Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters, The (1954)*** (out of 4)Fast-paced and fun entry in the series has Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) traveling to a creepy mansion so that they can ask the owners if the Bowery kids can use their lot to play ball. Soon the duo are being held captive by the mad scientists who want to use their brains in some crazy experiments. After several so-so entries, it's good to see the series back with a winner as this one perfectly mixes the laughs with the various horror elements. This is clearly influenced by the Abbott and Costello flicks but that's not a bad thing especially when you get such a winning film. I really loved the fact that Bernds was back behind the camera as he kept the action coming very fast and helped keep everything moving. The laughs are plenty as we get countless good jokes including one that must have been seen by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder as it would later be used in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. At one point the creepy butler tells Sach and Slip to "walk this way" which they do by mocking the way he's walking. Other funny jokes include the various horror elements including a sexy vampire, a living tree who eats humans, a killer gorilla and a robot who keeps losing its head. All of these elements are perfectly blended into the story and we also get a kind old lady who wants to feed the fat Slip to her tree. Both Gorcey and Hall are on the top of their game and deliver fine performances. The comedy here is pretty wide ranged as we get a lot of physical stuff but also a lot of one liners and both of them deliver just fine. Bernard Gorcey has a couple funny bits including a very good incident with the gorilla. Some might be disappointed that the "monsters" aren't Dracula, Frankenstein or the Mummy but it really doesn't matter because of how well everything works here. A lot of the jokes fall on their face but that's only because so many are flying around that your bound not to have them all work. Fans of the series will certainly find this to be a winner but I think even those who can't stand them will find this one entertaining.

After a baseball breaks the window of "Louie's Sweet Shop", problem-solving leader Leo Gorcey (as Terrence "Slip" Mahoney) decides he his fellow "Bowery Boys" - accomplice Huntz Hall (as Horace "Sach" Jones), brother David "Condon" Gorcey (as Chuck), and Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch) - should get the kids playing in the Bowery off the streets and onto a safe vacant lot. Telephoning the lot-owning "Gravesend Family" at home, Mr. Gorcey wrangles an invitation to their mansion.Mad scientist John Dehner (as Derek Gravesend) tells brother Lloyd Corrigan (as Anton) that Gorcey must be dim-witted, due to his mangling of the English language. The pair decide "Bowery Boys" would be perfect for head and brain transplanting experiments involving both a robot and a gorilla. Family matriarch Ellen Corby (as Amelia) would rather feed them to her man-eating tree. And, sexy vampire Laura Mason (as Francine) is looking forward to the arrival of new blood at the old house.As a film series, "The Bowery Boys" looked like it was (generally) in an insurmountable rut, after a string of unsatisfactory films (see especially those from 1952). The quality was never all that dependable, but the movies did successfully entertain a targeted audience. While seeming to be finished, the series became sporadically good again, before the crashing in 1956."The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters" was one of the a high points; it was followed by the bad "Jungle Gents" (1954), then the good "Bowery to Bagdad" (1955). The title "The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters" suggests some inspiration from "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948), but this situation is more clearly swiped from Charles Addams' witty "The Addams Family" (begun as a comic strip in 1938), which spawned the memorable 1960s television series and imitations like this film.****** The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (6/6/54) Edward Bernds ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey, Paul Wexler

I think what distinguishes this BB film from the 3 others I've come across is that the setting is more interesting, the support cast has better characters to play, and for some reason Huntz Hall's usual manic mugging and mannerisms seem more appropriate to the setting. I suppose that's because this is very similar in tone and structure to some of the Abbott and Costello films, and Hall's over-the-top double takes and freak outs work the same way that Costello's would in similar situations. I have to say that it was very clever of the producers to make this "Bowery Boys Meet THE Monsters", instead of "...SOME Monsters", because the title makes you think you will see Dracula, the Mummy, Frankenstein's monster, etc...instead, we get some generic substitutes. But I wasn't really disappointed...rather than have the classic Hammer archetypes be cheapened by yet another comedy ripoff, the screenplay just has fun with the idea - for instance, one is "a" vampire, and makes no attempt to pretend that this is the "Prince Of Darkness", so it doesn't hurt to see the idea played for cheesecake value. So it is with the mad scientists, the robot, the man eating plant, the Jekyll/Hyde formula, etc. The "monsters" are different enough from the usual run to add an element of freshness to the film. Also, the timing seems a little tighter and the director keeps things moving along. The "house full of monsters" set up allows for a nice rapid fire series of sight gags and word play and slapstick, and (as I said), the supporting cast get to be funny and interesting in their interaction with each other, as opposed to just being the straight men for the Boys.There's actually a bit of an Addams family dynamic that makes things go better than if the monsters just lunged out of the closet at our Boys. This was my fourth Bowery Boys film (how I came to see four of them is a long story), and I can't say I'll be unhappy if I never see another one. But it was the most enjoyable of the four, and it raised my opinion of their abilities and their film career.

This movie is a riot. I think that Sach is a very funny man, and that Leo Gorcey/Huntz Hall were as funny a team as any of them. Personally, I think the Bowery Boys are funnier than The Three Stooges, Though I enjoy them to. in this movie, there is a commotion in almost every scene. and I think that the Bowery Boys add their own flavor to things. Actually, I favor the Bowery Boys over Abbott and Costello as well. My two favorite teams are the Bowery Boys and Martin and Lewis. Too bad they never made a movie together. That would have been fun. Aside from this movie, I also loved the 'Navy' movie the Bowery Boys made. Just hilarious. A commotion in every scene. My kind of movie.