Search - Mr. Wise Guy on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1942 DVD Release: 04/15/2003 Format: DVD - Black and White Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 10 mins Studio: Alpha Video Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Comedy, Crime, Crime Comedy, Juvenile Delinquency Film

In this "East Side Kids" escapade (the eighth in the series), the gang, led by Muggs McGinniss (Leo Gorcey), help a man load a barrel on a truck. Little do they know that the man is a crook; accused of trying to steal the truck, they are immediately and without due process sent to reform school. Meanwhile, a gang members' brother is framed for murder and sentenced to death (justice is dispensed with remarkable swiftness on the East Side). The imprisoned gang watch a newsreel which features the man whom they'd helped load the truck. The man was filmed picking up a lottery prize for the his boss, a supposedly dead gangster who committed the murder for which the boy mentioned a few sentences back was framed. With the flimsiest of evidence, Muggs and his boys figure that the barrel loaded on the truck contained the murderous gangster. They escape from reform school (almost as easily as they'd gotten in), track down the gangster's henchman, extract a confession and save the condemned boy at the last minute. Insanely illogical, Mr. Wise Guy is lifted ever so slightly from mediocrity by the supporting performance of Billy Gilbert as the gangster's stooge. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Leo Gorcey - Ethelbert "Muggs" McGinnis
Bobby Jordan - Danny Collins
Huntz Hall - Glimpy Stone
Billy Gilbert - Knobby
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams - Luke Manning

William Nigh's Mr. Wise Guy is one of the better looking of the the East Side Kids movies to show up on DVD as of the spring of 2003. Alpha Video has found a better than decent print, especially for the first two reels. There's some damage as the movie runs, especially from vertical scratches, but it's otherwise a very watchable movie, in terms of condition. The usual Alpha Video six chapters are here, which are just about sufficient for the 70 minute movie at hand. The disc opens automatically to a very simple menu that leads to the movie. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide