utgard14 The Bowery Boys try their hand at detective work in this breezy sixth entry in the Monogram series. Slip Mahoney is mistaken for a private detective and, naturally, uses it to his advantage to try and earn fifty bucks investigating a missing girl. With help from his friends, of course. It's a good one with hilarious malapropisms from Leo Gorcey, rubberfacing goofiness from Huntz Hall, and wacky support from Bobby Jordan, William Benedict, and David Gorcey. Gabriel Dell is also part of the gang, taking a part in the slapstick more than he has been in the series so far, where he's mostly been playing it straight. Teala Loring and Patti Brill provide the pretty. Brill also has a funny bit at the end. Bernard Gorcey is fun as Louie the Sweet Shop owner. I never get tired of the Bowery Boys, particularly Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall. I'm not sure what some other reviewers were complaining about. I thought this one was very funny with a quick pace and many great lines. Love the trivia contest bit!

classicsoncall It was only two pictures earlier that Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) organized the Mahoney Extermonating Company (Slip's spelling, not mine), and already he's expanding his endeavors to form the Mahoney Detecting Corporation. At least in the prior story the Bowery Boys graduated from the College of Insect Extermination, in this one they'll just drive you buggy.I got the distinct impression while watching this flick that the writers didn't know what it was supposed to be about. There's some kind of business about a letter being held for ransom that comes to naught, and when the Boys showed up as contestants on a quiz show, I began to wonder if I was suddenly watching a different movie than the one that started out. You know the gimmick is being stretched whenever one of these era flicks uses the old lights out trick, and having reached that point, the picture doesn't hesitate to use it.But you now what the topper for me was? Anyone who's ever seen Leo Gorcey in action well knows his penchant for massacring the English language, which he does here with his usual subtle finesse. So I thought I was hearing things when he asked Selena Webster (Betty Compson) for the definition of the word 'extortion'. This intrigued me because on any other occasion, Slip would have considered all possible meanings and then come up on his own with the correct seclusion.

gullwing592003 I've always been a big fan of Leo Gorcey & Huntz Hall in the Dead End Kids & East Side Kids series since 1976. Along with leader Billy Halop (initially in the Dead End Kids series ) these movies were intense social commentaries laced with comedy but with serious & realistic themes that usually delivered a message that's still relevant & has stood the test of time & has endured through the ages.The gang were tough juvenile delinquents & street fighting mug's constantly getting into trouble with the law & in & out of reform schools in classic films like "Dead End", "Crime School", "Angels With Dirty Faces", "They Made Me A Criminal" & "Hell's Kitchen" from 1937 to 1939 before the group subdivided & splintered off into the Little Tough Guys for Universal & the East Side Kids for Monogram. There was usually a major star in the Samuel Goldwyn & Warner Bros films like Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney & John Garfield. Leo Gorcey & Huntz Hall were natural & convincing as nasty violent arrogant tough guys with a sense of humor in the Dead End Kids/East Side Kids films.2 days ago was the first time I watched a few Bowery Boys flicks & judging from what I saw I haven't been missing much with such titles as "Blues Busters", "Crashing Las Vegas", "Ghost Chasers" & "Feuding Fools" & maybe I haven't seen enough of this ludicrous series but from what I have seen I'm not too impressed & it just looks like garbage to me & I can't understand why Leo Gorcey & Huntz Hall would degenerate to this kind of silly nincompoop nonsense & Tom Foolery. I think they deserved much better than this & I thought what a waste of their talents.The Bowery Boys essentially resemble & look like cheap imitations of Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, 3 Stooges & Jackie Gleason. They were no longer kids by this point & it was all too obvious that Leo Gorcey & Huntz Hall had shed their tough image & had sold out & were just cashing in & jumping on the "slapstick comedy" bandwagon. It looks forced & contrived seeing Leo Gorcey & Huntz Hall trying too hard to be what they're not. They didn't start out this way & I think they could've chosen a better direction than this. Leo Gorcey & Huntz Hall were more convincing & real as tough guys serious but funny. The Bowery Boys series is not worth buying for my money I like their earlier series & tough image better.

Leslie Howard Adams Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall), Bobby (Bobby Jordan), Gabe (Gabriel Dell), Whitey (Billy Benedicy) and Chuck (David Gorcey)---the gang's all here---accidentally enter the detective business with the disappearance of a beautiful girl, Eleanor Williams (Teala Loring), as their first case to solve.They are retained by Selena (Betty Compson), who says she is the missing girl's sister but, at this stage in her career, Betty Compson characters were sometimes less than truthful. The disappearance is doubly puzzling because Eleanor has just learned that her long-lost husband, Tom Williams (Bob Faust), is returning from South America. Slip and Company trace Eleanor to the apartment of Dr. Rolfe Carter (Pierre Watkin), to whom she first went when Tom was reported missing three years earlier. Slip witnesses the doctor's murder, but does not know who fired the fatal shot.Slip and his friends learn that Dr. Carter (no relation to the Little Liver Pills guy)was a pseudo-psychic (there are real ones?), who was into blackmailing his clients. He is linked with syndicate-chief Armand (Dan Seymour).The latter, and his henchies, knowing that Slip has information regarding Carter's murder, set out to kill the boys.Patti Brill, as Slip's girl friend, doesn't hurt this one any, either. Monogram was very good at rounding up lovely little de-icers to populate their films.