Customer Reviews

Boys of the Bowery - The East Side Kids Collection

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was excited to see 10 of the Bowery Boys/East Side Kids films in a nice box set. I grew up watching these guys on TV and really enjoy their banter and antics. I've viewed a few of these movies so far and I have to write that the DVD quality is horrible, among the worst I've seen. It seems as if the source of these DVDs were really bad VHS tapes. And to add insult to injury, Passport has this bad habit of putting text in the lower right hand corner throughout their DVD films. In these, "Boys of the Bowery - The East Side Kids" appears in light lettering throughout the film, which is very distracting. I had another Passport DVD ("Man with the Golden Arm") and the Passport logo appeared in the lower right throughout the film also.

In conclusion, unless you are a big fan of the Bowery Boys, I would definitely not recommend this set and be wary of all DVDs from Passport.

The Passport editions of ten of the East Side Kids movies is a cheap way to get to know one of the fun series of the early 1940's. Cheap is in both senses.

I had already collected a set of Alpha Video and Platinum Disc Corporation editions but had hoped to find editions with better picture and sound quality. Passport didn't do it.

Only occasionally would the quality even equal that of Alpha or Platinum. Usually the quality was markedly worse. There was even missing footage. For example, the opening scene of "Bowery Blitzkrieg" on Alpha and Platinum has Danny (Bobby Jordan) drilling his economics lesson while using a punching bag. Passport starts the movie from a later scene, Muggs (Leo Gorcey) bullying the bad guy.

Passport puts a faint "Bowery Boys / East Side Kids" logo in the lower-right corner throughout. The other two editions do not do this.

No edition has any meaningful extras. I have little hope these films will be cleaned up, Criterion style.

Alpha Video tends to have the best quality on its single-film DVD's, but Platinum's four-paks come close and are more cost-effective. Passport runs last on all counts.

I thought this would include at least some of the Bowery Boys movies, based on the title. But it turns out none of those movies are available legally. No matter, the East Side Kids are still pretty funny, and you can see how they evolved into the famed Bowery Boys. My other complaint is that the overall picture and sound quality are not the best!

Remembering the Bowery Boys from my Saturday afternoon matinee memories of 1950s and 1960s, I was kind of disappointed in this set. The East Side Kids pre-dated the Bowery Boys, and even their names are different. No Satch, Whitey, etc. No Malt Shop headquarters. But, all-in-all the movies are entertaining, although somewhat dragged out in the plots. I was expecting a bit more comedy.

East Side Kids

The film begins with a view of Lower Manhattan and the ferry slip (as seen when coming from Staten Island). [How many of those buildings are still there?] We see the shops on the street. [Anyone recognize the streets? In the 1960s the Washington Street Market was demolished.] Teenagers play dice on the sidewalk. [No other games because of costly equipment?] One boy tries to take a cut. A prisoner "Knuckles" is taken out of his cell, but he won't talk. What will happen to his young brother Danny? Can the kids be saved by a club? Can the counterfeiters be caught? Will the boys break into a railroad boxcar? [In lower Manhattan?] "Wanna join our gang?" Most parents don't know what their kids are doing. Why do those kids have "idle time"? No chores at home? Parental neglect?

The boys will learn boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, etc. in an environment under their control. [No mention of a proper diet?] The old Pledge of Allegiance is recited. Schmidt is right. The Commissioner is afraid the boy's club may become a political club! The police find a California car with a plate for counterfeit money! We learn about this gang. Note the switch of the package! Mile-Away has a plan to spread a lot of counterfeit money. The boys get a "Junior Police" badge, they are to look out for strangers and the phony money. One man wants the boys to deliver advertising notices ($1 for every 300 notices). What happened to that missing $5 plate? Pat is under suspicion.

The counterfeiters have a clever way to spread their phoney money around. The police all hear the same excuse: it came in a circular in the mailbox. The counterfeiters plan to pass phony $20 bills now that everyone is looking for phoney $5 bills! Suspicion falls on Pat again. The gang is getting ready to run out of state. The detective follows the delivery of the bag to 126th street, then runs into the flat and finds the goods. Harris shoots him, and they escape. (Harris is called Mile-Away because of his alibis). Pat investigates Schmidt's store. The action picks up. An amateur radio set is used for communications. The gang leaves, can they be caught? Will Danny use a big wrench? Can the boys use a portable radio in their pursuit? There is a struggle on the roof top, who will fall? The bullet in Harris' gun are traced to the murder blamed on "Knuckles", who is released. So there is a happy ending.

This drama must have been popular enough to create a series of "East Side Kids" movies in the 1940s. Was it just the youth audience? This series used to be a filler on week-end television in the early days.

I was looking for the series that had the bowery boys in the malt shop at the start of each movie. I think this was the later ones. these are good but not what I wanted.

WOW THESE DVDS ARE GREAT BRINGS BACK THEGOOD OLE DAYS DOWN IN BROOKLYN & NEW YORK CITY ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE ON THE HUDSON RIVER,THESE DVDS ARE A MUST IF YOU LOVED TO WATCH MUGSY & HIS CREW SATCH WHO WAS A GREAT STAR OF THESE MOVIES WAS 1 OF THE FUNNYEST GUYS TOO WATCH ON SATURDAY MORNING .I AM NOW 50 BUCKWHEAT LIVED BY ME IN NEW JERSEY HE LIVED IN NEWARK.

YOU GET 5 GREAT DVDS FOR A SUPER GREAT PRICE SHOW YOUR KIDS WHAT A REAL CARTOON WAS NOT LIKE TODAY THESE CARTOONS MADE TODAY BELONG IN THE GARBAGE SLIP MOHONEY WAS MUGSYS NAME ON T.V.THOSE WAS THE GOOD DAYS THAT WILL NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN.I ALSO GREW UP ON THE LOWER HUDSON RIVER IN BAYONNE WE HAD A BLAST ON ALLTHE OLD BARGES WE MADE MANY CLUB HOUSES WE CRABBED AND FISHED ALL DAY LONG WE EVEN SWAM UP TO THE ROBBINS REEF LIGHT HOUSE.BUY A SET OF THESE DVDS YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED NEVER THEY WERE THE BEST KIDS TODAY KIDS CARRY GUND AND DRUGS ITS A TOTAL MESS TODAY FROM THE DAYS OF THE BOWERY BOYS OR EAST SIDE KIDS TAKE CARE ROBERT AKA BABE FROM BAYONNE NEW JERSEY