another but then again it's doubtful anyone expected anything better. The film does a nice job with the humor as it comes in a variety of ways but the highlights are when the boys are making fun of Col. Alex Baxis (Leon Askin) who happens to be a bad guy. The stuff that happens when Slip and Sach first meet him is priceless and gets plenty of laughs. Another terrific sequence is a later scene when Slip and Sach come up with a plan to get the Princess back after she's been kidnapped. This includes going into a restaurant where the owner is played by Roger Corman regular Mel Welles. The insults start flying and contain some of the best jokes in the series and Sach's "act" is without question one of the funniest bits you'll see in any of the films. Both Gorcey and Hall seem re-energized as both of them are working at a very fast pace and both deliver what they do best. Gorcey has some very funny lines this time out and Hall plays dumb as well as he can. Daddy Gorcey also does a pretty good job in his role but it's a shame the screenplay didn't include a scene of his brother, the General in battle as it would have been great seeing this "brave" brother. Askin is fun as the bad guy as is Veola Davis in the role of the vixen who uses Sach to carry out her orders. SPY CHASERS certainly isn't a masterpiece but it's a decent enough of an entry and I'm sure fans of the series will have a good time with it.