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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Master Minds, 24 May 2005
7/10
Author: roxyroxy

I've always have liked this Bowery Boys outing "Master Minds". True, it does steal from the Bowery Boys film "Spook Busters" (where a mad scientist wants to give Huntz Hall's brain to an ape), but this film works, anyway. Here, we get to see Satch's (Huntz Hall) brain and an ape-ish monster's (Glenn Strange) brain swapped and the results are hilarious. Strange is a riot when he speaks in Hall's voice and uses Hall's campy mannerisms. Gabriel Dell and Bernard Gorcey show up at the house too, to rescue the boys. The exterior of the house and its front yard are filmed on extremely creepy looking sets. Kudos to Monogram for this splendid production and wonderful addition to the Bowery Boys series.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
One of the best of the Bowery Boys series, with Glenn Strange a standout., 21 July 2000
7/10
Author: Arthur Hausner (ahausner16@gmail.com) from Pine Grove, California

I usually watch the Dead End kids out of nostalgia. I must have seen many of their films in first run showings as a kid, since I still think "Whitey" whenever I see Billy Benedict in any movie. This movie has to be one of my "guilty pleasures" since it's pretty silly stuff, yet I couldn't help laughing throughout. The plot has Glenn Strange and Huntz Hall exchanging brain contents because of experiments conducted by mad scientist Alan Napier. Hall's voice is used whenever Strange talks, but Strange's movements and mannerisms are his, and they are perfect imitations of Hall's. If you have watched a few of the Bowery Boys series and get to know Hall's antics, you will enjoy this movie. There are other pleasures, the best of which is Leo Gorcey's fracturing of the English language, but the reason to see this movie is Glenn Strange.

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2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
"Atlas, I think we found you a brain"!, 26 June 2010
6/10
Author: classicsoncall from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Well I consider myself as big a Bowery Boys fan as the next guy, but this is a pretty brainless episode. Not that all their other adventures were high spots in the realm of dramatic cinema, but at least they had a bit of continuity. I'll get to that in a minute.

For starters though, I couldn't get over that opening scene. The story begins with Sach (Huntz Hall) reading 'Famous Predictions of Nostradamus'! Holy cow - Nostradamus! This was over sixty years ago, and some of Nostradamus' predictions didn't even happen yet - like the assassination of John F. Kennedy! I've studied Nostradamus off and on for a number of years now, and he would never have predicted the Bowery Boys - I'd bet on it.

Of course, Nostradamus is only the prop that's used to introduce Sach to a new found power he possesses, but only while experiencing the pain of a toothache. Going into a trance, Sach has the uncanny ability to predict the future. It doesn't take long for Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Gabe (Gabriel Dell) to swing into action to capitalize on the gimmick. Instantly, Sach becomes Ali Ben Sachmo, The Bowery Prophet. Had this story gone in a different direction, Huntz Hall might have been paired with Louis Armstrong as the bi-racial Sachmo Brothers. Yeah, I'm stretching here, but when I get these ideas I have to commit them to writing.

What makes the story fun is the goofy personality transfer that Sach undergoes when he's kidnapped by a mad scientist (Alan Napier) for the purpose of turning his brutish half-ape discovery into a genius. If you like these era pictures, you've probably seen Glenn Strange in any number of genres, though Westerns were his specialty. But he did take a turn as Frankenstein a few times in his career (1944's "House of Frankenstein", 1945's "House of Dracula", 1948's "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein"). He also has a role as a brutish lab assistant in the 1944 flick "The Monster Maker". The great thing about Strange here is his uncanny ability to channel Huntz Hall with all of Sach's mannerisms and the dubbed voice that just cracks you up when you see it.

But here's the thing, relative to my earlier comment. The personality of Sach is evident in both Sach himself and the Atlas character at the same time, and more than once! Huh? How does that work? I don't want to seem too picky here, but I think the story could have done a better job of keeping those personalities separate while the gang was trying to sort things out. Maybe that's why Slip opined with "This is a very interesting piece of bric and brats"!

Before concluding, I have to pose a couple of questions, because I can't figure them out for myself. For starters, why does Constable Hoskins wear a badge on his pajamas? And secondly - is Louie Dumbrowski (Bernard Gorcey) shrinking with each successive Bowery Boys flick he appears in?

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Strange indeed!, 16 October 2006
Author: grghull from United States

I have to chime in with the other two users in singling out Glenn Strange's performance as the high point of this movie. Sure there are lots of the usual Bowery Boys hi-jinks to keep their fans amused, but it's when the hulking Strange shows up in full monster make-up doing a dead-on Huntz Hall impression that this movie really takes off. Who knew the one time Frankenstein monster had this kind of comedy talent in him? Probably my favorite of the series for just that reason.

