Master Minds (1949) User Reviews

A Valuable Comodity, Huntz Hall's Brain

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 26 June 2010]

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.

Huntz Hall and Glenn Strange steal the film...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 29 June 2010]

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.

"How does it feel to be almost human?"

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 30 October 2016]

The sixteenth Bowery Boys movie from Monogram is arguably the best in the series. It's certainly my personal favorite. The plot has Sach getting psychic powers from a toothache (?), which leads to him being kidnapped by a mad scientist who wants his brain to put in a monster named Atlas. Alan Napier is good as the mad scientist. Glenn Strange is fun as the hirsute monster, hidden behind some pretty impressive makeup by the great Jack Pierce. Creepy Skelton Knaggs is also in this as Napier's assistant. The mad scientist plot and the work of Pierce and Strange is probably a large part of why I like this so much, given that I'm a huge fan of Universal's classic horror films. But this one is also pretty funny with some good malapropisms from Leo Gorcey and nice rubberfacing by Huntz Hall. Bernard Gorcey is lots of fun as Louie the Sweet Shop owner. The rest of the gang includes William Benedict, Gabriel Dell, the easy-to-forget-he's-there David Gorcey, and Bennie Bartlett, who would take a break from the series for a couple of years after this. The highlight of the film is when the scientist mind swaps Sach and Atlas, giving Hall a chance to act like a movie monster and Strange the chance to act like a goofball, which I'm sure was fun for him.

Strange indeed!

[grghull · 16 October 2006]

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.)

One of the best of the Bowery Boys series, with Glenn Strange a standout.

[Art-22 · 7/10 · 21 July 2000]

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.

Master Minds (1949) **1/2

[JoeKarlosi · 6/10 · 12 July 2010]

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 mind is the perfect one to transfer 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 voice-overs. 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 ... too bad they couldn't have gotten Bela Lugosi or John Carradine. 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 second half could have been tighter. The brain-swapping shenanigans are cute enough, but are all over the place. Still, a standout entry in the '40s Bowery Boys series. **1/2 out of ****

"Atlas, I think we found you a brain"!

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 26 June 2010]

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?

Successfully Copying Success! It's The Hollywood Way!

[redryan64 · 7/10 · 29 March 2016]

IT HAS LONG been said that, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" Additionally in Hollywood they have added the notion that "the great ones (Directors) borrow, the good ones steal!" We have some pretty good examples of both such behaviours here in MASTER MINDS.

TO BEGIN WITH, the movie came on the heels of 1949's ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (Universal, 1949). Much of the basic premise is grounded in the central theme of this Bowery Boys installment. And that would be the long popular horror movie plot device of seeking the right brain for the "Mad Scientist's" artificially created humanoid creature.*

AS FAR FETCHED and complicated a plot and the multifaceted locales visited are, the production team does manage to keep it all cohesive as possible; especially considering its fantasy based scenario. All works out and is accepted by we, the audience, mainly because we want to.

ADDED TO THE usual line-up of players (Leo, Dave & Bernard Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabe Dell, Billy Benedict and Bennie Bartlett) is a well chosen Horror Movie "B" Team. We have Alan Napier as the Scientist, Skelton Knaggs as assistant and Jane Adams as assistant.

ALTHOUGH THE HUMOR of this Bowery episode is surely of what we can quite safely refer to as being of the 'obvious' variety, it still works very well. Audiences of 1949 were well acquainted with and used to the antics and interplay of "Slip", "Sach", the Boys and Louie; they never seemed to tire of it. This movie does the regular routines very well, while at the same time explores new ground (for the B.Boys).

THE BEST ELEMENT (in our opinion)is the personality exchange that occurred between "Sach" and the Monster 'Atlas' (Glenn Strange**). It could have flopped miserably, but was instead most satisfying a bit of funny business. Huntz Hall's growling and mugging in a monstrous manner is equaled by Glenn Strange's mimicry of the usual Sach mannerisms. Of course the voices were reversely dubbed to complete the bit.

IN ADDITION TO the resemblance it bears to the ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN romp, we find a curious link and relationship to yet another movie. It was only at the end of the Laurel & Hardy THICKER THAN WATER that the personality and mannerism switch was used. It was indeed the wind-up and fade-out gag. it was much shorter in duration, but jut as effective.

