utgard14 En route to a boys camp for the summer, our favorite juvenile delinquents find themselves stranded overnight at a crooked judge's house. There they battle racketeers and the usual old dark house tropes. This is former Dead End Kid (and future leader of the gang) Leo Gorcey's first entry in the East Side Kids series (also the first for his brother David). As such it feels like much more of a proper start to the series than the first film did. Returning from the first one is Dave O'Brien as Knuckles, the reformed gangster acting as the boys' guardian. It's a forgettable movie in every way. At this point Gorcey hadn't yet developed his malapropism-spouting character and he doesn't have Huntz Hall, either, and he was always best with Huntz. Plus the Kids, regardless of which version, did this material better in several other pictures.

hte-trasme I wasn't too familiar with the East Side Kids or Bowery Boys going into this cheap, short 1940 feature, and without the context that many other reviews have, it leaves a lot to be desired. The first thing that's wrong is the title, as the "Boys of the City" spend almost the entire film in the country.The band of broadly-portrayed juvenile delinquents are going to be sent to jail for not very much, but instead accept a deal to spend time at a house in the mountains of upstate New York. Maybe this is a thing that really happened, but it doesn't seem very plausible.From there it turns into a listless attempt at a spook comedy, the trouble being that there aren't many attempts at comedy. Most of the apparent jokes are broad racial stereotypes of the one black character played for humor. The "joke" being that he is extremely cowardly, and on one occasional that he is delighted to get a slice of watermelon instead of actual dinner. The final "gag" consists of a couple of his friends confusing his hand with a piece of chocolate cake, then shoving the actual cake in his face. Even allowing for different social mores in 1940, this is just mean-spiritedly racist. And even if it weren't be very funny.There's a large section of the short running time devoted to the "straight" plot, involving a judge who is on the run, afraid he'll be murdered. None of this is very compelling or sensible. The "spooky house" is clearly supposed to be an old mansion, but looks like an undisguised studio set house.So in all, not much to recommend this modest comedy. There are few gags, and most of the ones that are there are undisguised racism. The mystery plot is dull. The chills aren't very chilling. If it weren't for the vigorous stereotyping, it would be almost pleasant viewing, but without inspiring any real laughs, scares, or attention.

mark.waltz Determined to keep the East Side Kids out of trouble and ultimately out of juvenile hall (which to be honest, they'd still be too old for at this early point in her career...), an understanding judge sends them to his country home in the mountains. They end up in the spooky mansion of a judge who is an important witness in a criminal case and deal with the possible presence of ghosts, as well as a spooky housekeeper, various secret passageways, and most frighteningly, murder! The result is one of the best of the early East Side Kids films after their Warner Brothers years that is entertaining from start to finish.While this entry in the series is missing Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan and Leo Gorcey are still around as the leaders of the gang, leading in both dialog and action, with only a few comic bits given to the black Sammy Morrison. Of course, some of those bits are extremely racist, especially when sinister looking housekeeper Minerva Urecal serves the boys small fruit cups and gives Morrison a huge piece of watermelon. Urecal has one of the best roles of her career, spoofing every sinister housekeeper or strange relative, most obviously Eva Moore in "The Old Dark House" (spooking heroine Inna Gest with comments on her "pale, white flesh") and Judith Anderson in "Rebecca".While the plot is predictable, the screenplay is loaded with some of the funniest malapropisms of the kid's extremely lengthy career and there is definitely a macabre element to the spooky atmosphere, from the antique graveyard in Judge Forrest Taylor's back yard to the "Cat and the Canary" like candle-lit hallways. It ranks high above many of the similar films being done at the low-grade Monogram and PRC (and even the slightly more expensive Universal) and the results make this a film you might want to re-visit, even if you'll steer clear of this delightfully haunted mansion.

henri sauvage Cheap sets. B-list performers and some typical-for-the-era (but nonetheless annoying) racial stereotypes fail to distinguish this tale of embezzlement and murder set at a creepy country mansion. Leo Gorcey and the gang provide the comic relief, which -- except for the cigar scene -- is not particularly funny. Unless, that is, you get a kick out of things like watching Ernest "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison get pop-eyed over graveyards and spooks, or listening to him extol the virtues of a big slice of watermelon.Though Minerva Urecal did a fairly good job as a sort of cut-rate Mrs. Danvers, I'd only recommend this one to rabid Gorcey fans and B-movie antiquarians.