(I need three more lines to get this posted, which is really a shame because it would be nice to be able to compliment an actor's performance without having to resort to padding --- although since I'm not padding this with "junk words" I hope it will be considered a valid submission. If not, forgive me. I did my best. I myself think brevity is an asset and would like to see it encouraged.)

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
A Valuable Comodity, Huntz Hall's Brain, 26 June 2010
7/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

No doubt inspired by the success of Abbott&Costello Meet Frankenstein, the folks at Monogram Pictures did a nice reworking of the plot at albeit a lower budget for the Bowery Boys in Master Minds.

Although with the rest of the human race eating too much sugar is a guarantee of diabetes, with Horace DeBussy Jones it gives psychic powers that are positively diabolic. They intrigue Alan Napier who is conducting the usual mad scientist experiments and he manages to electrically transfer Huntz Hall's brain into the body of Frankenstein creature Glenn Strange and vice versa.

If I were unkind I'd say that Universal Pictures and A&C were ripped off by the Bowery Boys. That doesn't mean this particular comedy wasn't good in fact seeing Glenn Strange with Huntz Hall mannerisms imitated and Huntz Hall voice coming from him is positively hilarious. Added to the rest of the Bowery Boy monkeyshines, Master Minds is one of the best of the series.

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Master Minds (1949) **1/2, 12 July 2010
6/10
Author: JoeKarlosi from U.S.A.

You wouldn't know by its title, but this Bowery Boys comedy is of interest to old horror film fans like me, with a "mad doctor" plot and a cast featuring various monster movie personalities. Here we have the dimwitted Sach (Huntz Hall) amazingly endowed with special powers each time he aggravates a nagging toothache by chomping on candy. He gains the uncanny ability to accurately predict future happenings a la Nostradamus, and is quickly exploited as a sideshow attraction by his greedy partner Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey). Meanwhile, an eccentric scientist (Alan Napier) decides that Sach's brain is the perfect one to give to his growling man/ape Atlas (Glenn Strange), and sets out to kidnap Sach.

The main attraction here is getting to watch the usually limited Glenn Strange (who played Frankenstein's stumbling Monster in some of Universal's classics like the previous year's ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN) do some of his most notable work. Strange is a marvel to behold when he switches minds with the prissy and childlike Sach, impersonating Huntz Hall's effeminate mannerisms and miming to his voiceovers. Among the familiar cast are Jane Adams and Skelton Knaggs (both also appeared with Glenn Strange in Universal's "House Of Dracula"), who play assistants to the doctor. Alan Napier is not quite right for this type of "mad doctor" part, though ... too bad they couldn't have gotten Bela Lugosi.

The funniest part of the movie is an early scene where Sach is on stage predicting unpleasant outcomes for a few frazzled audience members, but the rest of the story could have been tighter. The brain-swapping shenanigans are cute enough, but are all over the place. Still, a decent entry in the Bowery Boys series.

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Sach Sharpens His Mind, 2 July 2010
5/10
Author: wes-connors from Earth

Reading "Famous Predictions of Nostradamus" and eating too much candy helps give gluttonous Huntz Hall (as Sach) the power to see into the future, after "The Bowery Boys" entrepreneurial leader Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) hits him on the head. Since it only happens when the cavity-stricken Mr. Hall has a toothache, Mr. Gorcey keeps his pal filled with candy. Gorcey, with help from cohorts Gabriel Dell (as Gabe), William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch), and David Gorcey (as Chuck) hawks Hall as "Ali Ben Sachmo" aka "The Bowery Prophet." Unfortunately, Hall's ability to predict startling events of the future attracts the attention of mad doctor Alan Napier (as Druzik), who wants to transport Hall's superior brain into his hairy creation, Glenn Strange (as Atlas the Monster). Hall and Mr. Strange are this rushed-looking entry's greatest strengths.

***** Master Minds (11/20/49) Jean Yarbrough ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Glenn Strange, Gabriel Dell

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Huntz Hall and Glenn Strange steal the film..., 29 June 2010
7/10
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

This is definitely one of the better entries in the Bowery Boys movies, full of clever plot devices which seem to be borrowed heavily from other even scarier Abbot and Costello movies like A & C MEET FRANKENSTEIN. In this one, Huntz Hall and Glenn Strange are forced to switch brains (and personalities) by mad doctor Alan Napier.

The result is some really hilarious acting from Hall and Strange. Glenn has much more to do than he usually did in those Universal horror films he often appeared in. When he apes the mannerisms of Huntz Hall (with Hall's high pitched voice and giggle), he's hilarious.

