The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery

Gabriel Dell and Huntz Hall, original members of the Broadway stage play Dead End (1935) and the film version two years later, reteamed as a successful nightclub comedy act in the seventies after a successful run in several film series during the 30's, 40's, and 50's which included the Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, The East Side Kids, and The Bowery Boys. This "reunion" film died at the box office and though it has moments of hilarity, I recommend it for fans of the Dead End Kids/Bowery Boys only.

Gabriel Dell is the owner of a chicken hatchery who wants to be a private eye. When a local man is killed by an arrow, he is hired by the widow to investigate. It's a burlesque of hard-boiled mysteries, co-written by Dell and director Dean Hargrove. Dell wanders around, self-narrating, looking for clues, amidst the locals, all of whom are eccentrics: nymphomaniacal widows, pill-popping doctors, fake psychics, capped by a shootout in which he and "Big Daddy" Vincent Gardenia blast each other with shotguns, spurting blood and walking away with a band-aid over their eyebrows. It's a little too broad for the actual jokes, making it seemed far more forced, especially with a cast that includes Will Geer, Barbara Harris, Huntz Hall, Jackie Coogan, and Howard Storm. Dean Hargrove went back to tv work after this.

Out of the vast video vortex of forgotten films every so often a movie emerges that is so outstandingly outrageous that instant "cult status" should be awarded. This is a comedy that can only be described as part Woody Allen, part Paul Bartel, and insanely funny. Starting with the animal * angle, implied nymphomania, a bartender who only speaks in cliches, and a chicken hatchery owner as a private eye, "The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery" bounds along with rapid fire laughs. Multiple viewings are mandatory as this is the type that gets better each time you see it. The cast plays the deadpan humor for all it's worth, although I have no idea how they kept from hysterics? Don't miss this one, it is definitely worth seeking out. - MERK