The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery

Gabriel Dell and Huntz Hall, original members of the Broadway stage play Dead End (1935) and the film version two years later, reteamed as a successful nightclub comedy act in the seventies after a successful run in several film series during the 30's, 40's, and 50's which included the Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, The East Side Kids, and The Bowery Boys. This "reunion" film died at the box office and though it has moments of hilarity, I recommend it for fans of the Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys only.

Out of the vast video vortex of forgotten films every so often a movie emerges that is so outstandingly outrageous that instant "cult status" should be awarded. This is a comedy that can only be described as part Woody Allen, part Paul Bartel, and insanely funny. Starting with the animal fetish angle, implied nymphomania, a bartender who only speaks in cliches, and a chicken hatchery owner as a private eye, "The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery" bounds along with rapid fire laughs. Multiple viewings are mandatory as this is the type that gets better each time you see it. The cast plays the deadpan humor for all it's worth, although I have no idea how they kept from hysterics? Don't miss this one, it is definitely worth seeking out. - MERK

This movie is not a Dead End Kids reunion, although both Huntz Hall and Gabriel Dell are in it. It is instead a warped 1970s version of a film noir with utterly bizarre comic elements that hit you more with each viewing. Dell shows magnificent comic timing and utterly dry wit as the trailer park loser who is doing genetic experiments to make chickens lay colored eggs while he also pursues his private detective business. The comedy style here is a mix of some Airplane! style gags and some extremely subtle dark humor involving animal sex, incest, suicide and drugs. All tastefully handled, mind you, because it's so doggone off-the-wall, one cannot be offended. It features:

The most bizarre gunfight in movie history

A straightfaced plea for understanding for those who practice bestiality

Grandpa Walton popping pills like a madman

Barbara Harris being her brilliant self

Hall and Jackie Coogan as a bumbling cop duo

Some of the worst lighting you'll ever see

This movie is extremely hard to find, but should you come across it, I implore you to give it a look and see comedy ahead of its time. Dell, who co-produced and wrote proves he was the Dead End Kid with the most talent. He really should have been in more movies like this in his adult life.

The cast for "The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery" is a very unusual hodgepodge...a virtual who's who of strange character actors. First, is stars Gabriel Dell...one of the old East Side Kids/Bowery Boys actors. He had a lot of movie credits but was never leading man material...and it's odd they made him the lead in this movie. Huntz Hall (also of the East Side Kids and Bowery Boys) is in the film as well. There also are Dick Gautier (Hymie the Robot from "Get Smart"), Joyce Van Patten (Dick's sister), Nick Colasanto (Coach from "Cheers"), Will Geer (Grandpa Walton), Jackie Coogan (child actor and Uncle Fester from "The Addams Family"), Sorrell Booke (Boss Hog from "The Dukes of Hazzard") and more. There really isn't much rhyme or reason for the choices...and I'd REALLY like to know more about the production of this movie.

The story is a weird reworking of "The Maltese Falcon". But instead of the cool Sam Spade, the private detective went to a mail order detective school and runs a chicken farm! It begins with a new client, a milkman, being killed with an arrow as Malcolm interviews him! The plot leads to him discovering that the milkman had a weird animal fetish! Clearly this is NOT Dashiell Hammett (the guy who wrote "The Maltest Falcon")! Instead, it's a comedy...and a very low budget and strange one at that!

The comedy in this one is essentially weirdness...not the usual laughs or funny situations. And, one character after another after another are weirdos...all the while, Malcolm reacts as if it's all very normal. For example, the 'grieving widow' takes off her clothes....revealing some very sexy underwear. When Malcolm tries to kiss her, she responds that she has no idea where he got the idea of kissing her...she's NOT that type of woman! There's also the son of some local bigshot...who constantly spits on Malcolm's shoes. None of it makes any sense and the movie might fit into the French Absurdist category (with films such as "Buffet Froid")...and like an Absurdist picture, some of the weird non-sensical style could become a bit tiresome after a while. But fortunately, the vignettes come one after another after another...so the tiresome ones are soon replaced by funny ones (such as Will Geer playing a horrible doctor and Nick Colasanto as a platitude-spouting bartender). I thought it was occasionally funny...and it's certainly NOT for all tastes. Heck, it's not for most tastes! Overall, I'd say it's worth seeing if you are a person with a taste for the ultra-weird and would be best viewed with like-minded friends. It's not especially good but it has a certain wacky enjoyability about it...and the ending...wow is that weird!!

It's a parody of The Maltese Falcon. Must pay attention to the clever humor.