Tear Gas Squad (1940)

the audience applauded

Powerful

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Spoilers. Observations. Opinions. Superman gets shot. He is youthfully pretty here. He (George Reeves) had just recently been in 1939's Gone With the Wind, also in the opening shot just like in Tear Gas Squad (this film). I thought, great. I will see him a lot, then I realized he didn't get top billing so he might soon move to the background -- I was right. Tear Gas Squad happened toward the end of this film, with Dennis Morgan, as Superman's vindictive brother, chasing some crooks as retribution for offing Brother Superman. Turns out Morgan's character had a childhood dabbling in tear gas (how strange), and a futuristic Spidey-sense of scaling walls and crashing through glass skylights. I wouldn't watch a film with a title like this, but when I saw that it had Dennis Morgan as a nightclub singer, I wanted to give it a try. What a strange storyline. Nightclub singer soon "daylights" as a police cadet. His singing is beautiful, as always, but he acts like a stupid SOB in his choice of singing material. In the police academy, he is mouthy and obnoxious. He fights people. What a knucklehead. He meets a police family who wants him to sing his stupid-text nightclub songs, but he chooses to sing some schmaltzy sort of stereotypical Irish songs to placate these sons of immigrants. He likes their daughter, but the conflict here is her already-boyfriend, no-nonsense John Payne, a sergeant instructor in the police academy. Morgan joins the academy, and naturally Payne is his sadistic professor. Later, Morgan saves Payne's life from the bad guys. Awwwwwww. Denouement: things are tied up. Payne is no longer the suitor. Morgan, decked out in a sergeant's uniform, gets his happy ever after with the young damsel. Morgan is standing with his police horse, looking like he is in the Central Park of his nightclub police parody song about the nannies pushing the baby prams. He also reminds me of the Nelson Eddy Royal Mountie with his horse and the lovely Jeanette MacDonald. I would rather see Payne in Betty Grable musicals, than the droll, serious police officer as portrayed here. The police chief would later be Perry White in the George Reeves Superman 1950s TV series. Jones, another officer, would be the father in TV's Dennis the Menace. A police cousin, Edgar Buchanan, would later be Uncle Joe in TV's my fave Petticoat Junction. Was this film a combination of 1930s' gangster films plus soon-to-be popular song and dance musicals of the 1940s? Hitler was on the rise, and World War Two had already started in Europe. The U.S. was not yet at war in 1940, the year that this film was released. I was thinking these thoughts as this film began, a hybrid of droll musical comedy and cartoonish gangster-losers. This was a small, tightly directed, under one hour film. They told the entire story quite quickly. The action was fast. I still hate black and white, however, as you well know. Film noir, you aren't my friend. I love full color musicals, with lots of song and dance and even rather plot-less story lines. I am a degreed historian, actress, singer, dancer, stage makeup artist, film critic and movie reviewer.

Tear Gas Squad (1940) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Cheap but fun "B" picture from Warner has Dennis Morgan playing a lounge singer who does a routine as a cop, which crosses the line with a beautiful woman (Gloria Dickson) there watching. Soon she invites the singer to her house where he learns that there are all cops in her family and there's another man, also a cop (John Payne), who also has a thing for her. The singer decides to become a cop himself and this here is where the trouble starts. TEAR GAS SQUAD is pretty straight from start to finish and it follows just about every cliché that you'd expect it to but I still thought the film managed to be quite entertaining through its 55-minute running time. The best thing about the picture is that director Terry O. Morse manages to keep it running at an extremely fast pace and he never lets any of the action slow down. There are all sorts of strange things going on here including the non-stop singing from Morgan who is constantly throwing out a song. Even stranger is the entire love triangle as the woman pretty much disappears from the picture and we're just left with two guys who can't stand one another. Of course there has to be "drama" from the poor attitude of the singer, his fall from grace and then the redemption. I thought Morgan and Payne were both very entertaining in their roles. I'd stop short of saying they gave great performances since the material is pretty light but there's still no doubt that they help keep the film entertaining. Dickson was good as the love interest but she really didn't have too much to do. George Reeves has a couple quick but memorable scenes. If you're looking for top-notch entertainment or an Oscar-winner then you're not going to find it here but those who like "B" movies should find plenty of entertainment here.

There's a definite B-film flavor for this quickie from Warner Bros. that has DENNIS MORGAN as a nightclub singer trying to impress a girl (GLORIA DICKSON) with his impersonation as a police officer during a nightclub act. Little does he know she's from a family of officers, which is why she fails to be impressed by him.JOHN PAYNE is one of her brothers, also a policeman who knows Morgan because he gave him a traffic ticket for speeding. The story turns out to be a trifle distinguished only by a generous sampling of Irish songs by Morgan, who never sounded in better voice. Unfortunately, the story is hackneyed stuff, with Morgan deciding to actually join the police force instead of just impersonating one. Naturally, he has to shape up under Payne's leadership in training school.It's predictable nonsense with DENNIS MORGAN's way with a song being the only worthwhile reason for watching. Running less than an hour, it's a harmless programmer but easily forgotten.

Spoiler - The irish tenor sings in uniform with his gal and his horse in the final scene. Is that why somebody called it a comedy? Hokey police drama with fits of music and unintentional laughs. If you want to riff on a B-movie ala MST3K, screen this George Reeves ditty at your next gathering.