Junior G-Men

Seventeen-year old street punk Billy Halop (as Billy Barton alias Billy Lang) is caught stealing pies. He is turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.), after being fingered by clean-cut "Junior G-Man" Kenneth Howell (as Harry Trent). The F.B.I. lets young Halop know his presumed dead dad, an inventive genius, is really alive. The father has been abducted by a group of treasonable conspirators known as "The Flaming Torch". Opposites attract, and Halop and Howell grow to like each other. They join forces to save the U.S.A. from the villainous plotting of the "Torch Gang"...

For the record, "The Dead End Kids" aka "The Little Tough Guys" for this entry are: Halop, Huntz Hall (as Gyp), Gabriel Dell (as Terry), Bernard Punsly (as Lug), Harris Berger (as Sailor) and Ken Lundy (as Buck)...

The first of three "Universal" serials has plenty of chase, crash and fight. It brought audiences into the cinemas every week, as three more serials followed. Halop flew into "Sky Raiders" (1941) solo, dove into "Sea Raiders" (1941) with the "Dead End" Kids, and headed up "Junior G-Men of the Air" (1942). This first series benefits from having a clear, simple plot. One of the more memorable sequences herein involves aviation (Chapter 9, "The Plunge of Peril!"). Halop and Howell get in the ring and box in Chapter 6 ("Traitor's Treachery!"). Howell celebrated his KO with "Pride of the Bowery" (1940).

***** Junior G-Men (1940) Ford Beebe, John Rawlins ~ Billy Halop, Kenneth Howell, Huntz Hall, Phillip Terry