The other Bowery Boys go through their usual paces, but it's a fun film from start to finish with Glenn Strange really given a chance to show what a good character actor he was.

If you're a fan of the Boys, this is of their best.

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What are you trying to do! Disintegrate us!, 27 June 2010
6/10
Author: sol1218 from brooklyn NY

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

**SPOILERS** With Sach, through a toothache, developing psychic powers in him being able to see the future he becomes an overnight sensation in him being billed as the great Ali Ben Sachmo the modern day successor to Nostradamus. It's at the creepy and haunted Forsythe Mansion outside city limits that mad scientist Dr. Druzik read about Sachmo in the local papers and decides that it's Sach's brain that he needs to finish his experiment to create the perfect human being. Having created a perfect body, that he calls Atlas, all Dr. Druzik now needs is a perfect brain for it. And Sach's brain in Dr. Druzik's learned opinion is the perfect brain to put or install in it!

After kidnapping Sach out of Louie Dumbrowski's Sweet Shop Dr. Druzik and his two goons Hugo & Otto get him ready for a brain transportation operation with the Neanderthal Atlas that succeeds in switching his primitive brain into Sach's skull. Thus making the sweet nutty and inoffensive Sach into a wild beast and Atlas, despite his tremendous size & strength, into a wimpy and afraid of his own shadow sissy!

The Bowery Boys lead by Slip and Gabe track down Sach to the Forsythe Mansion after he as Atlas, who didn't know his own strength, wrecked Louie's Sweet Shop. It's at the mansion that the boys run into Sach who's brain is now that of the brutish Atlas who would like nothing better then to rip hem apart. Like in a Three card Monte game both Sach and Atlas' brains keep switching during the entire movie where it's hard to tell which, body that is, is which which makes things, for Slip and the boys, even more difficult then they already are! It's isn't that long until help finally arrives in the person of the local Constable Isiah Hoskins and his family who get the goods Dr. Druzik not on his inhuman experiments but the one crime that he, as well as Al Capone, never figured that he was guilty of: Tax Evasion!

***SPOILERS*** It was good for once to see Sach not getting smacked around by his good friend Slip Mahoney with him, as Atlas, doing the smacking. Watching Sach in action I had the distinct feeling that he was really enjoying the fact that this was his big chance to get even with everyone, especially Slip, who've been slapping and kicking him around all these years. But sadly, for Sach, it wasn't to last that long with him losing, by swallowing it, his magic wisdom tooth that gave him the power of prophecy and thus becoming the same old klutzy Sach that we all know & love as well, as in the case of his good friend Slip, slap around!

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0 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Bowery Boys #16, 28 June 2010
Author: Michael_Elliott from Louisville, KY

Master Minds (1949)

*** (out of 4)

The Bowery Boys find out they have a money-maker when Sach (Huntz Hall) eats sugar and gets a toothache, which causes him to be able to predict the future. This starts out find until a mad scientist (Alan Napier) sees him in the paper and decides to kidnap him so that he can put Sach's brain into the body of a monster (Glenn Strange). The sixteenth entry in the series is probably the best one to date thanks in large part to a somewhat clever screenplay and some terrific supporting performances. I don't think there's any doubt that this film was inspired by ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN but that's okay because the jokes here work extremely well. I don't think this film is going to appeal to everyone like A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN but if you're a fan of the Bowery Boys then this here is a must see. What makes the film work so well is the performance of Strange who easily steals the film. He's done up in some ape man like make-up, which looks incredibly well. I guess this should be expected since Monogram also did a good job in THE APE MAN and RETURN OF THE APE MAN. I really did enjoy the look of the monster but what makes the comedy work so well is the performance by Strange. The entire plot works around this monster having the brain of Sach so it's up to Strange to give us those Hall mannerisms, which he does perfectly. That silly walk, arm swings and the various other bits and pieces are perfectly pulled off by Strange and it's downright hilarious. Seeing the tall Strange bouncing around like Sach and flicking his arm was so perfectly done that at times I had tears running down my face. Hall also turns in a strong performance as he has to play himself again but also gets to play the tough, animal-like character. The scene where Hall is in a trance predicting the future has some terrific jokes and especially the one aimed at the man who will become rich at the age of 21. Leo Gorcey and Gabriel Dell are on hand as well and get a few good moments. Bernard Gorcey also gets some funny moments as Louie. The film runs a brief 64-minutes and there's no doubt that it borrows somewhat heavily from other films but that really doesn't take away from the charm and it especially doesn't kill any of the laughs. Not every joke works but the majority of them do and that's what makes this one of the best of the series. Strange and Hall really should have taken this act into other movies.

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