East Side Kids: Clancy Street Boys

Customer Reviews:

Classic Comedy.......2007-04-01

Clancy Street Boys has a tried but true storyline in a b-picture format. Muggs (Leo Gorcey) is having a birthday, and just like every year, his rich uncle (Noah Beery) sends him money through the mail. In the card is an announcemnt; Uncle is coming to New York with his daughter (Amelita Ward) to visit. Muggs' mother (Martha Wentworth) becomes distressed. It seems that her husband has been scamming Muggs' uncle for years, telling him that there are seven children, not one, for the extra birthday cash. In order to protect his father's honor, Muggs rounds up the gang to play the parts, including Glimpy (Huntz Hall) as his little sister Annabelle.

The story is very funny and well done. The gang's slang really makes for some great jokes, and as always Gorcey and Hall shine. Gorcey is able to bring plenty of laughs by being completely serious, and Hall's goofyness is inevitably funny.

EAST SIDERS BACK UP MUGGS........2005-05-27

During the course of the second manifestation for Leo Gorcey's mini-mob players, the East Side Kids, who followed the Dead End Kids, while preceding the Bowery Boys, producer Sam Katzman hired veteran director William Beaudine for the East Side series due to his established success at leading movie youngsters and this quite effective Monogram release is the initial effort with Beaudine at the helm. The mother of young Muggs McGinnis (Gorcey) shares with him a letter received from his late father's close friend, "Uncle" Pete, a wealthy Texan, in which he Pete tells of an impending visit by him and his daughter Judy to the McGinnis home in New York where the rancher expects to meet for the first time the five brothers and the sister Annabelle of Muggs, non-existent siblings invented by the widow McGinnis in order to receive Pete's financial support over many years. Muggs conscripts his East Side roustabout cohorts as his family, with Glimpy (Huntz Hall) dressed as Annabelle, and when Uncle Pete and Judy arrive in New York, confused jollity ensues, until a local thug plots to expose the impersonation as a means of obtaining some of Pete's wealth for himself. The film, produced with a virtually non-existent budget, has a virtually non-existent script, as well, with ad libbing contributed by most of the cast, notably Gorcey with his rather fascinating employment of malapropisms, all of which is very compatible to Beaudine's loose-reined directoral mode. His relaxed methods must also take responsibility for some ragged performing, and there is need for more efficient editing, but this comedic affair eschews the wonted wartime jingoism that marks the series, and Hall is enormously and unexpectedly hilarious in his gender bending role, joining the other members of the cast in patent enjoyment of playing in this entry. The DVD version offers no special features.

Series fans, add 1 *.Huntz Hall in drag is worth price alone.......2003-12-30

The East Side Kids series took a definite turn for the better when director William Beaudine joined it in 1943. CLANCY STREET BOYS is Beaudine's first, and also the first East Side escapade to be played strictly for laughs. To impress his father's old friend from Texas, Leo Gorcey has to pass off his rowdy pals as his siblings (including Huntz Hall in lipstick as sister "Annabelle," and African-American Ernie Morrison as a stepbrother!). Noah Beery and Lita Ward (the future Mrs. Gorcey) are enjoyable as Gorcey's fresh-from-Texas visitors, and Rick Vallin is personable as the heavy. (Vallin became one of producer Sam Katzman's favorite actors.) This was filmed on Katzman's usual how-low-can-we-go budget, which results in frequent ad libs and a relaxed atmosphere. An hour of fun for comedy fans, and series fans will really enjoy it. The print was frequently cut and recut by TV stations, so there are splices at scene changes. Except for a few momentary digital glitches, the image is surprisingly sharp and clear.

Antics galore!.......2001-08-07

If you grew up watching the East Side Kids/Bowery Boys, you'll love this film. Muggs and the gang are always at their hysterical best. It's just as much fun to watch them now at age 51 than when I was 10. This is a keeper!

[19 Comedy Flicks] Love Laughs At Andy Hardy, My Dear Secretary, Never Wave At a WAC, Nothing Sacred, the Nasty Rabbit, New Fave, One Week, Parlor Bedroom and Bath, Smallest Show on Earth, Two Weeks to Live, Bashful Bachelor, so This Iswashington, Dreaming Out Loud, Clancy Street Boys, East Side Kids, Little Tough Guy, Spooks Run Wild, Flying Deuces, Stolen Tools

Average customer rating:

[19 Comedy Flicks] Love Laughs At Andy Hardy, My Dear Secretary, Never Wave At a WAC, Nothing Sacred, the Nasty Rabbit, New Fave, One Week, Parlor Bedroom and Bath, Smallest Show on Earth, Two Weeks to Live, Bashful Bachelor, so This Iswashington, Dreaming Out Loud, Clancy Street Boys, East Side Kids, Little Tough Guy, Spooks Run Wild, Flying Deuces, Stolen Tools

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000E3AW7O

Product Description

DVD FEATURES: DIGITALLY MASTERED, INTERACTIVE MENUS, CHAPTER SELECTIONS, ENHANCED AUDIO 5.1

East Side Kids - That Gang of MIne & The Clancy Street Boys

Average customer rating:

East Side Kids - That Gang of MIne & The Clancy Street Boys

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Classics | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000E19XQW

Product Description

The East Side Kids in two feature films, THAT GANG OF MIN (60 Minutes) and CLANCY STREET BOYS (65 Minutes) plus bonus cartoon, THERE AUTO BE A LAW

DVD:

DVD

DVD