Excellent, a Must See

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This Ivy University is in a league of it's own when the Bowery Boys come calling. Former seasoned graduates of the esteemed college bet among themselves that it's possible to take a below average student and make them successful given the right environment. This all sounds strangely like the same idea that's gotten underachieving high school grads who can't read or do basic math, into degree programs today some sixty plus years later. Well, at least the Bowery Boys didn't need safe spaces on campus to make the grade, no place was safe once they arrived on the scene.Right around the time this film was coming out, Gloria Winters was about to begin a lengthy series run on TV's 'Sky King', so it was a nice surprise seeing her show up in this flick. She was Kirby Grant's niece Penny King in that show, so one might conclude that her name was borrowed from her character in this movie, Penny Wells. She didn't really have a lot to do here, but managed to be part of the 'in crowd' on campus so to speak, hanging out with the football team's hunky Biff Wallace (John Bromfield), girlfriend Katie (Mona Knox), and second string boyfriend Harold (Bob Nichols).This picture turns out to be Sach's (Huntz Hall) show pretty much all the way, as 'Hurricane' Jones concocts some magical lab potion that makes him a man of steel on the gridiron and Ivy University's newest football hero. To pass a fraternity hazing, the Boys do a drag routine at Louie's (Bernard Gorcey), who we learn after all this time that he has a brother Morris who looks just like him - who would have guessed?Well with a couple of hoods betting on Ivy's big season ending game with State University, Sach gets sidelined by the gang's moll Candy Calin (Veda Ann Borg), but it won't be enough to stop the Bowery juggernaut. Slip (Leo Gorcey) picks up the ball and manages to get tackled into the end zone on the last play of the game to notch a win for Ivy. To Slip's credit, this film offers him the opportunity to utter what might be the longest stream of malapropisms on record in any of the Bowery films, a degree worthy achievement in it's own right.

It's the later Bowery Boys at the top of their game in this well-paced and satisfying comedy farce. Two elderly rich men make a bet that the classless Slip, Sach, and the rest of the group can be enrolled in a well-to-do college and still make the grade. While in chemistry class, Sach (Huntz Hall) then develops his own secret formula which transforms him into a powerhouse with super-strength, becoming a new football hero rivaling the All-American Football champ of the campus.A recommended entry in this everlasting series which stands out a bit from most of the films.**1/2 (of four)

74/100. Exceptionally good Bowery Boys entry. A professor bets another professor that he can can make anyone a good student, and one professor insists that he gets to pick the person. Well, you guessed it, he picked some tough subjects, the boys themselves. This is sort of a distant twist of Pygmalion. Well, Ivy University has know idea what they are in for! Sach makes a mixture in chemistry that makes him very strong, and soon enough he is on the football team. The climax football game is quite similar to that of Harold Lloyd's The Freshman. Leo Gorcey does an exceptional job butchering the English language! Very funny, great pace and the boys are at their best.

In a "Pygmalion"-type plot, two cultured, chess-playing college alumni agree to round up some ruffians, and enroll them in an Ivy league school. To wit, they find Leo Gorcey (as Slip) and "The Bowery Boys": Huntz Hall (as Sach), Gil Stratton (as Junior), David "Conden" Gorcey (as Chuck), and Benny "David" Bartlett (as Butch). They set out to answer the question: Can any "boy" make the grade at their "Ivy University", or do you need "blue blood"? "The Bowery Boys" go to college - routine, unimaginative, and... too late.In a "hazing" scene, the "Boys" dress like girls, and go to Louie's. In a sub-plot, Leo Gorcey's father Bernard's "Louie Dumbrowsky" character's brother "Morris" appears, making it four Gorcey characters in one film. The main story involves a chemistry dabbling Mr. Hall inventing, and drinking, a vitamin concoction which makes him a super-strong football star. Some underworld types lure Hall away from the important "big game".*** Hold That Line (3/23/52) William Beaudine ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey