Tear Gas Squad (1940)

MAKING THE USE of plenty of footage culled from ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (Warner Bros., 1938), this production is a prime example of the making of a "B" movie out of thin air. The recipe calls for an unmade, but easily revisable script, a couple of lightweight leads, a modest sized assembly of supporting players and a catchy-if somewhat ambiguous and misleading title.ANOTHER WEAPON AVAILABLE to the second string director and production team of any "B" is the assistance rendered by a truly unsung hero in Hollywood. That talented guy is the editor who puts the trailers together. His presence on the movie studios' lot is equally important to the Movie Company as the Major League relief pitcher, who is designated as "the Closer" is to his team.WE'VE SEEN BOTH the complete feature film and the movie's trailer. We have to confess that we did enjoy it's meshing names like Dennis Morgan, Gloria Dickson, John Payne, George Reeves and John Hamilton (among others). It does have a certain sort of crazy appeal; not the least of which is Mr. Morgan's character's being torn between the Police Department's 'Shock Troops' and the Department's Chorale, where he is lead singer.WE ALSO SAW the movie's trailer, as we said earlier, and guess what? The trailer was a better movie than that was the actual 55 minutes of the film itself!

After seeing any number of films from Warner Brothers I'm convinced that several properties at once were written with James Cagney in mind. And when he said no they devolved on to lesser players in the pecking order.Case in point is this film Tear Gas Squad in which there is no such specialized squad in any police department I know. And we only see tear gas being used in the final showdown with the bad guys here. What this is all about is yet another buddy film that was probably meant for the team of Cagney and Pat O'Brien.Dennis Morgan plays a nightclub singer with not too good an opinion of cops, but joins the force any way to impress Gloria Dickson who comes from a family of them. And she's got Sergeant John Payne who is also courting her who gives Morgan a ticket and gets a lot of lip from Morgan. So when he winds up Morgan's training officer you can only imagine what follows.Which you've seen in any number of Cagney/O'Brien films all of them better than this. At least Morgan got to sing a bit. John Payne who has a few good notes in his system as well sang not a bit.Fortunately for both Morgan and Payne better films were coming along although Payne would have to move to 20th Century Fox for them.

Sure it's a "B" film but it has class all the way! From start to finish, snappy dialogue, great performances and a near breathless pace! Nobody could make 'em like Warner's!Morgan starts out as a wise-ass and get's himself busted from the force. When his brother is murdered by by the hoods he had a part in busting in a robbery attempt earlier... Quoting Bugs Bunny: "Of course you know this means WAR!" Later Superman star, George Reeves puts in an excellent performance as Morgan's druggist Brother.An excellent supporting cast keeps this film running at a breakneck pace! This film has "A" written all over it and is a "must see". I can't praise it too highly!I could go on and on, but you should see it for yourselves and decide!

I was amazed at how short this film was AND how extremely great it was.Dennis Morgan's voice was really exceptional and he sang so much in this movie,it made it SO nice!!It has to do a lot with the police force.It was drama and music all wrapped up into one package.Hope you enjoy it!!