Up in Smoke | |
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Directed by | William Beaudine |
Screenplay by | Jack Townley |
Story by | Bert Lawrence Elwood Ullman |
Produced by | Richard Heermance |
Starring | Huntz Hall Stanley Clements David Gorcey Eddie LeRoy Dick Elliott |
Cinematography | Harry Neumann |
Edited by | William Austin |
Music by | Marlin Skiles |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Allied Artists Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 64 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Up in Smoke is a 1957 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys. [2] [1] The film was released on December 22, 1957, by Allied Artists and is the penultimate film in the series.
The Bowery Boys have been collecting money to help a young polio survivor in the neighborhood. A local crook delivers Sach to a phony bookie joint, where Sach loses the $90 the gang collected. At Mike Clancy's café, Sach declares that he would give his very soul to get even with the bookies, and immediately receives a visit from the Devil himself, sporting a morning coat and two small horns under his hat. The Devil offers Sach a deal: he will give Sach the name of a winning horse every day for a week in return for Sach's soul. Sach signs the Devil's contract and is provided with his winner of the day.
The Devil keeps materializing unexpectedly with more tips. Sach returns to the phony bookie joint to make a bet. The bookies, mystified by Sach's inside information, persuade girlfriend Mabel to take a waitress job at Mike's and find out the source of Sach's tips. On the last day of their agreement, the Devil gives Sach a $100 bill and tells him to go to the racetrack and await word from him.
At the track the Devil, disguised as a soft-drink vendor, gives Sach the winning horse's name, "Rubber Check." Sach's pal Chuck arrives with the news that the Polio Fund has agreed to pay for their friend's treatment. Sach then realizes that they no longer need the money and he can cancel the Devil's contract. The Devil refuses and points out that if the horse wins, Sach's soul is his. Sach takes the place of Rubber Check's jockey in the race, but the horse wins anyway. The Devil reappears to claim Sach, but is thwarted: Rubber Check is disqualified because he had an unauthorized jockey, thereby nullifying the Devil's contract with Sach and causing the bookies to lose all their money.
Back on the Bowery, Sach is surprised to find the disenfranchised Devil working as a busboy at Mike's. After the Devil tells him that he can regain his "horns" by securing new clients, Sach directs him toward the bookies.
Producer Ben Schwalb had moved on to other projects at Allied Artists, but Huntz Hall still had two more films left on his contract. Staff producer Richard Heermance was assigned to make these last two Bowery Boys features, Up in Smoke and In the Money . The team's longtime director William Beaudine returned to film them quickly.
The writers deliberately cast against type for the key role of the Devil. Instead of casting a screen menace like Boris Karloff or Peter Lorre, or a lower-priced villain like Philip Van Zandt, they selected Byron Foulger, long established as the meekest and mildest character in the movies. Foulger played the role with enthusiasm, and the studio gave him special billing in the advertising and theatrical posters.
Up in Smoke is the only film in which Sach refers to Duke as "Chief," a nickname formerly reserved for Leo Gorcey as Slip. Typically, Sach would refer to Duke as "Dukey."
Warner Archives released the film on made-to-order DVD in the United States as part of "The Bowery Boys, Volume Three" on October 1, 2013.
Clancy Street Boys is a 1943 comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the East Side Kids. It is Beaudine's first film with the team; he would direct several more in the series and many in the Bowery Boys canon. Leo Gorcey married the female lead Amelita Ward. There is no mention of "Clancy Street" in the film, but a rival gang at Cherry Street appears at the beginning and climax of the film.
The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 1958.
Live Wires is a 1946 film starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys. It is the first film in the series, which lasted until 1958 and included forty-eight films, after the comedy team of the East Side Kids was revamped and renamed The Bowery Boys.
Mr. Hex is a 1946 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys. It is the fifth film in the series.
Hard Boiled Mahoney is a 1947 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys alongside Teala Loring and Betty Compson. It is the sixth film in the series produced by Monogram Pictures.
Bowery Buckaroos is a 1947 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys. It is the eighth film in the series and the last Bowery Boys film that Bobby Jordan appeared in.
Angels' Alley is a 1948 comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring The Bowery Boys. It is the ninth film in the series and the first one without Bobby Jordan.
Jinx Money is a 1948 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys. It is the tenth film in the series and the first one to include Bennie Bartlett as part of the team.
Blonde Dynamite is a 1950 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on February 12, 1950 by Monogram Pictures and is the seventeenth film in the series.
Lucky Losers is a 1950 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on May 14, 1950, by Monogram Pictures and is the eighteenth film in the series. It had the working title of High Stakes.
Blues Busters is a 1950 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on October 29, 1950 by Monogram Pictures and is the twentieth film in the series.
Bowery Battalion is a 1951 comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on January 24, 1951, by Monogram Pictures and is the twenty-first film in the series.
Crazy Over Horses is a 1951 comedy film starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on November 18, 1951 by Monogram Pictures and is the twenty-fourth film in the series.
Hold That Line is a 1952 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the Bowery Boys, Veda Ann Borg and Gloria Winters. The film was released on March 23, 1952 by Monogram Pictures and is the 25th film in the series.
Feudin' Fools is a 1952 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring The Bowery Boys, Anne Kimbell and Dorothy Ford. The film was released on September 21, 1952 by Monogram Pictures and is the twenty-seventh film in the series.
For the 1989 film of the same name starring Hulk Hogan, see No Holds Barred .
Jalopy is a 1953 comedy film starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on February 15, 1953 by Allied Artists and is the twenty-ninth film in the series. Jalopy represents the first Bowery Boys film to be released by Allied Artists, previous were by Monogram Pictures.
Paris Playboys is a 1954 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on March 7, 1954, by Allied Artists and is the thirty-third film in the series.
In the Money is a 1958 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on February 16, 1958, by Allied Artists Pictures and is the 48th and final film in the series. It was directed by William Beaudine and written by Al Martin and Elwood Ullman.
The East Side Kids were characters in a series of 22 films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. The series was a low-budget imitation of the Dead End Kids, a successful film franchise of the late 1930s.