'Neath Brooklyn Bridge
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
This time around, the East Side Kids, a gang of well-meaning young rough-necks in New York, get pulled into a murder mystery. They manage to rescue a young girl by the name of Sylvia from her violent stepfather Morley's abuse. Soon after this the stepfather is killed by a gangster called McGaffey for interfering with his racketeering operation by stealing his money.
Sylvia has taken refuge in the gang's hideout. One of the Kids, Danny, returns to her stepfather's apartment to get some clothes for her. He is arrested by the police, suspected of the murder.
When McGaffey hears about the arrest he makes the gang a proposition. In exchange for the actual chair leg used by Mugs, president of the Kids, to hit Morley when the gang saved Sylvia, with Mugs' fingerprints, he wants them to break into a warehouse for him.
Danny fails to explain to his policeman brother how the killing of Morley went down. A former member of the Kids, Rusty, who is a sailor, comes to visit the boys in their hour of need. It turns out Sylvia's paralyzed grandfather has been in the apartment and seen the murder when it happened. He can still communicate with the world through blinking. Rusty discovers that the grandfather blinks morse code, and interprets it, revealing McGaffey's the killer.
Mugs comes forward, telling the rest of th gang about McGaffey's proposition. They decide to go to the warehouse, ad Rusty takes Sylvia to the police station to tell them who the killer is and get Danny out of jail. The Kids break into the warehouse by driving a truck through the doors, and a brawl ensues. The police arrive at the scene and McGaffey and the rest of the gangster are arrested.

Review: Typical East Side Kids adventure.
This time Muggs, Glimpy and the gang take on a real hard case: gangster Marc Lawrence, a cold-blooded baddie who entraps sweet young thing Ann Gillis (whose most recent film credit remains 2001: A Space Odyssey) in a murder case.
Lawrence elevates this Poverty Row billfiller above its station; as always, he brings absolute conviction to his role.
There's also a fun subplot involving a wheelchair-bound paraplegic played by Ed Wood regular Bud Osborne.
The fact that these films were all shot on a shoestring oddly benefits the East Side Kids movies: the threadbare sets, minimal costuming, and muffed lines add a patina of Bowery believability to these endearing little films..
East Side Trouble.
They help move furniture and admire the architecture of The Brooklyn Bridge.
But more importantly, "The Eastside Kids" Leo Gorcey (as Muggs McGinnis), Bobby Jordan (as Danny Lyons), Huntz Hall (as Glimpy), Ernest Morrison (as Scruno), Stanley Clements (as Stash) and Bobby Stone (as Skinny) save beautifully-shaped Anne Gillis (as Sylvia) from her wicked step-father.
Unfortunately, this leads to Mr. Jordan being arrested for murder which leads to Mr. Gorcey being blackmailed into heavy-duty crime...This average Bowery entry is made engaging by the regular, semi-regular, and guest characterizations.
Former "Dead End" kid turned "cheap crook" Gabriel Dell (as Skid) works for accomplished hood Marc Lawrence (as McGuffey).
Returning "charter member" of the kid gang Noah Berry Jr.
(as Butch) makes his first appearance and gets to romance Ms. Gillis, who hides out with the guys disguised as a boy.
Making his last appearance on the Bowery is officer Dave O'Brien, always genuine as Jordan's big brother.***** 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge (11/20/42) Wallace Fox ~ Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Marc Lawrence, Dave O'Brien.
Muggs has to clear himself of murder in one of he better films in the long running East Side Kid series.
This is one of the best in the long running East Side Kids series.Here Muggs is tricked into thinking that he killed someone and the only way out of it is to help a criminal with his crooked plans.What can I say this is a fun romp that sports the regular band of "kids" as well as a young Noah Beery Jr as one of their friends.
Of course we know that Muggs didn't do it, and he knows he didn't do it, so the fun is watching to see how he manages to work out who actually did the deed and makes sure they get blamed.
The way Muggs finds out is unique and only adds to the enjoyment.Worth a look for anyone fan or no, who wants a good movie for a moldy oldie movie night..
Jordan In A Jackpot.
Neath Brooklyn Bridge finds the East Side Kids helping a young girl played by Ann Gillis who is being beaten on by her stepfather Bud Osborne.
Leo Gorcey uses the leg of a table to knock him out.
Later on Osborne turns up dead and Bobby Jordan who came back for a change of clothes gets himself in a jackpot being found with the dead Osborne.It's up to the kids on the East Side to help their pal out.
The only witness to the crime is J.
Arthur Young who is Gillis's grandfather and he's paralyzed and unable to speak and is in a wheelchair.It's the Navy in the form of former gang member Noah Beery, Jr. who comes to the rescue of all concerned.
The fact that Young is also a former sailor helps a great deal in cracking the case and bringing justice to all concerned.Also in the cast is perennial movie heavy Marc Lawrence and henchman Gabriel Dell.
Lawrence is a pretty crafty villain and his downfall comes from leaving a loose end at the scene of the homicide, namely a witness he thinks can't say anything.This East Side Kids film runs at a nice pace without a let up in any of the action.
One of their better films for Monogram..
Standard East Side Boys Fare!.
For a film that has survived 60 years, I wonder why I haven't enjoyed the East Side Boys before.
Anyway, I got a DVD with four of their adventures.
In this episode, the boys are moving furniture near the tenements by Manhattan's area near the Brooklyn Bridge.
