Hold That Line (1952)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A Pygmalion theme is present in this episode of our Lower East Side slackers,(Our Bowery Boys)as two distinguished gentleman Billingsly and Stanhope argue over and debate whether an inner city roughian can be molded, transformed into an intellectuals by means of heredity or environment? After searching the bowels of the lower east side of New York these two esteemed colleagues observed Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) and his knucklehead outspoken side kick Satch (Huntz Hall)arguing over some mundane problem of the day.The two gents follow the Slip and Satch and there extended group Butch and Chuck into Louie's Sweet Shop which doubles as a eating establishment and headquarter for our Bowery bunch. The two approach our boys and make them an offer to attend college and whip them into blue bloods. Slip Mahoney our unpolished Leader of the group famous for his obstruction of the English language with his malapropisms at every turn excepts their offer and off to Ivy University for all four infamous freshman. I found this to be personally humorous at the sight of these guys who are pushing thirty to be considered Boys, but it's never to late to learn. Now on to the Ivy Campus where the Boys are matriculating and trying to fit in their unfamiliar surroundings. Their first meeting with a very apprehensive Dean Forrester is very predictable as our boys are acting like bulls in a china shop. Dean Forrester who is handling his pride and joy his beautiful Ming Vase in his marble and mahogany clad office as he calls it, "My beautiful Ming Vace (VAAAAZ) as Satch has a hand in breaking the vase and the Dean's spirit as well. Next they run into football star Biff Wallace (John Broomfield) who looks down upon our uncouth freshman as the girls gravitate towards our Bowery brigade. Some of the classroom scenes are notable for example in Professor Grog's Math class. Satch who's lack of intelligence is questionable at best has the right answers to any math problem that is asked of him. The startled Professor looks in disbelief but Satch has adding machine under his desk which he types with his toes and gets the answers in seconds. On to Chemistry lab as Satch fiddles with chemicals based on the color and taste that suit him. Takes a bold taste and becomes Hurricane Jones with Super human strength. Satch tests his powers on the track and field area as he throws the javelin about a good mile in the air right through the Dean's window.Sadly our Dean was repairing his damaged Ming Vase gluing the last piece together as the javelin pierces the vase. Next you hear a simultaneous crying sound from our devastated Dean. Satch with the help of his super drug still fresh in his system, takes his skills to the Football field and out runs the whole squad into the ground. Each week goes by with huge headlines about Ivy's new star Hurricane Jones beating such and such college or University. By now Satch is making a name for himself as an All-American star player which makes Biff and organized gamblers take notice. Like most previous episodes Louie Dombrowsky joins in as this time he plays a duel role as himself and his cousin Morris who tends the Sweet Shop while our elderly Louie makes up some college credits. The Big game against State is coming up and Biff introduces Satch to Candy who's job is to vamp Satch. Keep him occupied and away from the stadium for the big game. Candy is connected to gambler racketeer Big Dave who has a lot of loot riding on State University. How this all turns out is sheer Bowery Boys comedy. Do I hear ROUTINE OMAHA?

It's a pity that How To Succeed In Business was a decade away from its creation. The song Grand Old Ivy would have made a perfect theme for this Bowery Boys comedy as the boys sample a bit of higher education in Ivy College. They probably could have used a bit of lower education before sampling Ivy.Slip and Sach and the rest go to school on a bet by two older alumni of Ivy as to whether a bit of learning smooth the edges out in the roughest kind of material. Well they certainly picked the roughest material out there.While there Huntz Hall plays around in the chemistry lab and discovers a formula that makes him super strong. Where else to use this new found ability but the gridiron.I think you can figure the rest. This is Bowery Boy hijinks as usual but also with the added attraction of Veda Ann Borg as the gambler's moll trying to seduce Sach. No film with her should ever be missed.It might have been interesting if Leo Gorcey had ever learned in college the real meanings of the words he mangles in every picture. But if he did half the comedy of the Bowery Boys would be gone.

The Bowery Boys made an average of four movies per year for 12 years. So it was that Hold That Line was the 25th in the long-running series. Perhaps borrowing from an old Three Stooges short, the story line involves two old time alumni of Ivy University, who bet pro and con whether uneducated social misfits could succeed as well as "blue bloods" at college. Stopping by Louie's Sweet Shop, the two alumni see and choose the Bowery Boys, even though they are by now in their mid-thirties. The boys consist of Slip, Sach, and three others, but minus Gabe and Whitey, who are long gone from the series. They are all enrolled for one semester (or "siesta"). The boys commit their usual shenanigans in their various classrooms, and do provide a few howls. Sach prepares a TNT formula in Chemistry lab, and nearly blows up the class. But he also concocts a vitamin formula that temporarily strengthens him, and allows him to become a hit at football practice. He even surpasses local football hero, Biff Wallace. Meanwhile the boys join a fraternity, and for their initiation must dress like girls.The football season begins unusually well, and Ivy U. wins games by scores of 52-0 and 63-0, with Sach (now "Hurricane Jones") standing out. But, it all comes down to the annual game with State U. Of course big time gamblers are involved, and on the day of the big game, an attractive lady (Candy) lures Sach away from the playing field. He is held in the gamblers' apartment, and the game goes on without Sach. Biff has to leave the game because of an injury, and State has a 13-7 lead with time running out. Meanwhile there is a confession and the hideout is discovered; Sach, drugged, is picked up and rushed into the game. Slip tries unsuccessfully to make up a fresh batch of vitamins for Sach. So it is Slip who must become the hero and save the game for Ivy U.The Bowery Boys films, which do not age well, evoke the witticisms and pretensions of a bygone era. Watching them today is like comparing Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh! (1917) with Satisfaction (1965). In Hold That Line the aging boys still hang out at an ice cream parlor (!), while some of the jokes are old and are suggestive of Harold Lloyd (see one of his truly great films: The Freshman, 1925). Take a look at the outfits the boys wear during their first days at college. See those Bowery boys' football uniforms, which are reminiscent of the 1920s: leather helmets without face masks, light shoulder padding, a sweater. And yet, even though the boys here may be getting old, along with their gags, they still have some appeal. Slip's malapropisms abound. So, for film buffs, the younger set, and for those who remember how it was in the old days, the movie is worth checking out.

Hold That Line (1952) ** (out of 4) A couple rich snobs make a bet that they can take any group of idiots off the street, send them to Ivy school and make them smart. Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the boys are selected but their dumbness follows them to college but Sach ends up making some "vitamins" that allow him to become a huge football star. As you can tell by the story, this was TRADING PLACES thirty-one years earlier than that classic 1983 film but don't expect the same quality. Yet again we've given a fairly weak story and not too much is done with it. Once again we have a plot where the boys get mixed up with gangsters who eventually kidnap Sach so that they can place bets on a big game. Other stuff in the film includes the boys of course mixing it up with the star football player, dealing with various college exams and we even get to see some football action. The football scenes are all filmed rather poorly and nothing else really works here either. The entire film has a very cheap look to it and it's clear that Beaudine is on auto-pilot as the scenes never really add up to much and the entire thing just feels rushed. There's one saving grace in the film and that's a sequence where the boys get hazed and must go into their old neighborhood in drag. The scene inside Louie's diner is very funny and seeing Louie in drag was well worth sitting through the film. Gorcey once again takes a backseat as his character really doesn't have too much to do. Hull takes over the lead and manages to be OK here and thankfully his character isn't as big a dope as some of the previous films. I'm sure fans of the series will want to check this one out but those new will certainly want to start somewhere else.