Customer Reviews

Gasoline Alley and Friends

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I never really read the comic strip although I remember my dad taking about it - along with the very unusual character names. Looking back, it amazes me how influencial the early comic strips were. My dad would often call one of his grandkids a comic strip name.

If you like pleasant "older" movies that may make you giggle a little or just take you back to a time when things (and priorities) were slightly different than today, you may enjoy these. If you would like to watch a little light hearted silliness... well acted and produced...

What a bargain this VCI release is... 6 movies on 2 disks - all great transfers. There are some "extras" also...

VCI Entertainment and Kit Parker Films presents "GASOLINE ALLEY & FRIENDS" --- (1951-1952) (403 min/B&W) --- (Dolby digitally remastered) --- The titles included in the set are from the vaults of Kit Parker Films with Lippert Pictures inclusive --- Some have never been on DVD before, thanks to VCI we may now enjoy these long lost treasures.

GASOLINE ALLEY(2 January 1951) (76 min/B&W) - Edward Bernds (Director)
Corky (Scotty Beckett) and Skeezix (Jimmy Lydon), half-brothers who find themselves in the restaurant business until complications and some family conflicts arise --- The ever popular Frank O. King comic strip characters go from newspaper page to screen in this 1951 feature from legendary comedy director Edward Bernds (of Three Stooges and Bowery Boys fame).

the cast includes:
Scotty Beckett ... Corky
Jimmy Lydon ... Skeezix
Susan Morrow ... Hope
Don Beddoe ... Walt Wallet
Patti Brady ... Judy
Madelon Mitchell ... Phyllis / Auntie Blossom (as Madelon Mitchel)
Dick Wessel ... Pudge
Gus Schilling ... Joe Allen
Kay Christopher ... Nina
Byron Foulger ... Charles D. Haven
Virginia Toland ... Carol Rice
Jimmy Lloyd ... Harry Dorsey
William Forrest ... Hacker
Ralph Peters ... Reddick
Charles Halton ... Pettit

AS YOU WERE (5 October 1951) (57 min/B&W) - Bernard Girard (Director)
Oh, those Army daze--and nights! An infusion of WAC beauties adds to the fun when ex-G.I. "Dodo" Doubleday (William Tracy), now a hotel clerk, impresses Army brass with his memory, and considers going back into the military --- But recruiting station sergeant Sgt. Bill Ames (Joe Sawyer), remembering how Tracy jinxed him back in WWII days, begs him not to re-enlist! --- Can he convince him to do the right thing.

the cast includes:
William Tracy ... Sgt. Dorian 'Dodo' Doubleday
Joe Sawyer ... Sgt. Ames
Russell Hicks ... Colonel Lockwood
John Ridgely ... Captain
Sondra Rodgers ... WAC Captain
Joan Vohs ... Sgt. Peggy P. Hopper

MR. WALKIE TALKIE (28 November 1952) (57 min/B&W) - Fred Guiol (Director)
Sgt. Ames (Joe Sawyer) and Sgt. Dorian "Dodo" Doubleday (William Tracy) return in another wacky service comedy, Sawyer as the exasperated sergeant of a GI trainee (Tracy) who remembers everything he has ever heard --- Their misadventures include reassignment to Korea, an enemy spy and the offer of a Congressional Medal of Honor for Sawyer -- Let's see if he can control his temper long enough to receive it!

the cast includes:
William Tracy ... Sgt. Doubleday
Joe Sawyer ... Sgt. Ames
Margia Dean ... Entertainer
Robert Shayne ... Capt. Burke
Alan Hale Jr. ... Tiny
Russell Hicks ... Col. Lockwood
Frank Jenks ... Jackson
Wong Artarne ... Lt. Kim
Hanna Landy ... Jane Winters

