By Glenn Erickson
The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters
Brief Synopsis
The Bowery Boys battle a family of mad scientists.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Edward Bernds
Director
Leo Gorcey
Slip
Huntz Hall
Sach
Bernard Gorcey
Louie
Lloyd Corrigan
Anton Gravesend
Ellen Corby
Amelia Gravesend
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Horror
Release Date
Jun
6,
1954
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Allied Artists Pictures Corp.
Distribution Company
Allied Artists Pictures Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 6m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.85 : 1
Film Length
5,872ft
Synopsis
After some children playing in the street break a window of Louie's sweetshop with their baseball, Slip and Sach decide to rent a nearby vacant lot in which the children can play. The property is owned by the Gravesends, who invite the Boys to their mansion to discuss the arrangement. Unknown to Slip and Sach, the family - - two brothers, Derek and Anton, sister Amelia and niece Francine - - are all quite mad. Derek requires a human brain to transplant into his gorilla, Cosmos, while Anton needs a head for his robot Gorog. Amelia seeks food for her man-eating tree and Francine, a vampire, is always on the lookout for new blood. All the Gravesends consider that Slip and Sach qualify as donors for their particular experiments, prompting Derek to invite them to stay the night, stating that he will discuss the rental of the lot with his lawyer in the morning. After Grissom, the butler, is temporarily transformed into a monster when he drinks a potion Anton has created, Derek prepares Cosmos to receive Sach's brain. While demonstrating to Derek that he can control Gorog by sending the robot directions over a microphone, Anton accidentally sends the robot to kill Sach in the guest bedroom. Luckily for Sach, Anton rescinds the order before Gorog can do any damage. Meanwhile, Louie, becoming concerned that Slip and Sach have not returned, sets off with Chuck and Butch to find them. In the morning, at gunpoint, Derek informs Slip and Sach that due to the operations they are about to undergo, they will be the forerunners of a new, happy race, unburdened by intelligence. Alerted that Louie and the others are at the front door, Derek locks Slip and Sach in a closet, from which they attempt to escape by breaking through the wall, but discover that Cosmos' cage is on the other side. After Derek takes Louie and the others prisoner, he and Anton prepare Slip and Sach for their respective operations. Cosmos gets loose, however, and knocks out Grissom and Anton, then frees Slip who inadvertently activates Gorog, telling it to attack Cosmos. Slip then tries to escape, but is cornered by Amelia who wants to feed him to her tree. Slip is then freed by Francine so that he can become a blood donor. Sach escapes only to be chased by both Cosmos and Gorog and is eventually caught by Grissom, who takes him to the laboratory where Derek and Anton fight over who will use Sach in their transplant. Meanwhile, Slip has found Louie and the others and gains control of Gorog, sending it to attack Grissom and the brothers. After Anton destroys the robot's controlling mechanism, they recapture Sach, who drinks some of Anton's potion, turns into a monster and defeats them all. The effects of the potion wear off just as Sach is about to strangle Slip. Slip then secures Derek's signature for the use of the lot. However, back in the Bowery, Louie's windows continue to be broken, thanks to the addition to the team of a powerful home-run hitter, Gorog.
Director
Edward Bernds
Director
Cast
Leo Gorcey
Slip
Huntz Hall
Sach
Bernard Gorcey
Louie
Lloyd Corrigan
Anton Gravesend
Ellen Corby
Amelia Gravesend
John Dehner
Dr. Derek Gravesend
Paul Wexler
Grissom
David Condon
Chuck
Bennie Bartlett
Butch
Laura Mason
Francine Gravesend
Norman Bishop
Gorog
Steve Calvert
Cosmos
Rudy Lee
Herbie
Paul Bryar
Officer Martin
Pat Flaherty
O'Meara
Jack Dimond
Skippy Biano
Crew
William Austin
Film Editor
John L. Banse
Set Construction
Edward Bernds
Writer
Ralph Butler
Recording
Bert Henrikson
Wardrobe
Joseph Kish
Set Decoration
Augie Lohman
Special Effects
David Milton
Art Director
Edward Morey Jr.