They get into a bit of trouble when they spot a beautiful but distracted young woman named Sylvia.
Her stepfather wants her and him to leave their tenement apartment but she won't leave her paralyzed grandfather behind.
Her stepfather is in some shady dealings.
The East Side Boys sure can be tempted into joining the crime scene but choose to make an honest living in tough times.
The film was on the end of the Great Depression and Second World War. Despite the predictability, the cast especially Leo Gorcy do a terrific job in making it entertaining..
Pretty typical of the Bowery Boys films..
Although in many of the Bowery Boys films the gang seemed like a bunch of hoodlums, they were never really THAT larcenous in their films.
They just acted tough and the police were forever dogging them.
But, as usual, they are the good guys in "'Neath Brooklyn Bridge"....and once again the police suspect one of them.
This is because someone was horribly beaten to death and Danny (Bobby Jordan) was arrested because his weapons were on the murder weapon, a bat.
Little does anyone know that a mute man who can only speak with his eyes was a witness.
As for the gang, they spend a lot of the film taking care of a young lady who is in trouble and eventually they are instrumental in finding the real culprits.
On hand as one of the supposed ex-members of the gang (he was a bit old for this...Noah Beery, Jr.).Overall, this film is pretty typical of a Bowery Boys film--- modestly entertaining and nothing more.
Worth seeing if you are a fan but not among their best..
"Anyone can build a bridge over water, I'd like to see some guy build one under.".
Danny (Bobby Jordan) accidentally gets a murder rap pinned on him in this East Side Kids outing, and the rest of the gang are out to find the real killer.
It's a fairly standard adventure for the boys with a few surprises thrown in.
Noah Beery Jr. makes an appearance as a former 'charter member' of the gang, which is a little unusual since this is the only film of the series he appeared in.
It's convenient though as he turns up to become the romantic interest for Sylvia (Ann Gillis), the stepdaughter of the murder victim.Marc Lawrence appears as the villain of the piece, a hood named McGaffey who tries to enlist Muggs (Leo Gorcey) in a warehouse heist in exchange for the murder weapon and a chance to clear Danny.
If you really think about it, there wasn't much to his plan at any step of the way; he could have been easily outed, and was, by the time the film ended.
Such was Lawrence's fate in most films, with over two hundred movie credits, he almost always appeared as a heavy, be it Westerns, mysteries, sci-fi, or the occasional Charlie Chan flick.As in many of the East Side films, Danny's big brother is portrayed by Dave O'Brien.
Here they have an extended one on one scene that goes a bit heavy on the melodrama as Phil tries to get Danny to tell what he knows.
Loyalty is a gang member's best trait, so he's not saying anything, but then again, he was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time.I always enjoy Sunshine Sammy Morrison as Scruno.
He doesn't have a lot to do in this one, but the good thing is he doesn't wind up on the end of any stereotyped racial references.
Glimpy (Huntz Hall) fires off a few nifty one liners like the one in my summary.
He even has one brief shining moment when Muggs promotes him to Vice President of Miscellaneous Stuff.
It lasts less than a screen minute, but hey, it was a moment in the sun.I see this flick rated relatively high for an East Side Kids film, but don't see it as a cut above most.
I always felt they did their best work when supporting a name actor, be it Cagney, Bogart or Garfield in vehicles from larger studios.
Still if you're a fan, it won't hurt to take this one in.
They even manage to focus in on the Brooklyn Bridge a couple of times, just to make sure there's some connection to the title..
'Neath Brooklyn Bridge was another enjoyable East Side Kids movie.
In this East Side Kids flick, the gang encounter a stepfather abusing his stepdaughter as she runs from him.
They chase him back and fight him, knocking him out.
He ends up dead but it was at the hands of a gangster who arrived later after the kids and the girl left.
There's more than that but I'll just now say that I liked the story presented here which had a nice mix of drama and some comedy which is usually provided by Huntz Hall and aided by Leo Gorcey whenever he and Hall bantered.
Huntz also had a nice dance sequence with Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison in a demonstration of their expert footwork.
Also on hand is Noah Beery Jr. as a former member now a sailor.
Ann Gillis plays the girl Sylvia.
Anyway, 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge was another enjoyable entry in the series..
Really good.
Another Kids movie.
Most of them are pretty good, especially considering the simplistic plots and basic acting that is involved.
In this one Mugs and the gang are more good than bad.
They come to the rescue of a girl whose step father is beating on her.
She only sticks around to take of her paralyzed grandfather.
Her step dad gets knocked out by Mugs using a chair leg.
The gang leaves to chase the girl when she runs.
Now the step father has robbed a local crime boss and the boss climbs through a window, gets his loot back and smashes a gun butt over the guys head.
This kills the robber and the boss takes the club Mugs used to hold over his head as evidence.
By now the gang has caught up with the girl and take her to their "clubhouse" to hide.
Learning that grandpa can communicate with the girl the gang goes and gets him, bringing back to the lair.
A former member, now in the Navy, has returned and recognizes that the grandpa is using Morse code.
Meanwhile the crime boss has used the non-murder weapon to force Mugs to case a silk warehouse and help rob it.
The Navy man takes the girl to the cops with the story grandpa Morsed out.
Meanwhile Mugs has the gang stashed in the warehouse and when he lets the crooks in they fight it out and the cops show up.
So the baddies get busted, the gang gets a pat on the back and the murder is placed on the right man.