‘We’ll have one of the ghosts bring the keys back to you.’
A young man and his associates set up an insect extermination business, but their first job takes them to an old house which has been abandoned for many years. As soon as they arrive, spooky things begin to happen, but it’s all the work of a mad scientist living in the basement with his pet gorilla…
Typical ‘old dark house’ programmer courtesy of the cut-price Monogram studio and the Bowery Boys, that infamous gang of lovable young toughs. They’d evolved from cinema’s original ‘Dead End Kids’ at MGM through various other incarnations before arriving at this one and embarking on a run of 48 pictures made in just 13 years. By this point, Leo Gorcey was the group’s leader on and off the screen and, although he gets no official credit here other than for his performance, he does get his name above the title, the billing being ‘Leo Gorcey and the Bowery Boys.’
It’s business as usual for the Boys as the film opens. Gorcey has just graduated from the College of Insect Extermination (class of 1946) and has set up shop in the sweet store run by the long-suffering Louis (Leo’s real-life dad, Bernard Gorcey). The group are well-chuffed to get their first assignment, even if it is an old estate last owned by a magician. Of course, the agent tells them that ‘a lot of funny things go on around that house’ because, after all, magicians are well known for their associations with ghosts and spirits, aren’t they? But I do have to question the Boys’ qualifications for the job. For a start, they chose to start work in the middle of the night (why?!) and their idea of insect extermination seems to be a little light dusting and straightening up!
His College education had not been wasted…
What follows is the usual, predictable ragbag of ‘old dark house’ cliches: the electricity goes on and off at random, threatening messages appear and disappear on a mirror, a picture on the wall moves and an organ opens a trapdoor when played. This last device always seems a little odd to me; why link a secret entrance with a musical instrument? Someone else always seems to play it and discovers the secret. Throw in a hidden passage that runs to a tombstone out in the grounds, and you’ve got another puzzle; who buries dead people in their garden? Officially, I mean.
All these spooky goings-on are courtesy of mad scientist Dr Coslow (Douglas Drumbrille) and his gang, and he’s picked a reliable bunch to aid him in his diabolical plans. Henchman Charles Middleton was the original Ming the Merciless from the ‘Flash Gordon’ serials and Vera Lewis played bits in ‘King Kong’ (1933), ‘The Return of Dr X’ (1939) and ‘The Smiling Ghost’ (1941). Also on the crew is Richard Alexander who aided Larry ‘Buster’ Crabbe in Flash’s intergalactic adventures as Prince Barin but, more memorably, was Bela Lugosi’s muscleman assassin in serial ‘S.O.S. Coastguard’ (1936). They’re holding kidnapped scientist Dr Bender (Maurice Cass) whose assistance Dumbrille needs in his brain swapping experiments. Of course, the crackpot soon realises that Satch (Huntz Hall) is the perfect subject for a cerebral switcheroo with Herman the Gorilla (Arthur Miles).
‘Blimey, these roaches must sure be tough…’
This is just another mild riff on a very familiar set up, which Gorcey and Hall had first tackled as part of the East Side Kids when they ran across Bela Lugosi in ‘Spooks Run Wild’ (1941) and, again, in ‘Ghosts On The Loose’ (1943). There’s also a fair resemblance to later Bowery Boys picture ‘Master Minds’ (1949). So there’s plenty of running about in dusty corridors and the usual business based around various members of the gang seeing something spooky and then being disbelieved by everyone else. But there are some minor wrinkles here.
Gorcey gives us an intermittent ‘tough guy’ voiceover in the manner of Bogart or George Raft, and Middleton takes a very convincing punch to the jaw near the climax. Possibly the actor just knew how to fake it, but it may have been an on-set accident. There’s also the belated arrival of gang member Gabe (Gabriel Dell) who has gone legit by joining the Navy. Not only does he bring along pretty French girlfriend Mignon (Tanis Chandler, who was actually French!) but every line of his dialogue has a nautical slant! This doesn’t seem to have been intended as part of the comedy, although it’s hard to be sure. The sheer persistence of it does make it funnier than most of the tired gags on offer.
‘Hey, Huntz, when you do you suppose we first used this gag?’
Directed by notorious, low-budget journeyman William ‘One Shot’ Beaudine, the film runs an epic 68 minutes which is longer than most pictures of its type. Unfortunately, this is not a good thing. The best aspect turns out to be the performance of Dumbrille who underplays quite nicely, making his mad scientist seem even more comically deranged. But it’s scant reward for the long-suffering audience.
Another predictable, bottom of the bill outing that holds no surprises and few laughs.
Mark David Welsh 