BEFORE WE CLOSE, let us offer our congrats to both Mr. Huntz Hall and Mr. Glenn Strange for pulling it off. It was seriously a tribute to their rather under-appreciated abilities as actors.

NOTE: * The transfer of intellect here is one of the Mind, rather than that of the physical & surgically transplanted Brain. With the Mind being more of an abstract or spiritual 'entity', its transplant would be less offensive in a non-physical, necessarily bloody procedure. And this is not to mention the expensive and extended camera shots avoided; an additional bonus for a poverty row studio such as Monogram Pictures!

NOTE: ** Whether it was by chance or intended to be so, Glenn Strange had portrayed the Frankenstein monster in the last three films of the series, including ABBOTT & COSTELLLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN!

Mind your master, or master your mind....with the Bowery Boys, you're never sure!

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 18 June 2015]

When the constant chewing of candy brings on a cavity causes a tooth-ache and leaves Sach (Huntz Hall) with the ability to see into the future, you know that silliness is about to take over the screen for an hour. Slip (Leo Gorcey) utilizes Sach's powers to create a tent show where under the influence of his toothache, Sach predicts various things, such as the unending presence of a mother-in-law at one of the audience member's homes, as well as the fact that a soon to be millionaire will be broke within a year. His phenomenon makes him front page news, causing a mad doctor (Alan Napier, "Batman's" Alfred) to kidnap him (Sach even predicts that!) to combine his brain with that of a Neanderthal (Glenn Strange)! It certainly is strange to see Strange flitting around the screen in Sach like mannerisms with Hall's voice coming out of his mouth, while Hall saunters around like Frankenstein's monster, violently grunting and attacking others with super-human strength. It's up to Slip, Gabriel Dell ("Gabe") and others from the gang, and even crotchety Louie (Bernard Gorcey), to rescue Sach from a fate worse than a brain transplant.

With Leo Gorcey, there's malapropisms galore, and as usual, they just seem sillier and sillier, but often, they are very funny. If Hall's actions as Sach made him appear to be rather effeminate, just imagine how it looks with Glenn Strange doing it. Obviously, Hall was straight in real life, but as the series expanded from Dead End to East End to Bowery Boys, the character's mannerisms became more exaggerated. Jane Adams is the attractive nurse seemingly blackmailed by Napier into staying in his employee. Napier seems to have been cast simply based upon his resemblance to Boris Karloff. While Bela Lugosi did several of the East End Kids films, Karloff was obviously not going to accept. Look for a short appearance by occasional "East End"/"Bowery Boys" guest star Minerva Urecal whose characters varied from spooky housekeepers to even judges. This entry is fun, if nothing exceptional; Sometimes their films were so funny that I felt I had to rate them higher even though on the whole they weren't all that great.

Glenn Strange makes for a better Huntz Hall

[kevinolzak · 6/10 · 4 July 2022]

The 16th Bowery Boys entry from Monogram, 1949's "Master Minds" served up some rare mad scientist shenanigans during a lean period for horror films, set in the haunted Forsythe mansion that locals tend to avoid. Huntz Hall's Sach once again finds himself gaining an unexpected ability, not a crooner's voice as in "Blues Busters" but a fortune teller predicting the future after reading about Nostradamus, caused by a candy-induced toothache (betting on horses would come later). Leo Gorcey's Slip trots out sideshow star 'Ali Ben Sachmo, Bowery Prophet' for a typical get rich quick scheme, allowing Alan Napier as Dr. Druzik to utilize this supposed seer as the perfect subject for mind transference with his savage creation Atlas, played to the hilt by Glenn Strange (much neater than a messy brain transplant). Strange absolutely nails his impersonation of Huntz Hall and his effeminate mannerisms, under a hirsute Jack Pierce makeup that harkens back to the glory days of Universal's "House of Dracula," even adding several more cast members as lab assistants, Skelton Knaggs and pretty Jane Adams, no longer burdened by a hump. One would have wished that after several costarring roles opposite good friend Boris Karloff ("Isle of the Dead," "Lured," "The Strange Door") that Alan Napier might have learned something from the master, playing his one and only mad doctor with a permanent smirk, a bemused performance that can only be described as ordinary, similar to John Dehner's later turn in "The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters" (surely, Bela Lugosi must have been available!). Strange was in the midst of several Abbott and Costello vehicles ("The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap," "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," "Comin Round the Mountain") but would not play another monster in a Hollywood feature, both Gabriel Dell and Billy Benedict departing the Bowery Boys series within two years.

