Hold That Hypnotist

Hold That Hypnotist (1957)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Sach (Huntz Hall) and Duke (Stanley Clements) try to protect Ms. Kelly from a crooked hypnotist so they set out to prove that he's a fake. When the hypnotist puts Sach under it turns out that the nutty fool at one time knew Blackbeard the Pirate and also knows where a hidden treasure is. The forty-fourth film in the Bowery Boys series is the third without Gorcey and I must admit that compared to the previous two horrid entries this one here comes off as a mini-masterpiece. A new writer and director were introduced to the series and they clearly made a much better movie than we've seen in quite a few films and this goes back to when Leo was with the series. I was a little skeptical when the movie first started because we got all sorts of silly slapstick that really didn't prove any major laughs but once the story is set in place I thought the pacing was very good and things really started to pick up. I think this film works for a number of reasons but one is that the screenplay doesn't get burdened down in familiar plots. Yes, it turns out that the hypnotist is a crook who tries to steal the treasure from the boys but thankfully this doesn't take over the entire plot. Instead of the plot being centered around this, the bad guy aspect doesn't turn up until the final ten-minutes and by doing this the screenplay can center on the boys and I think it does a very good job at keeping everything moving. There's a very funny sequence when Sach first goes under and then another one later when the boys are flirting with the doctor's sexy blonde. There's a flashback sequence where we see Sach's previous life with Blackbeard and while I didn't understand the "game" they were playing, the entire thing was funny and rather clever. Another plus this time out is that Hall and Clements have got a nice chemistry flow, which is yet something else that was missing in the previous two movies. I thought the two worked well off one another and they also mixed well with the other cast members. At just 61-minutes the movie really doesn't contain any dry moments and in the end it turned out to be one of the most entertaining entries in the series.