mark.waltz O.k., closer to 30, but they looked older. But that's how creepy European nobleman Martin Kosleck refers to them in one of the better entries in the series, sort of an old dark house mystery where the audience is in on the truth, but the visitors to this old white elephant of a house are not.Overhearing his name being mentioned as the heir to a country mansion, Terrence "Slip" Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) decides to take up residency with his gang. Encountering the head of a smuggling ring (Kosleck), they end up prisoners of his gang as the real heir (Paul Harvey) arrives and more confusion begins.Utilizing the house setting from dozens of other Z grade films, this expands it to make it look more luxurious than it is. A cave set and various other parts of the supposed mansion make it seem to be quite atmospheric with plenty to offset the cheapness of the rest of the budget. A complex plot makes this a step above the normal series entries which usually ranked a 3 or 4 and often too silly to fully enjoy.

Michael_Elliott Smugglers' Cove (1948) ** (out of 4) Terrance Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) is left a large mansion on a cliff overlooking the sea. Slip and the boys head out there to take a look not knowing that he's the wrong Terrance Mahoney and that there are some smuggler's working in the house. Number eleven in the series isn't at the bottom but it's no where near the top either. This is the first entry in the series that pretty much left me cold as there wasn't a single laugh to be found anywhere. That might make you think that the movie is a complete waste since this is a comedy after all but in fact I think the more dramatic moments work the best. The actual mystery of what's going on in the basement made for a good drama and director Beaudine actually handles it quite well. I thought he did a very good job at building up the mystery and making the drama work. So, why doesn't the film work better? Because the comedy is so poorly written that it really takes away from the drama. Sach (Huntz Hall) is so out of place here you can't help but wish they'd left him out like they did Louie. The comedy bits from the other players including Gorcey isn't anything special either and in the end we're left with a rather bland attempt at humor. What mild humor does work comes from Gabriel Dell who is once again playing the same character but with a different job. This time out he's playing a rather nerd-ish character who is constantly getting into trouble. I thought the actor did a good job with the role and helped keep the film moving at a decent pace.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** It's when Terrence "Slip" Mahoney was mistaken for Terrence Mahoney Esq in a special delivery letter that was handed to Slip as he and his bumbling janitor pal Sach were cleaning up, or out, Mahoney Esq's office in the Metropolis Building is when things started to get pretty serious for the boys and their Bowery friends. The letter address to Terrene Mahoney Esq gave him complete ownership of the Mahoney Manor on the south coast of Long Island. Unknown to Slip & Co, besides that he's not the Terrence Mahoney that Mahoney Manor belongs to, is that the creepy Count "the diamonds & jewelry" Boris Petrove was using the empty mansion for his diamond and jewelry smuggling operations.In no time at all Slip Sach and the boys drive out, with their dilapidated jalopy, to Mahoney Manor to set up shop and go sun bathing. Unknown to them is that the Count and his henchmen that includes the Sherman tank like, in his indestructibility, Digger and his Great Dame of a guard dog Ajex aren't too keen in the boys interfering with their diamond smuggling operations! The movie really starts cooking when later the real Terrence Mahoney and his lovely daughter Teresa show up to spent the weekend there making what was already a bad situation, for everyone involved, even worse!With the Count trying to neutralize the pesky Bowery Boys by "Deep Sixing" them at the bottom of Long Island Sound he ends up drawing in "Big Ted", or Terrence, Mahoney Esq into the mix with disastrous results. If the Bowery Boys weren't enough to give the Count king size headaches is was "Big Ted", with his devastating left right combinations, who was the person who tipped the scales in Bowery Boys favor.It was also in the film "Smugglers Cove" that its star Leo Gorcy, as Terrence "Slip" Mahoney, met his future wife Amelita Ward, who played Teresa Mahoney, whom he married after the film was finished. Both Leo & Amelita were happily married for some 7 years until drinking problems, probably resulting from Leo's fathers tragic death in a traffic accident, resulted in them breaking up in 1956.

Robert_Wagner62 This is one of my favorite Bowery Boys comedies, minus Bobby Jordan. Slip (Terrence Mahoney)played by the great LEO GORCEY, "thinks" he inherits a mansion, but he's mistaken, because the letter is addressed to "Terrence Mahoney, Esq.", and Slip just happens to be cleaning this other Mahoney's office when the letter arrives, great pretense aay?Well then the hijinks begins as Slip, Satch (Huntz Hall), Whitey (Billy Benedict) & the rest of the boys go to the mansion & discover that there's a diamond smuggling racket going on right in the house. One great scene is when the bad guys have our heroes locked up in a room, Satch loses it and begins to jabber "Oooh Whitey, Whitey, Whitey..." but Whitey just keeps on pacing the floor and doesn't notice Satch's frustration.Well, the real Terrence Mahoney shows up just in the nick of time as does Gabriel Dell, another original Dead End Kid, and the boys get saved & Slip gets the house. If you get a chance to, see this movie, it'll make you laugh.