Assistant Director
Harry Neumann
Director of Photography
Edward Polo
Makeup
Lester A. Sansom
Supervising Film Editor
Ben Schwalb
Producer
Marlin Skiles
Music Director
Mary Smith
Hairdresser
Elwood Ullman
Writer
Allen K. Wood
Production Manager
Videos
Trailer
Hosted Intro
Film Details
Genre
Comedy
Horror
Release Date
Jun
6,
1954
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Allied Artists Pictures Corp.
Distribution Company
Allied Artists Pictures Corp.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 6m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.85 : 1
Film Length
5,872ft
Articles
The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters
Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and several other young actors fashioned a full career from their debut as a gang of tenement kids in the 1935 Broadway play Dead End. After William Wyler's classic film version two years later, and appearing as similar characters in popular films like Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), several of the original Dead End kids migrated to Universal's "Little Tough Guys" series, followed in 1939 by Monogram's "East Side Kids" series. Leo Gorcey led a salary revolt in 1945 that resulted in the reformulation of the franchise as "The Bowery Boys", a name that stuck for 48 separate films and lasted until 1958. The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954) finds the boys with their final cast lineup: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bennie Bartlett and Leo's brother David Condon. The Gorceys' father Bernard is also present as sweet shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowsky. The story sees the Boys, still neighborhood slackers, seeking a vacant lot to serve a ball field for slum kids. Inquiring at the spooky Gravesend Mansion, Slip Mahoney (Gorcey) and Sach (Hall) are seized by mad doctors Anton (Lloyd Corrigan) and Derek (John Dehner), who want to transplant their brains into a Gorilla named Cosmos and a remote-controlled robot that answers to the name Gorog. Complicating matters are sister Amelia (favorite Ellen Corby), who can't wait to feed Slip to her man-eating tree. Drifting in and out is niece Francine (Laura Mason), who behaves like a vampire. The boys are naturally fast with the malapropisms and low-grade slapstick, and the action is fairly lively for a movie barely over an hour long, restricted mostly to three rooms and a busy hallway. The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters didn't rate high in the series, but its monster-oriented theme made it a popular title in reissue and on Television. And who wouldn't appreciate the perfectly silly conclusion? The ape-monster Cosmos plays ball with the neighborhood kids, and is scouted by the Brooklyn Dodgers.
By Glenn Erickson
By Glenn Erickson
The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters
Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and several other young actors fashioned a full career from their debut as a gang of tenement kids in the 1935 Broadway play Dead End. After William Wyler's classic film version two years later, and appearing as similar characters in popular films like Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), several of the original Dead End kids migrated to Universal's "Little Tough Guys" series, followed in 1939 by Monogram's "East Side Kids" series. Leo Gorcey led a salary revolt in 1945 that resulted in the reformulation of the franchise as "The Bowery Boys", a name that stuck for 48 separate films and lasted until 1958. The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954) finds the boys with their final cast lineup: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bennie Bartlett and Leo's brother David Condon. The Gorceys' father Bernard is also present as sweet shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowsky. The story sees the Boys, still neighborhood slackers, seeking a vacant lot to serve a ball field for slum kids. Inquiring at the spooky Gravesend Mansion, Slip Mahoney (Gorcey) and Sach (Hall) are seized by mad doctors Anton (Lloyd Corrigan) and Derek (John Dehner), who want to transplant their brains into a Gorilla named Cosmos and a remote-controlled robot that answers to the name Gorog. Complicating matters are sister Amelia (favorite Ellen Corby), who can't wait to feed Slip to her man-eating tree. Drifting in and out is niece Francine (Laura Mason), who behaves like a vampire. The boys are naturally fast with the malapropisms and low-grade slapstick, and the action is fairly lively for a movie barely over an hour long, restricted mostly to three rooms and a busy hallway. The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters didn't rate high in the series, but its monster-oriented theme made it a popular title in reissue and on Television. And who wouldn't appreciate the perfectly silly conclusion? The ape-monster Cosmos plays ball with the neighborhood kids, and is scouted by the Brooklyn Dodgers.By Glenn Erickson
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The opening title card reads, "Allied Artists Pictures Corporation presents Leo Gorcey Huntz Hall and The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters." A modern source states that, according to producer Ben Schwalb, The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters was the series' top grossing film. For more information about "The Bowery Boys" series, please consult the Series Index and see the entry for Live Wires in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1941-50.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Summer July 1954
Released in United States Summer July 1954
