Overview: Streetwise teens battle crime and clear their names while uncovering dangerous plots in these classic East Side Kids adventures.

DVD Verdict: EAST SIDE KIDS (1940): A group of tough but loyal neighborhood boys find themselves at the center of a murder investigation after being wrongly suspected of the crime. Determined to prove their innocence, the East Side Kids set out to track down the real killer. As they dig deeper into the mystery, the boys must outsmart dangerous criminals and skeptical authorities while relying on their street smarts and friendship to clear their names.

This is worth seeing as the forerunner of the popular East Side Kids/ Bowery Boys comedies that used a very similar format with a different cast and characters. Despite the completely different cast, there are many obvious similarities. In itself, this feature is just fair, largely because the camaraderie and spontaneity is not nearly as strong as it would be in the main series. But of course, this cast did not have the advantage of having worked together beforehand.

The story setup is much like those used for many of the later features. Leon Ames plays a police officer who takes an interest in a gang of youths, one of whom has a brother who is facing a murder charge. The main plot has the gang working with Ames to try to break up a counterfeiting ring, with numerous confrontations, frame-ups, and action sequences along the way. Most of it works all right in itself, but because the characters never quite come together, some of the scenes aren’t quite as effective as they could have been.

THAT GANG OF MINE (1940): The East Side Kids stumble into trouble when a valuable racehorse ends up in their care after being stolen by criminals. As the boys try to protect the animal and uncover who is behind the theft, they become entangled in a racetrack scheme involving gamblers and crooks. Using their street smarts and loyalty to one another, the gang works to expose the criminals and set things right.

This is a solid East Side Kids feature that combines their familiar style with an equally familiar story setup about a young man’s dream, producing something slightly different from either. It successfully avoids being predictable, while offering Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, and the rest plenty of chances to display their boisterous style.

The story has Gorcey, as Muggs, dreaming of becoming a famous jockey. This seemingly unsuitable choice of profession sets up an interesting story that even has a few thoughtful moments. Clarence Muse does quite a good job as Muggs’s kindly, wise mentor (and as a side-note, it’s one of the better roles for an African-American to be found in the B-movies of the era). While the other adult characters are mostly one-dimensional, they each serve a purpose in the way that things turn out.

East Side Kids | Official Trailer

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