The Front Line Kids were a wartime gang of kids with ages ranging from 5 to 15 who spent their spare time shooting out windows with catapults and getting into trouble with the local police. This film marks their sole screen appearance, and watching them in action it becomes apparent that they're the British answer to the likes of the Bowery Boys or the East Side Kids.
FRONT LINE KIDS is a slight comedy that feels very dated by modern standards, but must have been a breath of fresh air for a country knee-deep in war in 1942. The story is about a couple of the older kids who find employment as porters at a plush local hotel and soon become convinced that a criminal gang are hiding their loot in one of the rooms. What follows is a comedy full of cross-dressing, mistaken identity, and slapstick humour.
I find that films like this flow along quite easily with plenty of one-liners to take your mind off any problems with the plot. Certainly FRONT LINE KIDS is no masterpiece, as it feels quite cheap throughout, but it's never boring. The interaction between the kids is quite funny and Leslie Fuller is good value as their adult ally. It's nothing more than an amiable time waster, which is exactly what it was designed to be.
