Sach's special power this time is smelling diamonds and the special location the boys are headed to is Africa. Yeah it's time for another misadventure of everybody's favorite group of morons, The Bowery Boys. This is the thirty-fifth entry in the series, of which I'm generally a fan. However, it's pretty obvious not much thought was put into the stories. But that's not the end of the world, provided Leo Gorcey still has some funny malapropisms and Huntz Hall can find new ways to contort his face. I found Huntz flat-out annoying in this one. Leo has some funny lines, though. As usual, Bernard Gorcey is the highlight as the lovable Louie. David Gorcey and Bennie Bartlett are hanging around in the background. Laurette Luez is the obligatory pretty girl this time around. Look out for Clint Walker at the end. It's enjoyable enough for what it is but, like many of the later Bowery Boys films, the first half is the best. So if you start watching it and aren't laughing within the first twenty minutes or so, you're probably not going to.

Sach all of a sudden has the power to smell diamonds, and after catching a jewel thief in Louis' joint, is taken to Africa with the boys and the unshakable Louis to assist diamond hunters. There, they face headhunters and an evil diamond hunter who cheated out his partner, the man that has brought the boys over. While in Africa, Sach meets a lion killing jungle girl. Wait until you see this lion---it looks like a bad stuffed animal that has been played with for three generations. Typical stock footage and bad dialogue is abound, plus a cave where there is apparently a faceless ghost. Some amusing moments but one of the weakest entries of the last quarter of the series.

The "boys" were getting a bit long in the tooth when they made this film. Huntz Hall was about 35 but did look younger and Gorcey 37. Regardless, for me Leo Gorcey is the real star. His delivery of completely mangled English in this endeavor is hysterical. Yes you have to credit the writers, but Gorcey's delivery sounds genuine which is the gimmick that makes this work. I wonder if a younger audience in one of today's high schools would even recognize the humor resulting from the absurd mispronunciations and malapropisms. The plot is silly but you are watching the Bowery Boys so it's clear your not seeking highbrow comedy. Should you run across this film you won't be disappointed and Clint Walker has a great bit right at the end.

A lot of the Bowery Boys movies had the theme that Sach discovered a new power-- whether a K.O. punch in the boxing ring, or a wonderful singing voice, etc. In this film, Sach develops the power to "smell" diamonds! (Sach got it from taking a new antibiotic, "Striptopifficin" 50,000 micrograms, for a sinus "infatuation.") When a jewel thief runs into Louie's Sweet Shop, and tries to hide some stolen diamonds from a policeman, Sach sniffs out the loot-- "a king's transom" of diamonds, as Slip says. So the Boys decide to sniff out diamonds in Africa. Actually, they spend a lot of time on a sound stage with trees and tropical plants, and look at mis-matched stock footage of the Serengeti Plain (sort of like an episode of "Ramar of the Jungle"). They hack through a steaming jungle, where the temperature is 130 degrees "centipede." Sach meets beautiful jungle girl Anatta (Laurette Luez), with the same beauty salon hairdo, eye shadow and lipstick she had as Tigri in "Prehistoric Women" (1950). She wants to "Kiss, kiss, kiss" Sach (who said these movies make sense)? The Boys are captured by a hostile tribe, and the witch doctor wants to shrink everyone's head (except Sach's). Slip bemoans, "I don't know one place in New York City that sells 1-and-7/8 size hats!" Will they escape? Will they find the diamonds? Will they ever see the Bowery and Louie's Sweet Shop again? Watch the movie and enjoy!A Bowery Boys movie, written by Edward Bernds and Elwood Ullman. It doesn't get any better than this. And if you don't think this movie has one of their prettiest guest stars in Laurette Luez, you should get your eyes examined by an "octopus" (oculist).