NO HOLDS BARRED (1952)
Article 1839 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-28-2006
Posting Date: 8-25-2006
Directed by William Beaudine
Featuring Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Marjorie Reynolds

Whan Sach develops an abnormally thick skull that makes him impervious to blows to the head, Slip decides to profit off of it by getting Sach to take up wrestling. Unfortunately, Sach’s thick skull is only temporary, and the boys have to adjust to the fact that the part of Sach’ s body that becomes powerful keeps changing.

Yes, it’s the Bowery Boys again, and you know the drill; Slip schemes and shoots out malaprops and Sach mugs and handles slapstick duties. Still, the more I watch them, the more I like them; somehow, they managed to find just the right touch they needed to make silly premises like this one work for the length of a movie, albeit a rather short one. Huntz Hall’s mugging didn’t even bother me much this time, partly because he keeps it well focused and partly because he manages to find other things to do as well; the bit where he disguises himself as a waiter who keeps changing his accent every time he opens his mouth is pretty clever. Leo and Bernard Gorcey are fun as always, and so is Henry Kulky as Sach’s bespectacled trainer; he also appeared in THE 5.000 FINGERS OF DR. T , as one of Dr. Terwilliger’s goons.

All I can say is that it’s really good I like this series; I have a slew of them coming up in the next week or so!