This was another East Side Kids flick in which the boys are sent to reform school for a crime they did not commit. One of the boys has an older brother who's also doing some time and is on the way to death row for also being framed. I'll stop there and just say that it's always a treat to see Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall whenever they banter on screen and Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison as Scruno is also pretty funny as well. This one has the added treat of seeing Billy Gilbert as the flustered stooge to a couple of real bad guys when he has to get some money for them. He's especially funny when dealing with a waiter played by Benny Rubin. All I'll say now is Mr. Wise Guy is worth a look.

A very by-the-numbers East Side Kids film.Here, Leo Gorcey is a little more laid-back than usual and not as threatening as in prior roles. Bobby Jordan actually looks more the leader and is more intense.. Huntz Hall is the so-called comic relief with not much to do.. 'Sunshine Sammy' Morrison does a better job as being somewhat funny.David Gorcey,Leo's brother, is in the background as usual. Even though he is just basically background dressing, he still has some 'presence' enough for you to still acknowledge him. So does Bobby Stone who here was cast as an adversary and is Gabriel dell's partner-in-crime.Gabriel Dell makes his 1st appearance in the series that his Dead End Gang had started without him. He is cast here as an adversary of the gang. I'm not even going to mention much on the sixth member of the gang except that he was completely wasted and was background dressing at that. This was his 1st and last appearance as a East Side kid! He didn't even have any lines at all!? So it was not surprising.Billy Gilbert is miscast as a blustery mobster. So he is completely wasted and he barely gets to show off his considerable comedic skills at all. For anyone who has seen this great comic in full comic action (as in countless Laurel and Hardy and Little Rascals comedies) it is sad to see Gilbert treated as he isAnd last but not least, are two late great character actors who also happened to be Three Stooges foil in several of their shorts. The late Benny Rubin who plays a waiter in a scene with Gilbert. And the late Stanley Blystone who plays a uncredited role as a police officer who hauls the boys in. .

Rather a curious entry in the series, this one is well-produced, and provides the boys, particularly charismatic Gorcey, with witty lines and snappy comebacks, but has a plot with gaping continuity holes and some very odd characters indeed. In fact, the peculiar casting of Billy Gilbert as a comic crook tends to throw the plot off balance. Other oddities: Douglas Fowley, normally the most sadistic of villains, as the clean-cut hero; "Big Boy" Williams, the perennial over-enthusiastic comic sidekick, here much more subdued as a gangster; Gabriel Dell, cast not as a fellow Kid, but as an enemy; Warren Hymer, a sort of slightly less stupid straight man for Gilbert; silent star Jack Mulhall as the incredibly lax, soft-hearted reformatory warden; Mickey Rooney's pal, Sid Miller, in a typical role on the sidelines in which he looks out of place; and Dick Ryan, an unknown actor to me, but giving (next to Leo Gorcey's), the film's most impressive performance as a heartily sadistic guard. The scene in which he lays into Leo with his shoe, slapping him across the face, knocking him senseless and puncturing his neck, is the searing stuff of Hell's Kitchen, a noirish re-visit that doesn't seem so incongruous here because of this movie's generally downbeat air.

This entertaining light feature offers plenty of good-natured mischief and banter from Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, and the rest of the 'East Side Kids'. The story puts together some elements that were often recycled in the various features of the series, and it is used to set up some confrontations that combine amusement and action. This feature came from the middle of the series, when the interaction of the characters plus a few familiar plot ideas had come together well enough to carry a movie like this without a lot of extra help.The story setup has the gang getting wrongly blamed for a theft and being sent to reform school, while the older brother of Danny (Jordan) is also arrested for a more serious crime. There are also a number of other scenes, especially early in the movie, that use their humorous confrontations with adults to establish the boys as restless but misunderstood. The familiar ad-libbing and horseplay from Gorcey and the other regulars in the series works particularly well here, and the script almost seems to have been written so as to provide as many opportunities for it as possible. Billy Gilbert also pitches in with his comic talents, as a befuddled crook, and Guinn Williams is a believable if rather stoic heavy. Overall, it's not really anything new, but it's a familiar combination that provides solid entertainment for an hour or so.