Movie Review: 'Neath the Brooklyn Bridge (1942)
Synopsis: Mugs, Danny and the rest of the East Side Kids come to the rescue when they hear Sylvia crying for help because her abusive stepfather, Morley, is forcibly trying to force her to run away with him. Morley is left unconscious by the gang but is murdered by a crime boss, McGaffey, a short time later. When Danny is arrested for the crime, McGaffey uses evidence from the scene as a way to blackmail Mugs into helping him with a burglary.
Who's in it? The movie stars Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Mark Lawrence, Dave O'Brien and Ann Gillis.
Review: I have had 'Neath the Brooklyn Bridge in my library for a few months because every time I planned to watch it, I ended up choosing something else instead. I finally did the opposite this morning, changing my mind about another film and selecting this movie as the alternative. Overall, it was an OK choice.
While I would consider the majority of this movie a drama, there was a nice mix of comedy throughout to keep it lighthearted. I especially loved a sequence of scenes involving Glimpy (Hall) tricking multiple New York residents into giving him free food. It was one of those things that reminded me why the East Side Kids, and later, the Bowery Boys, were successful enough to justify dozens of movies.
As far as the main plot goes, I thought it was solid. While getting out of trouble seemed to be as simple as just going to the police, especially since Danny's (Jordan) brother, Jim (O'Brien) was a police sergeant, it proved to be a lot more complicated than I originally thought. After all, while the viewer knew it was McGaffey (Lawrence) behind Morley's (Bud Osborne) murder, all the physical evidence, including the murder weapon, pointed to Mugs (Gorcey) and the rest of the gang.
Even Sylvia (Gillis) couldn't be counted on as a witness. She fled the scene while the boys were still beating her stepfather. And her grandfather (J. Arthur Young) who was in the room at the time, couldn't speak. The combination of that and the above made me wonder if Mugs would be forced to go through with the burglary because he had no other choice.
My only real complaint about the movie was the somewhat forced love story between Sylvia and Butch (Noah Beery, Jr.). This wasn't because I didn't think the movie needed something like that, just that it felt like Mugs and Danny got a bit of a raw deal considering they were the ones who led the rescue effort and faced prison time, but Butch was the one who ended up getting the girl simply by showing up at the right time. It must have been the uniform.
Final Opinion: I probably wouldn't consider it one of my favorite East Side Kids/Bowery Boys films, but it had a solid plot and was entertaining so I'd still consider it a good choice.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1942:
Movie Review: Just Off Broadway (1942)
Movie Review: Night Monster (1942)
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