Movie Review: Smuggler's Cove (1948)
Synopsis: A case of mistaken identity leads to Terence "Slip" Mahoney believing he has inherited a seaside manor when it is in fact another Terence Mahoney who was the heir. He and the rest of the Bowery Boys visit the estate and discover a diamond smuggling operation being run out of it.
Who's in it? The movie stars Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Martin Kosleck, Amelita Ward and Paul Harvey.
Review: While I'll stop short of calling myself a fan, Leo Gorcey and the Bowery Boys have grown on me just enough to be willing to give their movies a chance when I come across one, including this morning. They are still a bit hit or miss for me though, and Smuggler's Cove falls a bit into that latter category.
The overall plot of this movie isn't terrible and there are a few funny moments that made me laugh. For one, I enjoyed watching Slip (Gorcey) walking through the house and pricing out the various items at a fraction of what they were worth. It was the kind of comedy that made this comedy team famous.
There was also a little bit of suspense relating to the Bowery Boys being locked in the cellar. With no apparent way to escape, it did raise a question about how they would save the day. Plus, there was a bit of uncertainty about how much of a role the real heir (Harvey) and his daughter (Ward) would have.
My biggest problem with this movie is the same problem I have with most Bowery Boys/East Side Kid movies, there is a lot of filler for a movie that is barely an hour long. It felt a bit like this would have been better as a 30-minute short (like what you would expect from the Three Stooges) just to keep the pacing a little quicker. I mean, the main characters were locked up/did very little for roughly 20 minutes of this movie, something that really shouldn't happen.
The longer length also meant some repetitiveness. The main bad guy, Count Petrov (Kosleck), for example, liked peering in bedroom windows for some reason, even though he was trying to keep his presence a secret. Plus, how many times did the main henchman, Digger (Eddie Gribbon) need to answer that front door? Why in the world would they let anyone inside the house? It was almost as though they wanted to get caught.
Final Opinion: I didn't hate the movie but as I said, it could have easily been a half hour shorter without it impacting the main plot. It's an OK movie but not a memorable one.
My Grade: C
____________________________________________________________________________
Here are some reviews of other movies from 1948:
Comments
Post a Comment