Live Wires

1946 "They'll Short-Circuit Your Funnybone!"
6.1| 1h5m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 12 January 1946 Released
Producted By: Monogram Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Slip gets fired from his job at a construction company for decking his boss. His sister, who got him a job at the company, is angry with him. Slip manages to get a job with the District Attorney serving warrants, as does Sach. Through his job, Slip finds out that all is not quite kosher at his old construction company, and that his sister may be in danger.

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Director

Phil Karlson

Production Companies

Monogram Pictures

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Live Wires Audience Reviews

Linkshoch Wonderful Movie
Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Portia Hilton Blistering performances.
utgard14 The first entry in the Bowery Boys series for Monogram. The Boys, led by Leo Gorcey, previously went by other names and even worked on some major movies for studios like Warner Bros. before landing at Poverty Row. This series of movies is my favorite of theirs, with Gorcey and Huntz Hall shining and none of that Billy Halop nonsense. The humor with these guys is not everybody's cup of tea. I've always found them very funny, albeit simple and silly, but there are many who find them grating and stupid. The plot in this one is that little tough guy Terrance Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney (Gorcey) has trouble keeping a job because he's always punching people. He lands a job working as a repo man with his friend Sach (Hall) and winds up tangling with gangsters. In addition to Gorcey and Hall, the gang includes Bobby Jordan and William Benedict. Leo Gorcey's father, Bernard, also appears in this one. He would become a regular character, Louie, in the next entry in the series. It's a funny movie but not the Boys' best. Gorcey's hilarious malapropisms provide many of the laughs. The scene in the fancy restaurant is a riot. Short runtime certainly helps. A good time-passer that should put a smile on most faces.
mark.waltz The first of the long-running "Bowery Boys" series is also probably the weakest in plot, basically the same characters of "The East Side Kids" series with new names and locations. The newly monikered Slip (Leo Gorcey) obviously doesn't want to work, going from flower delivery boy to ink remover pitchman to construction site digger (a job that only lasts two minutes) and finally to process server. He joins pal Sach (Huntz Hall) in that profession, serving everybody from a chorus girl (trying to avoid him while performing) to the gigantic Mike Mazurki. Of course, there's a criminal element here, involved with Slip's sister (Pamela Blake), which provides the only attempt at a linear plot.The slightly more than an hour film is mostly enjoyable because of Slip's "slip of the tongue" malapropisms which are sometimes hysterical, sometimes stupid and sometimes non-sensical. The film provides mostly "moments" rather than the great atmosphere of the aging youth of the lower east side that would prevail for another 11 years in 40 plus movies. While most of the gang appears to be mid-late 20's, "Whitey" Billy Benedict for some reason looks much older. Bernard Gorcey, who always popped up in the oddest places when the series began to travel, doesn't appear as Louie here, looking very different as a bookie. Ironically, Louie's ice cream shop is one of the major settings, but his character is not even mentioned.
Paularoc You either like the Bowery Boys films with their low brow humor or you don't. I like them. They're silly, funny, and light hearted. Slip gets and loses one job after another for being too hot tempered and quick with his fists but since his sister who he lives with has a steady job he doesn't worry about it. That is, until she gets fed up and insists he get a steady job. He first thinks he's going to make a bundle as a street peddler selling Pierce's Peerless Stain Remover. In this skit, Gorcey well demonstrates how very good he was at patter. Of course, the peddler scam doesn't work out and he then gets a job at the repossession firm that Sach is working at (somewhat surprisingly Sach has a steady job). They get the assignment of finding a couple of crooks, Patsy Clark and the crook known as The Pidgeon. Slip tells the boys that in tracking down Patsy they'll first make a list of the possibilities and then "It's just a process of illumination." Slip does indeed find Patsy who turns out to be a towering, violent and menacing crook played by Mike Mazurki. There are a number of pretty funny bits in the movie but my favorite was the scene at the high class nightclub, the 'High Hat' where Slip takes his girlfriend as part of a car repo job. After hearing from Slip that "money is no objection," the snooty waiter recommends a 1928 champagne. Slip and his girlfriend are mightily annoyed and insist that the waiter bring something newer than that.
ksf-2 Well, this one opens with Slip Mahoney (Leo Gorcey) losing his job as a taxi driver, and coming home to his sister Mary (Pamela Blake) and friends... check out that dolled up, rolled-up 1940s hair-do on Blake! Huntz Hall is "Sach Jones", Slip's sidekick; Acc to IMDb, they would work or appear together 69 times! Keep an eye out for Bernard Gorcey (Leo's real dad) as Jack Kane at the soda fountain. Also keep an eye out for Bill Benedict, the blond-haired tall skinny guy in all those films from the 1940s.. he was called "Whitie" in most of the roles he played. Slip tries various schemes to earn some money, with mixed results along the way... mostly bad. This post- WW II film shows life on the gritty side of town, and the difficulty in getting work, with some humor thrown in along the way. Not bad. A film that's short & sweet, mostly a more mature version of the "Muggs Maloney" characters Gorcey had played in the early 1940s. A bit more slapstick right at the end than I like, but they got some mile-age out of real-life wrestler Mike Mazurki. Also a pleasant number "The Right Kind of Man" sung by Claudia Drake in the nightclub. Phil Karlson directed this 65 minute shortie from Monogram Pictures.