Movie Review: East Side Kids (1940)
Synopsis: When Knuckles Dolan is placed on death row for a murder he did not commit simply because he refuses to name names, Det. Pat O'Day forms an athletic club so Knuckles' younger brother, Danny, and Danny's friends can get off the street and not turn to a life of crime too. His efforts are sabotaged when a local counterfeiting ring run by Milton Franklin "Mileaway" Harris tricks the boys into helping him and O'Day is framed as being the person behind it.
Who's in it? The movie stars Leon Ames, Dennis Moore, Dave O'Brien, Joyce Bryant, Harris Berger and Jim Farley.
Review: When it comes to a movie series, I naturally try to watch the films in order. However, with older movies, that's not always as easy to do as it sounds because of availability. That's why, after watching quite a few East Side Kids/Bowery Boys films, I just now had the opportunity to watch the movie that started them all, East Side Kids.
The film turned out to be worth the wait.
While this, like most East Side Kids films, is described as a comedy, I would put it more in the drama category, especially with an ending that probably should have been a bit more tragic/sadder than it was. However, while it isn't a film that is going to make you laugh, it still ended up having a solid and entertaining story.
I think the thing I liked best about this film was how Mileaway (Moore) and his accomplices managed to manipulate things, so Danny (Berger) and his gang were helping him while framing his long-time rival Pat (Ames). This made it much more difficult for the protagonists because it wasn't good enough to expose the counterfeiting ring, they also had to prove they weren't part of it and, in Danny's case, weren't guilty of murder.
Of course, also not helping their cause was a police chief (Farley) that clearly wasn't too bright. He had a counterfeiting plate go missing after a known criminal was in his office standing right next to it but didn't even once question that? Not to mention, he was literally standing in the counterfeit operation's headquarters but didn't bother securing the scene or arresting the man lying unconscious next to the incriminating evidence. It was sincerely making me wonder if he was really that incompetent or if he was secretly one of the bad guys.
I also could say the same thing about Knuckles (O'Brien) who could have prevented everything simply by speaking up in the first place. I'm still confused why he was so loyal to Mileaway, a guy that didn't seem to even be the least bit loyal to him, especially when Danny was in trouble. I'm not so certain he deserved to be freed from prison.
Final Opinion: It doesn't have many of the familiar actors that starred in the later films but turned out to be an entertaining movie with a sad and unexpected twist at the end. I would recommend taking the time to watch it.
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1940:
Movie Review: Haunted House (1940)
Movie: Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
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