When it comes to the old East Side Kids movies, GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE was
one of the best (that I've seen). It was one of two entries to star Bela
Lugosi, the other being SPOOKS RUN WILD. The gang thinks they'll be
doing their recently-wed buddy a favor by fixing up the honeymoon
cottage he just bought. However, the gang ends up at the house next
door, a sprawling residence supposedly haunted and crawling with enemy
agents. It's a situation which has been used many a time, but
this one exudes all the charm one expects, with the cast in top form.
Leo Gorcey, Bobbie Jordan, and Huntz Hall were among the juveniles hired
to play a tough street gang in the dramatic play Dead End. When the
story was brought to the screen, the kids were carried over. Though a
gritty drama meant to cast a critical eye on city slums, the boys had a
chemistry that made them, and DEAD END, a hit. Audiences liked the kids,
and soon other crime pictures were incorporating "The Dead End Kids"
into other gritty crime stories. In time, new kids joined the group and
they began headlining movies as The Little Tough Guys. Producer Sam
Katzman then took over and created a series of films to star The East
Side Kids. These proved highly popular mixtures of comedy and drama,
with the kids running afoul of Nazi spies and slum hoods. Finally, Leo
Gorcey took over and re-worked the concept into The Bowery Boys. From
here, the focus was more and more on laughs, until the series became
full fledged comedy. This incarnation lasted through the 1950's, going
beyond Gorcey's eventual departure. Huntz Hall carried the remaining
films. The movies became popular on television, and in the 1960's,
director Ray Steckler paid tribute to the boys with his characters, The
Lemon Grove Kids, in a couple of featurettes edited into a feature film I
haven't seen yet.
KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS was one of a handful of killer tarantula movies
produced in the 70's, and is by far the best of the bunch. William
Shatner is a country vet who comes across a mystery. It seems the
spiders, particularly tarantulas, have converged on the southwest in
atypical cooperation. What's more, with
their food sources depleted by insecticides, the spiders have declared
war on larger animals -and human beings! One of the best genre movies of
the 70's, KINGDOM OF THE SPIDERS starts small and builds to fever
pitch, climaxing with a full assault on the normally quiet town of Verde
Valley. Those looking for a good ecological horror movie will be well
served to go with this one. Those interested in a good science fiction
movie in general, as well as a solid suspenser, will not go home
disappointed either!
That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. -St. Paul, Romans 10:9-10
MIGHTY
JOE YOUNG was created by much of the creative staff that gave us KING
KONG. Although it too is a fun adventure movie, the two are very
different animals. MIGHTY JOE YOUNG concerns the story of a young girl
in love with a cowboy who has been brought to Africa by a night club
owner to capture live animals for a
jungle-themed club to be built in the States. Our heroine just happens
to have a domesticated giant gorilla, and all think Joe, as she calls
him, would be a dandy attraction at the new club. All goes well until
some drunks rile Joe and he breaks loose! Classic family entertainment, I
saw this one at a very early age. It may be at least partly responsible
for my romantic notions of Africa. Robert Armstrong, Kong's Carl
Denham, plays bigwig Max O'Hara mostly for laughs, and indeed there's a
sweetness that undergirds the whole film. Our young starlet is Terry
Moore. Miss Moore would go onto a long career, but is mostly noted for
being the secret wife of industrialist and innovator Howard Hughes. In
her 50's, Moore posed for Playboy, and still looked much better than the
bulk of the younger models found within the skin rag's pages. MIGHTY
JOE YOUNG was also a milestone behind the scenes, and it was the first
feature collaboration of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen and his
idol Willis O'Brien. O'Brien's career continued to slide until his
passing in the early 60's, but Ray's career flourished. The two men
would work together again to create the dinosaur sequences of Irwin
Allen's nature documentary THE ANIMAL WORLD.
