Angels in Disguise (1949)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Slip, aka Leo Gorcey, provides a Philip Marlowe style narration in this entry in the Bowery Boys series that spoofs the new breed of crime film known as "film noir", perhaps not realizing what they were doing. It's as deliciously close to film noir as the spoof's, "The Cheap Detective" and "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" were. They are taking on a mysterious gang known as "the Loop" who attacked their pal, Gabriel Dell. Told in flashback, this has all the elements of the great film noir of the day, not that I consider this a classic by any means. The use of music, editing and photography is more cleverly used, making this stand out among the long running D grade series that was never meant to be anything but a quick money maker for Monogram studios during the late 1940's. I don't think that Leo Gorcey gets the credit for being as good an actor as he is, but this ranks as one of his best performances, really making the grade in his narration as well as in the use of his malapropisms in describing what's going on. So probably the best of the series up to this point, it would only find competition in a few more over the next decade.

(Some Spoilers) The movie starts with Slip & Sach beaten to a pulp and left unconscious in an alley by their fleeing, from the cops, attackers. Was this the result of a street mugging? A bar room brawl that spilled into the street? Or something else like a police undercover operation that went seriously wrong. It's then that we get the low down from Slip himself as he recounts the events, in his hospital bed, that lead to this calamity to both him and Sach who, with his famous nose badly bruised, still hasn't regained consciousness.It's when former Bowery Boy and now policeman Gabe Moreno was gunned down with his partner, who later passed away, Officer Murphy that Slip & Sach decided to track down their attackers by going undercover as big time hoodlums. Working for the Daily Chronicle as copy boys Slip & Sach took a leave of absences and infiltrated the notorious Chicago Loop Mob that was opening up business in the Big Apple. The Loop Mob headed by the sharp and collegiate looking Mr. Carver had committed a string of payroll robberies where both Officers Murphy & Moreno were their latest victims.Getting in good with the Caver Mob both Slip & Sach together with the Bowery Boys and sweet shop owner "Big Louie", all 4 foot ten inches of him, Dumbrowski are entrusted by Carver in his latest job in knocking off the Gotham Steel Works payroll. With Slip secretly forwarding this information to his boss Jim Cobb the editor of the Daily Chronicle, who in turn forwards it back to the NYPD, he doesn't realize that someone on the paper is working with Caver and his mob and relying that information back to him.Somewhat serious Bowery Boys film with more people getting gunned down in it then in most Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson gangster flicks. There's also the drop dead gorgeous and classy Jean Dean as mob boss Caver's moll Vickie Darwell who keeps the boys, Slip & Sach, minds off their job as undercover agents of the NYPD and Daily Chronicle every time she's on the screen with them.

This film of the Bowery Boys series finds them as Angels In Disguise. Though Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall are only newspaper copy boys they go undercover as investigative journalists to track down the notorious Loop gang which has been pulling robberies all over the city. Their latest robbery wounds police officer Gabriel Dell and kills another officer who was a friend to the Boys.Gorcey's skill with a pool cue gains him entry to the gang which is headed by Edmond Ryan who is a really chilling character, a bit out of the general fun of a Bowery Boys film. The gang has been getting inside information on which places to rob, but I will have to say that the way it is transmitted is one of the cleverest gimmicks I've ever seen on film. Talk about hiding it in plain sight.The film is narrated by Gorcey with his usual command of the English language and syntax. And Huntz Hall is as clueless as ever. Definitely Angels In Disguise is one of the better Bowery Boys films.

Returning to work at New York City's "Daily Chronicle" (see "News Hounds" for an unconnected earlier stint), "The Bowery Boys" get involved in exposing a ring of mobsters, after policeman chum Gabriel Dell (as Gabe Moreno) is hospitalized in a shooting. Journalistic leader Leo Gorcey (as "Slip" Mahoney) is the newspaper's "chief copy boy" - and aspiring investigative reporter. Hapless Huntz Hall (as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones) is his apprentice. William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), Benny "Bennie" Bartlett (as Butch), and David Gorcey (as Chuck) are streetwise paperboys.This "Naked City"-influenced satire starts off well, but loses steam several times during the running time. The startling opening works well, with Mr. Gorcey awakening in an alley, where he and Mr. Hall have been uncharacteristically beaten to a pulp. From there, Gorcey "narrates" the loopy, nonsensical detective story. Director Jean Yarbrough manages the tight budget reasonably well.In early film appearances, youngsters Joseph Turkel (as John Mutton), Mickey Knox (as Angles Carson), Richard Benedict (as Miami), and Pepe Hern (as Bertie Spangler) make especially good pool hall hustler impressions. You're likely to forget the plot entirely, later in the running time, when bookworm boy wonder Edward "Eddie" Ryan (as Mr. Carver) and sexy girlfriend Jean Dean (as Vickie Darwell) enter the picture.Watch for the scene where Mr. Ryan sadistically slaps Mr. Turkel's face, followed by Ms. Dean's sexually-charged entrance; in a dress which fills the movie screen like few others, Dean definitely gives the film a lift. Happily, the often underutilized Bowery supporting cast helps round up the forgettable, frayed storyline, with Bernard Gorcey (as "Big Louie") joining "Whitey the Whip", "Chuck the Chiller", and "Butch the Butcher".***** Angels in Disguise (9/9/49) Jean Yarbrough ~ Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Joseph Turkel