'Neath Brooklyn Bridge (1942)

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Another Kids movie. Most of them are pretty good, especially considering the simplistic plots and basic acting that is involved. In this one Mugs and the gang are more good than bad. They come to the rescue of a girl whose step father is beating on her. She only sticks around to take of her paralyzed grandfather. Her step dad gets knocked out by Mugs using a chair leg. The gang leaves to chase the girl when she runs. Now the step father has robbed a local crime boss and the boss climbs through a window, gets his loot back and smashes a gun butt over the guys head. This kills the robber and the boss takes the club Mugs used to hold over his head as evidence. By now the gang has caught up with the girl and take her to their "clubhouse" to hide. Learning that grandpa can communicate with the girl the gang goes and gets him, bringing back to the lair. A former member, now in the Navy, has returned and recognizes that the grandpa is using Morse code. Meanwhile the crime boss has used the non-murder weapon to force Mugs to case a silk warehouse and help rob it. The Navy man takes the girl to the cops with the story grandpa Morsed out. Meanwhile Mugs has the gang stashed in the warehouse and when he lets the crooks in they fight it out and the cops show up. So the baddies get busted, the gang gets a pat on the back and the murder is placed on the right man.

Danny (Bobby Jordan) accidentally gets a murder rap pinned on him in this East Side Kids outing, and the rest of the gang are out to find the real killer. It's a fairly standard adventure for the boys with a few surprises thrown in. Noah Beery Jr. makes an appearance as a former 'charter member' of the gang, which is a little unusual since this is the only film of the series he appeared in. It's convenient though as he turns up to become the romantic interest for Sylvia (Ann Gillis), the stepdaughter of the murder victim.Marc Lawrence appears as the villain of the piece, a hood named McGaffey who tries to enlist Muggs (Leo Gorcey) in a warehouse heist in exchange for the murder weapon and a chance to clear Danny. If you really think about it, there wasn't much to his plan at any step of the way; he could have been easily outed, and was, by the time the film ended. Such was Lawrence's fate in most films, with over two hundred movie credits, he almost always appeared as a heavy, be it Westerns, mysteries, sci-fi, or the occasional Charlie Chan flick.As in many of the East Side films, Danny's big brother is portrayed by Dave O'Brien. Here they have an extended one on one scene that goes a bit heavy on the melodrama as Phil tries to get Danny to tell what he knows. Loyalty is a gang member's best trait, so he's not saying anything, but then again, he was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time.I always enjoy Sunshine Sammy Morrison as Scruno. He doesn't have a lot to do in this one, but the good thing is he doesn't wind up on the end of any stereotyped racial references. Glimpy (Huntz Hall) fires off a few nifty one liners like the one in my summary. He even has one brief shining moment when Muggs promotes him to Vice President of Miscellaneous Stuff. It lasts less than a screen minute, but hey, it was a moment in the sun.I see this flick rated relatively high for an East Side Kids film, but don't see it as a cut above most. I always felt they did their best work when supporting a name actor, be it Cagney, Bogart or Garfield in vehicles from larger studios. Still if you're a fan, it won't hurt to take this one in. They even manage to focus in on the Brooklyn Bridge a couple of times, just to make sure there's some connection to the title.

This is one of the best in the long running East Side Kids series.Here Muggs is tricked into thinking that he killed someone and the only way out of it is to help a criminal with his crooked plans.What can I say this is a fun romp that sports the regular band of "kids" as well as a young Noah Beery Jr as one of their friends. Of course we know that Muggs didn't do it, and he knows he didn't do it, so the fun is watching to see how he manages to work out who actually did the deed and makes sure they get blamed. The way Muggs finds out is unique and only adds to the enjoyment.Worth a look for anyone fan or no, who wants a good movie for a moldy oldie movie night.

This time Muggs, Glimpy and the gang take on a real hard case: gangster Marc Lawrence, a cold-blooded baddie who entraps sweet young thing Ann Gillis (whose most recent film credit remains 2001: A Space Odyssey) in a murder case. Lawrence elevates this Poverty Row billfiller above its station; as always, he brings absolute conviction to his role. There's also a fun subplot involving a wheelchair-bound paraplegic played by Ed Wood regular Bud Osborne. The fact that these films were all shot on a shoestring oddly benefits the East Side Kids movies: the threadbare sets, minimal costuming, and muffed lines add a patina of Bowery believability to these endearing little films.