The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954)

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Any film that has a conversation about how to make prettier pickles is classic in my book, and this ends up being probably the best of the Bowery Boys films,an Abbott and Costello style horror film. There's a Lurch like Butler (Grisom, whom they keep referring to as Gruesome) who gets the predictable reaction when he orders Sach and Slip to "walk this way", a series of wacky relatives and an exotic Theda Bara like vamp, all gathered together in a spooky mansion where it's best to expect the unexpected. Some great character comics (among them Ellen Corby and Lloyd Corrigan) have a ball emoting dramatically for laughs. Corby has a tree monster who happens to like cats (as a snack, I'm sure), and Gruesome, err Grisom, takes a potion that makes him Mr. Hyde's long lost twin. A funny looking robot and a gorilla round out the ensemble of wacky creations/creatures.There's more laughs in this single entry than all of the series up to that time. The script is filled with funny gags and dialog ("The living of today are the skeletons of tomorrow"), and it's an interesting set design as well. Corby, looking like granny without the Tweety Bird, will delight her fans from "The Waltons", looking the same but no match for her no- nonsense matriarch as she regrets the lack of living flesh for her funny looking tree. Minimal screen time of the gang for all but Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall doesn't matter, as the wacky characters of this madhouse are entertainment enough.

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.

Maybe if the Bowery Boys had crossed paths with Universal Pictures along the way, they might have put together a meaningful monster flick a la Abbott and Costello. The word 'Monster' in the title is a bit of a misnomer, as all you get here is a man in an ape suit and a tin man robot that's not all that scary. My two year old granddaughter was watching the flick with me and she couldn't take her eyes off Gorog, and she was smiling the whole time.But as far as Bowery Boys flicks go, this is as entertaining as most, near the end of their run and down to only four members for this story, along with patron Louie (Bernard Gorcey). The story nominally involves the gang looking to pick up a ball field for the neighborhood kids, and wind up confounding the members of a pre-Addams Family assortment of mad scientists. In turn, Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) become the target of Dr. Gravesend (John Dehner) and his brother Anton (Lyoyd Corrigan), who both need human brains for their respective scientific pursuits. I was a bit surprised to see Paul Wexler doing the 'Lurch' gimmick a full decade before Ted Cassidy gave it a whirl in the TV series a decade later.For once, Slip's malapropisms are given their proper due by Dr. Gravesend, who figures that Slip is no mental giant the way he fractures the English language. For his part, Slip doesn't disappoint with any number of his stereo-optical delusions.The entire escapade falls into a slap dash finale, not as well choreographed as say, the Marx Brothers, but still zany nonetheless. If you keep a sharp eye, you'll note it wasn't Sach under the goofy monster mask when he put the Gravesend's into those body slams and airplane spins. The stunt double they used was obviously broader in the chest and shoulders, even under the suit. In contrast, Sach did all of his own wrestling moves in the 1952 Bowery Boys film, "No Holds Barred".

Growing up in new jersey i remember them showing the Bowery boys movies every Sunday,and being a monster fan this was my favorite Bowery boys movie,huntz hall and Leo gorcey want to turn a vacant lot into a baseball field for the Bowery kids so they will have a safer place to play baseball,actually called stick-ball in new jersey and new york. they find it is owned by some kooky Addams family types.there's a gorilla in a cage,a man eating plant,and a big clunky robot.its all slapstick hijinks when the Bowery boys show up,some people called this the poor mans Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein.though not as good its funny,especially Leo gorceys vocabulary.as a Bowery boys movie i would say its the best one.made by allied artists(earlier known as monogram pictures)the Bowery boys went through many name changes, the Clancy street boys,dead end kids,eastside kids,and later the Bowery boys.i give this vintage gem 7 out of 10.