The Gang's All Here (1941)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Director: JEAN YARBROUGH. Original screenplay: Edmond Kelso. Photography: Mack Stengler. Film editor: Jack Ogilvie. Settings: David Milton. Art director: Charles Clague. Music director: Edward J. Kay. Production manager: Glenn Cook. Sound recording: Glen Glenn. Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Copyright 11 June 1941 by Monogram Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: not recorded, but probably similar to copyright date. No recorded Australian theatrical release. 6 reels. 63 minutes. SYNOPSIS: The good guy's trucking firm is sabotaged by the bad guy's rival operation. COMMENT: I are not surprised I can find no record of this film's release anywhere, though American exhibitors, keen to save a few bucks, no doubt used it as a first half for a particularly strong "A" feature. True, the cast is not uninteresting (though Robert Homans looks uncomfortable out of his customary cop uniform), with both Keye Luke and Mantan Moreland giving it a bit of luster. But the script is on the dull side. Worse, its lack of vitality becomes progressively compounded by Yarbrough's flat, lifeless direction with its reliance on long, static takes. Worse still, production values are minimal. If ever a movie looked like it had been created in the proverbial phone booth, The Gang's All Here is it!

An action comedy directed by Yarbrough, and gathering Darro, Moreland, Marcia Mae Jones, Keye Luke, Moran, Homans as a dishonest patriarch, and Laurence Criner as Ham Shanks, the black henchman. The script's ideas about dignity and honor seem very conventional (the dubious morality of exonerating the compromised oldster), so there's enough silliness and amorality, coldly registered and assumed. The humor is light, but the main characters do face death. Today, this may seem indifference, perhaps it was a tougher mind. This trend of making crime comedies very light has vanished since. But even back in the day some protested against the mindless playfulness of the crime comedies.Luke plays a distinguished detective, who's ahead of everyone else in understanding the situation.Moreland, who offers the acting highlight (as in almost every other movie he has been in), is sadly billed 5th. But he has been given the 2nd lead, because he's more than the truck-driver's sidekick. For the early '40s, 75 yrs ago, Mantan was Frankie's sidekick, assistant, the unworthy carrier of his shield, nowadays we perceive him as the buddy, indeed like a foreboding of the '80s crime movies; there's an implied more positive attitude toward other races in this movie, see the Chinese detective, also the fact that Criner has been given a part, though a not very flattering one, yet he managed to make a strong impression.Both Darro and Luke are very likable. As in other comedies, Darro and Moran are contrasting characters, with the 2nd being the sillier, and the 1st, more determined, sterner, tenacious, pushing.The usual couple of Marcia and Moran is relegated to the supporting cast. Even in terms of acting, she was way better.Much of the movie's genuine fun should be credited to its director, who knew how to handle light humor (the girl educating the mechanic, or Frankie giving Mantan a driving lesson in the garage).Most of what Monogram had best to give is here.

A trucking company owner tries to get out of debt by killing some truck drivers.This is a neat movie. Well written ,directed,acted, and cast. The interracial angel was particularly heartening. It just goes to show,crime doesn't always pay.Pat Gleason drove the International big truck.Frankie Darro drove the Brockway big truck.Frankie Darro and Pat Gleason were permanent A list actors.Marcia Mae Jones was hot!!erldwgstruckermovies.com

"Two young friends decide to become truck drivers but find themselves thrown into the middle of a war between the trucking firm owner and a gang of saboteurs. Hoping to help their new employer, the two men set out to track down the head of the saboteurs. Their hope is to expose the gang leader and save the company from being bought out by a rival firm," according to the DVD sleeve summary. "The Gang's All Here" features some occasionally amusing but more often offensive observations on race and gender.The "two men" are ambitious, tough Frankie Darro (as Frankie O'Malley) and his shiftless, cowardly companion Mantan Moreland (as Jefferson "Jeff" Smith). Mr. Darro and Mr. Moreland played these characters, the young tough and stereotypically lazy sidekick, in a series of films. A romantic subplot involves young mechanic Jackie Moran (as Chick Daly) and pretty girlfriend Marcia Mae Jones (as Patsy Wallace). While smaller in stature, Darro threatens to take Chick's chick, because Darro acts more manly.*** The Gang's All Here (6/11/41) Jean Yarbrough ~ Frankie Darro, Mantan Moreland, Marcia Mae Jones, Jackie Moran