Sach Sharpens His Mind

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 2 July 2010]

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

Any time the boys get scared

[scottsitton · 10/10 · 29 December 2019]

Any time the Bowery Boys get scared fun is right around the corner "I would run if only my feet would move". Sach getting turned into the monster and Mugs admitting he made a mistake and deserved getting hit are high lites. Gabe the big "brave" gang member gets told to hide in a closet looks and says "Its dark in there". Although all the basic hi-jinks still full of laughs and of course Mugs vocabulary is wonderful.

Sach becomes a psychic and then gets a brain transplant...and no, I am NOT drunk!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 8 November 2016]

During the course of many Bowery Boys films, Sach is endowed with amazing super-powers again and again. In one, he can predict numbers on the Roulette wheel, in another he has super-intelligence and here, in "Master Minds", he's endowed with the ability to predict the future! Yet, inexplicably, by the end of each movie these abilities disappear and are never spoken of again!

When the film begins, Sach goes into a weird trance and predicts the future. When Slip realizes that he's right, he does what any friend would do...put Sach into a sideshow where 'Ali Ben Sachmo' (Sach) can tell futures and make him lots of money. However, a nutty scientist (Alan Napier) is working on a Dr. Moreau-like method of making animals look human...but he wants to give his newest creation a brilliant mind...and assumes incorrectly that Sach is such a genius! Soon, he manages to put Sach's mind into the gorilla-like man (Glenn Strange) and vice-versa.

Like the Bowery Boys films of the 1940s, this one is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, just a year or two later, the team's films would become more stale--more repetitive and less funny. Considering they made so many movies (48--not counting the ones made as the East Side Kids and Dead End Kids), this isn't surprising! Worth seeing and considerably better than later offerings. Stupid but fun!

Lame-brained comedy

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 28 August 2018]

MASTER MINDS is a lame-brained comedy from the Bowery Boys gang, and like the Abbott & Costello comedies of the era, it has fun with the whole Universal horror cycle. This time around it's the turn of mad scientists and monsters, with former Frankenstein's monster Glenn Strange showing up to contribute some typically over-the-top mannerisms. Sadly, I found the whole experience completely juvenile, not to mention entirely grating on the ears of the viewer.

Bowery Boys #16

[Michael_Elliott · 28 June 2010]

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.

What are you trying to do! Disintegrate us!

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 27 June 2010]

**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!

Freaky Friday Bowery Boys

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 13 June 2022]

Sach goes into a trance and starts predicting the future. Slip uses him as a fortune teller in a carnival sideshow. Mad scientist Dr. Druzik kidnaps Sach for his monstrous experiment, Atlas.

This is The Bowery Boys, Freaky Friday style. The first half is fun but then it goes body swapping. Atlas in Sach body doesn't really work because it's not Sach. The mannerisms are all corrupted. Then they keep switching the minds back and forth. Sach should stay a monster until they switch bodies again. Sach acting like a monster does hold more potential for comedy. Here's how to make it even better. Have both Sach and Slip get kidnapped. Slip is the one getting body swapped and Sach helps him escape. Sach would be walking around with a monster Slip and maybe Sach could befriend the wild beast. That would be the best comedy.

The strange case of the magic throbing tooth.

[weezeralfalfa · 6/10 · 13 April 2018]

