Ghost Chasers (1951)iMDB Rating: 7.4
A ghost helps the Bowery Boys capture a gang of crooks led by a mad doctor.
Bowery Boys #22
Ghost Chasers (1951)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Funny entry in the never-ending series has Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the other boys trying to bring down a medium who is charging people large sums of money for her fake spiritual advice. These victims include Slip's neighbor who recently lost her son in the war and is now trying to get in contact with him. At just 68-minutes this movie has a few too many slow spots but overall this is one of the better entries in the series and it's certainly one of their best when it comes to mixing comedy and the darker horror elements. I think some of the funniest moments happen early on when a few of the boys are in the back of Louie's shop doing a fake séance and Louie himself walks in and gets scared out of his wits. Bernard Gorcey is again back as Louie and he has some really funny moments as the screenplay makes the right decision to include him in on some of the action and the viewer gets rewarded with some nice laughs. Lloyd Corrigan gets a rather large part of a ghost who helps Sach get out of the various bad situations he gets himself into. I thought some of the stuff between the Hall and Corrigan was funny but after a while it started to get somewhat boring. With that said, Hall certainly steals the show with his idiot character constantly doing one dumb thing after another. He gets some pretty big laughs especially during the scenes where he gets scared for the various things going on. The scene where he first sees the ghost is priceless and he certainly helps keep things moving. Leo is in fine form as well, although he's part isn't nearly as big as usual. Lela Bliss isn't too bad as the medium but it's Bernard Gorcey that really nails everything home. Fans of the series will certainly want to check this one out but I think this one is good enough to the point where even non-fans will probably find themselves laughing.
Gambling House (1950)iMDB Rating: 6.4Small time racketeer Marc Fury agrees to plead self-defense for a murder committed by gang boss Joe Farrow in exchange for Farrow's I.O.U. for $50,000. He is acquitted but is ordered deported by immigration authorities unless he can convince the judge to let him stay. After meeting volunteer worker Lynn Warren his tough guy exterior begins to soften as he follows her through her efforts to settle a family of European refugees. Events lead to a dramatic conclusion as Farrow welches on his deal with him and Fury attends his final deportation hearing.
Immigration Jackpot
Victor Mature was a tough and solid leading man hero in many films, but in Gambling House he lets William Bendix make a chump out of him. In fact he gets into a real jackpot with the Immigration authorities.
This story hit home with me because I knew someone who was in just such a bind as Mature was in this film. He was born in Canada of Puerto Rican parents and he was undocumented until he was an adult. For him it was cumbersome process to get citizenship and he was ill equipped to deal with it. But that's another story.
The story of Charles 'Lucky' Luciano was in everyone's mind back then so the story here resonated with the American audiences. Luciano got himself deported to Italy as did a few other foreign born gangsters back then. This was no idle threat.
Mature takes a murder rap for Bendix and pleads self defense and Bendix agrees to a $50,000.00 payment and Mature takes his IOU. Just like Alan Ladd who gets burned with hot money after a contract in This Gun For Hire, Mature gets ratted out to immigration.
When Mature by dint of circumstances is forced to make contact with various hopeful immigrants the film takes an abrupt turn into social drama from noir. Helping him find a social conscience is rich do-gooder socialite Terry Moore.
The end is taken from one of Mature's much better films, Kiss Of Death without the dramatic impact it had in that one. William Bendix was never bad in any film, but he's sadly wasted in one of RKO's lesser noir films.
The Tattooed Stranger (1950)iMDB Rating: 5.9The body of an unknown woman turns up in a stolen car abandoned in a New York park, and the only clue the detectives on the case have to work from is the tattoo on her arm, and the fact that someone tried to deface the corpse to remove the evidence. From this slender trail, and that of a single stem of grass discovered in the car, they gradually trace back first the victim and then her killer, in a case that's all science and legwork, and no magic inspiration.
Third rate "B" pic...squalid look at a seedy looking NY in the '50s...
Although the storyline is meager and the detective work is old-fashioned, this little "B" rates interest as a look at the seedier side of New York City in the '50s--a la THE NAKED CITY--but without the tight suspense of that "A" film. It's a strictly by-the-numbers police story with nothing more than a flat effect by the time it finishes.
The low budget look is sometimes overcome by some excellent photography of New York sites but the storyline and the actors keep reminding you it's strictly an assembly line detective story. Leading man John Miles is too bland and laid back to be even mildly interesting and the same can be said for the lady botanist who helps him. None of the supporting characters come to life.
As for Jack Lord--I must have blinked more than once. I didn't even spot him.
Fort Dodge Stampede (1951)iMDB Rating: 7.0Outlaws took $30,000 from the Adams Bank, but one of them double crossed everyone and hid the money in old Fort Dodge, Nevada. As old Fort Dodge is out of his jurisdiction, Rocky takes a vacation there and finds that everything is owned by old Skeeter, who knows nothing about the hidden money. But the Pike gang is also in town looking for the money and Rocky wants the money and the head bandit. When settlers come to town, he devises a plan to catch all the bad ones and get the money back for the Adams Bank.
Leave Of Absence
In a superior B western from Republic, Allan Lane plays a deputy sheriff who goes on a leave of absence out of his jurisdiction to round up a gang that did an unsolved bank robbery several years earlier. A dying declaration from one of the gang who doublecrossed his partners and hid the loot in a ghost town called Fort Dodge sends Lane on the trail.
Of course when he gets to Fort Dodge Lane finds some of the gang already there led by Roy Barcroft. And Chubby Johnson who has bought up all the land that was abandoned for a song is also there. Barcroft is not the leader, the leader is one of a group of settlers that Johnson sold property to that come in later.
This is one of the best of the Rocky Lane westerns I've seen so far. Definitely a must for any fan of B westerns.
Fortunes of Captain Blood (1950)iMDB Rating: 5.7When he unwittingly sends some of his men into a trap, pirate Captain Peter Blood decides to rescue them. They've been taken prisoner by the Spanish Marquis de Riconete who is now using them as slave labor harvesting pearls from the sea. With help of the Marquis' daughter Isabelita he not only manages to rescue his men but also vanquishes the Marquis in a sea battle.
Good family entertainment
I was in love with Louis Hayward and there is no more ardent love than a seven year old for a Pirate. I saw every film with Louis Hayward that came to the local cinema and I imagined I was the heroine of course! We had American friends and they had a home cinema and I saw this film and thought it was wonderful.
53 years later, what would I think - I hope it would transport me back over the years when the handsome Louis Hayward would be as dashing and romantic as he was when I first saw him. Good swashbuckling adventure. Must have made an impression when I remember it after 53 years.
I know Errol Flynn was the original "Peter Blood" in talking movies but Louis Hayward was the actor whom I saw in the 1950's in glorious colour. Yes, the colours in those movies in the 1950's were wonderful breathtaking after so many black and white movies.
