ridiculous rating

Really Surprised!

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Sentimentality and social issues take over from the crazy, unbelievable (but fun) predicaments of the earlier films, beginning with the East Side Kids and moving to the Bowery Boys series. Gone are the delightfully silly malapropisms of Slip and Sach, and in are the sentiments of "Boy's Town". It's obvious that the writers decided to be more relevant with this entry, and unfortunately, they failed. Fortunately, they learned their lesson, and returned to the formula in the next entry of the series.While I would have been accepting of a different style, this one is jarring because with few exceptions, it seems like Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey are playing completely different characters. They are involved in helping Gorcey's recently released cousin Frankie Darro keeping on the straight and narrow, and that isn't easy thanks to his taking a job with gangster Nestor Paiva who has a penchant for practical jokes.The intrusion of occasional farce mixes with the crime element and sentimentality (a young neighborhood kid injured and ending up in the hospital simply for being at the wrong place at the wrong time) in an odd, uncomfortable way. It's certainly a better acting opportunity for the boys, and Mary Gordon delivers her usual lovable performance as Gorcey's mom. Rosemary La Planche is an interesting femme fatale, but the loss of Louie's sweet shop is sorely missed, as is Bernard Gorcey. Hall gets in some amusing imitations, but this really seems like a parallel universe version of the series.

Slip's cousin Jimmy gets released from prison and quickly turns back to a life of crime. Slip tries to help him out by going undercover in a car-theft ring. It's the ninth Bowery Boys film and the first without Bobby Jordan. Stars Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall are both good here, doing as much drama as comedy. Gabriel Dell, William Benedict, and David Gorcey are all fine. Frankie Darro is enjoyable as Jimmy. Early in his career he was great at playing young street toughs, despite not being one of the Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys. Bennie Bartlett appears for the first time in a Bowery Boys movie. He would become a regular member of the gang in the next film. Geneva Gray and former Miss America Rosemary LaPlanche provide the pretty. Sadly Bernard Gorcey's Louie is absent from this one. Instead we get an annoying little kid that looks up to Slip. You get the impression they were trying out a new character hoping he would catch on. He has a 'Bobs Watson scene' that has to be seen to be believed. The rest of the cast includes vets like John Eldredge, Nestor Paiva, and Dewey Robinson. There's a little more drama than comedy with this one, which might not please all fans. It reminds me of some of the gang's 1930s Dead End efforts. There is some comedy, though. The scene where Huntz Hall does impressions of Ronald Colman, Jimmy Durante, and James Cagney is a highlight. It's not one of my favorite Bowery Boys movies but it is an interesting one.

As if the world did not have enough troubles, the English language was sent back a few generations as Leo Gorcey acquired an understudy in diction and grammar in Angels' Alley. Other than that, this film takes a more serious tone than most of the Bowery Boys features.Young Thomas Menzies has adopted Gorcey as a hero and has taken to wearing the creased old fedora like him and using the big words without quite knowing the meaning. It's the best thing about Angels' Alley.Another actor who played troubled city kids, Frankie Darro, plays Leo Gorcey's cousin just released from prison. Immediately he gets tied up with the local gangster Nestor Paiva. It's up to the Bowery Boys to get the whole situation straightened.This film did miss Bernard Gorcey as Louie Dombrowski, proprietor of Louie's sweetshop and hangout for Leo, Huntz Hall and the rest. Nice film, but not in the usual Bowery Boys spirit.

This is a woefully lackluster attempt to revisit some of the original "Dead End" and "Angels…" themes from the original 1930s film series. The strained, more serious "Angels' Alley" storyline isn't helped by the ill-fitting comic antics of Leo Gorcey (as Slip Mahoney) and Huntz Hall (as Sach Jones). William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey) and David Gorcey (as Chuck) make the most of their small roles. Perhaps acting wisely, Bobby Jordan (as Bobby) makes no appearance at all. Unfortunately, Mr. Jordan opted out of the series, which had reached a relative peak with "News Hounds" and "Bowery Buckaroos" (both 1947).The "Sweet Shop" is mentioned, but "The Bowery Boys" are based in the "St. Vincent Boy's Club", Gorcey's home, or the local pool hall. Bernard "Louie" Gorcey does not appear; instead, "Slip" lives at home, with his Irish mother Mary Gordon (as Mamie Mahoney) and moocher cousin Frankie Darro (as Jimmy). Other semi-regular "Bowery Boys" of interest include the bad boy duo Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Harry "Jag" Harmon) and Buddy Gorman (as Andrew "Andy" Miller). With the forthcoming "Jinx Money", the Bowery series begins a return to its more successful formula.*** Angels' Alley (3/7/48) William Beaudine ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Frankie Darro