Huntz Hall, as Sach or Ali Ben Sachmo, and Glen Strange, as Atlas, the giant monster, drive this excessively silly "Bowery Boys" offering from 1949.. Of course, we still have the other usual gang members, such as Leo Gorcey, as Slip, Gabriel Dell, as Gabe, Billy Benedict, as Whitey, David Gorcey , as Chuck, and Bennie Bartlett, as Butch, not to mention pint-sized Bernard Gorcey, as Louie: the sweets shop owner and provider of a club house for the gang.....Huntz is involved in two sci-fi-like projects. The first, is as Ali Ben Sachmo: the clairvoyant, whose correct predictions depend upon a particular toothache(the magic tooth). When it's not aching, he loses his predictive power. Since the ache comes and goes, this makes it chancy for a public demonstration of his ability.. The gang feeds him lots of sweets to promote his toothache.......The second project involves an attempt by Dr. Druzik(Alan Napier), to transfer Sach's personality, including his clairvoyance ability, to the Dr.'s wolfman-like monster he created, while imparting Sach with the Wolf man's ferocious personality. The Dr.'s goal is to create a superhuman, with the mental capacity of Aristotle and the strength of Hercules........As in the case of Sach's clairvoyance ability, it turns out that this transfer is unstable. After awhile, the 2 return to their ground personalities. Of course, this makes for great confusion by those they contact. A 2nd treatment gives the same result. The Dr. claims that a 3rd, longer, treatment will make their switched personalities permanent. Fortunately, this procedure was interrupted by Louie, who had sneaked into the building and doned the suit of armor displayed in the hall. He burst into the lab and, with his long battle ax, destroyed enough equipment to wreck the procedure. Druzic had several assistants, including Nancy Marlow.(Jane Adams). Druzic had a blackmail hold over her. She seemed to be going sweet on Gabe, but the matter was not pursued........ Of course, both these projects are very silly. Nonetheless, I wouldn't be surprised if many kids would go for them as imaginative truths. The aching tooth reminds me of a rather similar fantasy involving Carmen Miranda, in "Something for the Boys". In her case, one of her teeth was able to receive intelligent radio signals, which she could tune by sticking her finger in her mouth. In Sach's case, eventually, his rotten tooth fell out, having swallowed it, he claimed. Thus, ended his clairvoyant power........ Glenn Strange had played Frankenstein's monster in several movies., as well as Dracula. He was 6'5" and massively built, to make him scarier to kids......Leo Gorcey, of course, was infamous for his frequent malapropisms. A few examples taken from this film: "mental cavity" for "mental capacity", "logical seclusion" for "logical conclusion", "optimist" for "optometrist", "perspire" for "expire".

Even the Bowery Boys made a good film once or twice!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 7 March 2018]

One of the best of the Bowery Boys series, this one has an ingenious script which allows Huntz Hall two complete changes of personality - both of which he accomplishes rather well.

Production values are first-class with a marvelous haunted house set in which photographer Marcel LePicard and director Jean Yarbrough create some imaginative atmospheric effects which will have most audiences on the edge of their seats.

The support cast is also very capable, with Alan Napier as the mad scientist, Glenn Strange as the Monster, Jane Adams the unwilling nurse, Minerva Urecal leading the "villagers".

As might be inferred the film is a parody of Frankenstein, using some of the cast regulars from Universal's horror series, plus the services of that expert make-up artist Jack P. Pierce, who created the original Frankenstein monster way back in 1931!

ONE YOU GOTSTA' SEE!

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 13 June 2022]

The writers for the BOWERY BOYS must have been keeping tabs on Abbott and Costello, particularly with their success, A & C MEET FRANKENSTEIN! In fact, the towering Glenn Strange, who played the monster in the A & C film, and other Universal chillers, is front row and center here as Atlas, a growling, hulking brute. The mad scientist (played by Alan Napier -best known as Alfred the butler in BATMAN!) intends to switch brains with Sach (Huntz Hall)! What an idea! By the way, Sach plays a sideshow fortune teller called Ali Ben Sachmo, who interests the scientist, believing he has a well developed brain!

Replete with all the old dark house and sci fi trappings of the 1940s, some which may have been borrowed from Universal Pictures, as they seem very familiar! Also in the cast is Jane Adams, you may remember as the hunchback nurse from HOUSE OF DRACULA! Of honorable mention is creepy Skelton Knaggs from the Universal stable of character actors, playing the doc's assistant. Sach seems to be intrigued by this guy's looks and asks... "How do ya keep your hair that flat!" Of course Leo Gorcey's malaprops are always necessary in a goofy story like this. Recommended for all of us big little kids who grew up on this Saturday afternoon stuff! A pizza favorite any day of the week. Warner Brothers dvd box set.

Best of the Bowery Boys

[napo396-2 · 10/10 · 3 June 2020]

Master Minds in my opinion is the best of the Bowery Boys films with leo Gorcey . I love all the Leo Gorcey films but this film was perfect in all manner . Great story , script , cast even special effects and makeup with Glenn Strange as Atlas.. Of course Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall make it soooo funny ..i also especially loved Alan Napier as the mad scientist ...