Movie Review: In the Money (1958)
Synopsis: When Sach delivers a sandwich to a hotel lobby, a guest at the front desk offers him a job escorting a poodle to London and is offered nearly $3000 as advanced payment. The rest of the Bowery Boys, believing the deal is too good to be true, stowaway on the boat to look after him. It's a good thing they did too, as it turns out, the dog is being used to smuggle stolen diamonds and Sach is about to get into trouble with the Scotland Yard.
Who's in it? The movie stars Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements, Patricia Donahue, David Gorcey and Paul Cavanagh.
Review: I wound up watching In the Money this morning despite having quite a few doubts about it. After all, I've never been a die-hard Bowery Boys fan and this film, the last in the franchise, didn't even have the underappreciated Leo Gorcey in it. As it turns out, however, this wound up being my favorite of the Bowery Boys movies I've seen.
I think the thing I liked most about this film is it corrected one of my biggest complaints about movies in the franchise by shrinking down the gang a manageable four members - Sach (Hall), Duke (Clements), Chuck (Gorcey) and Blinky (Eddie LeRoy), with the emphasis primarily on Sach. This allowed Hall to shine without being overshadowed by various less-important characters while still having just enough support from his friends.
The plot itself was also entertaining. Sach, of course, didn't know the dog had the diamonds until the very end, making him believe anyone trying to talk to him was a possible dog thief. The ending also wasn't as predictable as you would expect from a comedy like this either because it was unclear how he'd be able to get out of the situation without Scotland Yard believing he was part of the diamond smuggling crew.
The film also has a great mix of comedy, ranging from slapstick to scenes I could only describe as clever. I especially loved how the rest of the Bowery Boys managed to secure free passage to England by tricking one of the ship's officers into believing he was preventing them from illegally entering the United States. It was unexpected and funny, along with the great way they managed to slip in some comedy while showing stock footage of London.
My only complaint about the movie is I wish it would have done a bit more to establish just how desperate the diamond smugglers were. I knew they weren't good people, but it was unclear if they were the type of people who would simply flee and leave Sach holding the bag if things went wrong or if they would turn violent and put the gang's lives in danger. The ending sort of answered that question, but not as well as taking a few extra minutes to demonstrate their level of commitment would have.
Final Opinion: It's a clever and funny movie with a solid plot and some memorable comedy. It might have been a stripped-down cast, but it did a great job bringing the franchise to an end.
My Grade: A
Here are some reviews of other movies from 1958:
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