Block Busters (1944) User Reviews

East Side Kids: The French Connection

[lugonian · 6/10 · 6 March 2024]

BLOCK BUSTERS (Monogram, 1944), a Banner production directed by Wallace Fox, marks another attempt in moving forward with something completely different for those city boys of the Bowery district known as "The East Side Kids." Starring the series regulars of Leo Gorcey (Ethelbert "Mugs" Maginnis); Huntz Hall ("Glimpy"); and Billy Benedict ("Butch"), for a change since SMART ALECKS (1942), Gabriel Dell plays a member of the East Side Kids named "Skinny," as opposed to playing a nemesis of the gang. The name of Skinny interestingly was played in two previous installments by Billy Benedict, now playing Butch, a rival gang leader of the Five Pointers. For this 18th installment, Jimmy Strand steps in for the role of Danny while Bill Chaney, Mugs' pal, appears as Tobey Dunn for the only time.

The plot opens with a baseball game with the East Siders playing against the Five Pointers. Mr. Lippman (Bernard Gorcey) and Mr. Meyer (Tom Herbert) are seen as spectators. After an argument with the umpire (Charles Murray Jr.), Mugs (Leo Gorcey) is given boxing gloves to settle things, but everything comes to a halt with the arrival of a policeman. Next scene deals with Mr. Higgins (Harry Langdon), a building owner, evicting the East Side Kids from their club in favor of new tenants, Amelia Norton (Minerva Urecal) and her grandson, Jean Val Jean Rogers (Frederick Pressel). Born and raised in France, Jean finds Americans a bunch of "characters." Relocating back to the Bowery district where she was born and raised, Mrs. Norton intends on having Jean get the feel of American lifestyle in the Bowery. Feeling her neighborhood where she was raised 40 years ago, Mrs. Norton sees it's not the way she remembers it. She soon feels herself at home by witnessing a rumble between the East Side Kids and the Five Pointers. Because of his French accent, Mugs gets himself in a fight with Jean who surprisingly loses to Mugs without using his fists. Taken to court, the Judge (Noah Beery) summons both Mugs and Jean responsible for each other's conduct. Not wanting to violate their parole, Mugs and the gang show Jean the American way of life by teaching him boxing, football and wrestling. Subplot involves the jealously of Danny (Jimmy Strand) when Jean steps in on his girlfriend, Jinx (Roberta Smith), while Mugs shows off his softer character by thinking up a plan on how to send the sickly Tobey Dunn (Bill Chaney) on a rest cure in the country. Co-stars include Kay Marvin (Irma Treadwell); Johnny Duncan (Johnny); with specialties as Jimmie Noone and his Orchestra with the dancing act by The Ashburns set in a night club.

For anyone familiar with silent movies, let along silent comedy, one would be surprised to find the once popular Harry Langdon (billed tenth in the casting credits) with few opening scenes playing a bespectacled landlord. Leo's father, Bernard Gorcey, has more to do here than the usual comedy bits from previous "East Side Kids" editions. Comedy highlights go to Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall in isolated roles set at a masquerade party. Watch for Gorcey showing off his dancing style. Take notice the "East Side Kids" opening score being underscored for the baseball scenes. For this tightly-nit 60 minutes, BLOCK BUSTERS comes as an average edition, compliments of Houston Branch.

Unseen regularly on television since the 1990s, BLOCK BUSTERS is available on DVD for avid fans of Mugs and the gang known as "The East Side Kids." Next installment: BOWERY CHAMPS (1944) (**)

Ooh la la to the not so creme de la creme.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 9 April 2024]

Probably my favorite East Side Kids movie, and outside of the early dramatic A films they did, one of the best of their long run (1937-1958) through the Dead End Kids, Bowery Boys and all the other incarnations. It's funny to learn Mugg's real name in this, but even funnier is the lively performance of Minerva Urecal as a society matron who struck it rich, lived in France, and returns to the old neighborhood to teach her grandson Fred Pressel about street kid scrapiness, a quality she's missed among society teas.

When Pressel gets in a scrap with Muggs, Urecal is thrilled, and obviously at her influence, her grandson and Muggs and his gang are sentenced to probation...together! The East Side kids are obviously what she wanted to find in her old neighborhood and even tells off a snobby New York matron over her treatment of Muggs, Glimpy and other members. Urecal, who would appear in many films of the series as a variety of nice and mean characters, is a delight in this. Another added plus is the presence of Bernard Gorcey in a small part similar to his later role as sweet shop owner Louis.

Another really good aspect of this is the snappy dialogue as well as an energetic jitterbug between Leo Gorcey (Muggs) and Roberta Smith (Jinx) that includes moves seen years later in break dancing, although here it's presented comically to make Gorcey look ridiculous. The presence of Harold Langdon in a small role is however a waste of his talent, not at all showing off his comical skills. Pressel's French accent is presented as a burlesque, complete with beret. But in spite of these shortcomings and cliches, I found this one delightful.

Parley-voo les Garçons aux Bouwerie?

[F Gwynplaine MacIntyre · 3/10 · 23 March 2003]

Sometimes it's hard to tell one Bowery Boys movie from another. They tend to have similar plots, similar settings and interchangeable titles. This 1944 movie is named 'Block Busters', but the plot of this movie doesn't fit that title any more aptly than the plots of half a dozen other Bowery Boys movies.

The new kid on the block has come here all the way from France. His name is Jean, with the French pronunciation 'Zhawn'. He's played by an American teenager with a French accent that sounds supiciously faux, but we can tell he's French because he constantly wears a beret. At least this lad is a genuine teenager, unlike Mugs and Glimpy and Butch, who are all pushing thirty and look it. This movie was made in 1944: Jean is a wartime refugee, which raises the question of why Mugs and Glimpy and Butch aren't in the army.

SPOILERS COMING. Of course, Jean doesn't fit in ... and of course it's up to the Bowery Boys to set things right. Mugs tells Jean to get rid of his beret, and also suggests that Zhawn should change his French name to the more American pronunciation 'Jeen'. (Yeah, but ain't dat a goil's name?) Eventually Mugs and Gimpy teach the beret-boy to play baseball, and everybody gets along toot sweet.

The most interesting thing about 'Block Busters' is the supporting cast. Not the French kid, played by an untalented actor. 'Block Busters' features the only appearance in the entire Bowery Boys canon of silent-film comedian Harry Langdon, in a supporting role as a local meddler. Unfortunately, Langdon has nothing funny to do here, and he plays an unsympathetic character. This was Langdon's last film to be released during his lifetime. Minerva Urecal, a harridan who worked with Lou Costello and other major comedians, is prominently featured here. The baseball game features an appearance by Charles Murray Jnr, son of one of the most beloved silent-film comedians, who had a long career at the Keystone studio. (Murray Senior was extremely popular among his peers in the industry.) Unfortunately, the son didn't inherit his father's talent or his father's naturally funny physical appearance.

'Block Busters' is one of the more realistic Bowery Boys movies (if you can ignore the ages of the 'teenage' actors), but it's not especially funny and its plot falls short of a gripping narrative. I'll rate this movie 3 points out of 10.