CORKY, OF GASOLINE ALLEY (17 September 1951) (80 min/B&W) - Edward Bernds (Director)
How long can a cousin visit? That's the question for Corky (Scotty Beckett) when his wife's cousin (Gordon Jones) makes himself an unwanted house guest, begins telling Wallet family members how to run their businesses, and blows up one of Corky's restaurant's ranges and one of Skeezix's (Jimmy Lydon) cars! --- Fun fact Gordon Jones was a character actor best known as Brit Reid/The Green Hornet in Universals "Green Hornet" film serials

the cast includes:
Scotty Beckett ... Corky Wallet
Jimmy Lydon ... Skeezix Wallet
Don Beddoe ... Walt Wallet
Gordon Jones ... Elwood Martin
Patti Brady ... Judy Wallet
Susan Morrow ... Hope Wallet
Kay Christopher ... Nina
Madelon Mitchell ... Phyllis Wallet (as Madelon Mitchel)
Dick Wessel ... Pudge McKay

STOP THAT CAB (30 March 1951) (58 min/B&W) - Eugenio de Liguoro (Director)
Here's another obscure gem from the little-known, little-seen Lippert Pictures with comic talents such as Sid Melton and Iris Adrian in the lead roles, the film can't help but be entertaining --- The plot involves Sid, as a night shift cab driver in L.A., encountering various odd characters as part of his nightly work...and then coming home to the ultimate domineering wife, the great Iris Adrian, at her scenery-chewing hilarious best --- During the first half-hour, Sid stumbles into a crime situation involving Tom Neal (who did a lot of solid character work at Lippert Pictures in the waning days of his career in the early 50s), and after that is resolved, he stumbles into the climactic story, one involving a widowed mother (Marjorie Lord) who is trying to win a radio contest by performing a certain task within 30 minutes
the cast includes:
Sid Melton ... Sidney Gugenheimer
Iris Adrian ... Lucy
Marjorie Lord ... Mary Thomas
Tom Neal ... Lefty, the Mob Boss
William Haade ... Onslow, the Jewel Thief
Greg McClure ... George
Clara Martín ... Hilda
Chester Clute ... Lucy's Father
Minerva Urecal ... Lucy's Mother
Glen Denning ... Radio Master of Ceremonies
Diane Garrett ... The Actress
Mario Siletti ... Giuseppe Moscadella
Renata Vanni ... Josephine Moscadella
Jack Roper ... The Butcher
Ed East ... Mr. Nash

LEAVE IT TO THE MARINES (1951) (65 min/B&W) - Sam Newfield (Director)
Our story opens with an quintessential schnook Gerald S. Meek (Sid Melton), looking for the license bureau so that he can marry his girl Myrna McAllister (Mara Lynn), instead stumbles upon a Marine recruiting office and ends up in uniform --- His girl reacts by joining the Women's Marine Corps --- Between the two of them, they're the Howls of Montezuma and the Roars of Tripoli in this frantic service comedy --- Special footnote, Sid Melton is to be remembered as the "house nebbish" for Lippert Pictures, a company that churned out scores of low-budget programmers in the late 1940s and early 1950s - and, it seemed, tried to "make room for Melton" in all of them.

Sid Melton ... Gerald S. Meek
Mara Lynn ... Myrna McAllister
Gregg Martell ... Sgt. 'Foghorn' McTaggert
Ida Moore ... Grandma Meek
Sam Flint ... Col. Flenge
Douglas Evans ... Gen. Garvin
Margia Dean ... Cpl. Trudy 'Tootie' Frisbee
Richard Monahan ... Pvt. Partridge
William Haade ... Recruiting Sgt. Delaney
Jack George ... Dr. Suture
Paul Bryar ... Cpl. Pappodopoli
Ezelle Poule ... Mrs. McAllister
Will Orleans ... Pvt. White
Richard Farmer ... Colonel's clerk
Jimmy Cross ... Court Clerk

BONUS FEATURES:
1. Photo Galleries for all 6 films
2. Theatrical Trailers

Hats off and thanks to Robert Blair and his staff at VCI Entertainment --- VCI was named in Variety and Hollywood Reporter as the first company to produce and release motion pictures directly to the home marketplace --- order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases --- VCI are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector -- looking forward to more Nostalgic Collections.

Total Time: 403 mins on DVD ~ VCI Home Video 585 ~ (02/24/2009)