The Gang's All Here (1941)

One of my all time favorites.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Director: JEAN YARBROUGH. Original screenplay: Edmond Kelso. Photography: Mack Stengler. Film editor: Jack Ogilvie. Settings: David Milton. Art director: Charles Clague. Music director: Edward J. Kay. Production manager: Glenn Cook. Sound recording: Glen Glenn. Producer: Lindsley Parsons. Copyright 11 June 1941 by Monogram Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: not recorded, but probably similar to copyright date. No recorded Australian theatrical release. 6 reels. 63 minutes. SYNOPSIS: The good guy's trucking firm is sabotaged by the bad guy's rival operation. COMMENT: I are not surprised I can find no record of this film's release anywhere, though American exhibitors, keen to save a few bucks, no doubt used it as a first half for a particularly strong "A" feature. True, the cast is not uninteresting (though Robert Homans looks uncomfortable out of his customary cop uniform), with both Keye Luke and Mantan Moreland giving it a bit of luster. But the script is on the dull side. Worse, its lack of vitality becomes progressively compounded by Yarbrough's flat, lifeless direction with its reliance on long, static takes. Worse still, production values are minimal. If ever a movie looked like it had been created in the proverbial phone booth, The Gang's All Here is it!

Don't expect banana-clad Carmen Miranda, polka dot wearing Alice Faye or leg-lifting Charlotte Greenwood. This is not at all related to that blockbuster musical from just a few years hence. This is a racket film where different moods move in and out and make the film fly by extremely fast.When you start watching the first 10 minutes of this Monogram crime drama, you may be confused with the listing of Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland as the frequently paired co-stars, as their teamings were mostly on the light side. It does move into that direction when they take over the action, determined to unmask the villains behind a sabotaging ring out to discredit a trucking company. The actions of the villains are sinister and deadly but toss in the un-aging Darro and the bug-eyed Moreland, and comedy is sure to erupt.Marcia Mae Jones, a forgotten teen-aged actress in such films as "These Three" and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", is the romantic interest here, and in a scene with her beau (Jackie Moran), she goes through all the women who stood by important men in history, hesitating ironically only once when she mentions Alexander the Great, adding hesitatingly, "Mrs. Alexander the Great". It turns out that the beloved head of the trucking company (Robert Homans) knows more than he's let on, and the motivations behind the hijackings are rather surprising. But don't underestimate Darro and the seemingly scaredy-cat Moreland who is certainly braver than he realizes he is, especially when he takes on another stereotypical black character, a henchman of the villains played by Laurence Criner (given the silly name of "Ham Shanks").At just an hour's running time, there's a lot to enjoy here, reminding me that sometimes the best gifts come in small packages and you could get them from a Woolworth's rather than a Bloomingdale's.

"Two young friends decide to become truck drivers but find themselves thrown into the middle of a war between the trucking firm owner and a gang of saboteurs. Hoping to help their new employer, the two men set out to track down the head of the saboteurs. Their hope is to expose the gang leader and save the company from being bought out by a rival firm," according to the DVD sleeve summary. "The Gang's All Here" features some occasionally amusing but more often offensive observations on race and gender.The "two men" are ambitious, tough Frankie Darro (as Frankie O'Malley) and his shiftless, cowardly companion Mantan Moreland (as Jefferson "Jeff" Smith). Mr. Darro and Mr. Moreland played these characters, the young tough and stereotypically lazy sidekick, in a series of films. A romantic subplot involves young mechanic Jackie Moran (as Chick Daly) and pretty girlfriend Marcia Mae Jones (as Patsy Wallace). While smaller in stature, Darro threatens to take Chick's chick, because Darro acts more manly.*** The Gang's All Here (6/11/41) Jean Yarbrough ~ Frankie Darro, Mantan Moreland, Marcia Mae Jones, Jackie Moran

Frankie O'Malley (Frankie Darro) and Jefferson Smith (Mantan Moreland) are broke and looking for work. In the help-wanted section of the newspaper (a quaint object that people used to read...when people could read)they see employment offered at the Overland Transport Company, a hauling firm owned by "Pop" Wallace (Robert Homans.) Unaware that a trucking war is going on and that Wallace's trucks are being wrecked and his men killed, Frankie and Jefferson apply for work and are hired by "Chick" Daly (Jackie Moran), mechanic at the garage, and by Patsy Wallace (Marcia Mae Jones), the daughter of "Pop" Wallace. On their first haul---Frankie is the driver and Jefferson is the swamper sent along to do the heavy lifting---they have a run-in with the hi-jackers, but escape after a race between the two five-ton trucks. But they aren't as lucky on their second trip as their truck is run off the road and the hi-jackers take them prisoner. Frankie recognizes the assailants as drivers for a rival trucking firm.Meanwhile, George Lee (Keye Luke), Chinese undercover agent for the insurance company that is covering Wallace's claims, has learned that Wallace is working with Ray Saunders (Irving Mitchell), division superintendent for the insurance company. Saunders has a hold over Wallace and his forcing him to participate against his will.Frankie and Jefferson, after a knock-down battle, escape for the hi-jacker's garage in a stolen truck---it was already a stolen truck before they stole it to make a get-away---and return to Wallace's garage to find him slugged and unconscious. Frankie and Jefferson decide to get the evidence that will clear Wallace before the police move in. Frankie, Jefferson, "Chick" and Patsy break into the hi-jacker's stronghold, but are captured by Saunders' men. Saunders has the foursome loaded into a truck and driven out into the country-side and killed.Things look bleak indeed but the driver, as was the wont for muggs driving vehicles out into the country-side loaded with potential victims, breaks the speed limit and is soon being chased by motorcycle cops.