Gasoline Alley (1951/VCI DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C-     Films: B-

 

 

In 1921, Frank O. King introduced a comic strip that would marry its characters to their love of cars, but Gasoline Alley grew into a huge hit that focused on a group of characters who did what no other characters at the time had in the comic strips: age!  Hoping for possibly another hit movie series like the one they had off of the classic strip Blondie, Columbia Pictures made a very funny film in 1951 and even a sequel called Corky Of Gasoline Alley the same year, but sadly, it did not develop into another series and TV would soon kill all such series.

 

VCI has issued both films in a double DVD set with bonus B-movies (three military comedies, one a comedy about being a cab driver in Los Angeles that is especially amusing called Stop That Cab) and if you like comedy is worth picking up.  The first Alley film is especially funny as Scotty Beckett and Jimmy Lydon (as strip characters Corky and Skeezix) playing half-brothers who eventually try to open up a diner.  It is still very funny and Edward Bernds (who helmed The Bowery Boys and Three Stooges for the studio) shows what an underrated talent he is.  Casting is just right and the film fun.  The Corky sequel is not wacky enough, but worth seeing after the first film.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image in all cases is down a generation or so, with the four bonus films from indie Spartacus, but VCI has fixed them up the best they could.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 is rough mono at best, but the Columbia films sound best.  Extras include stills for those four bonus films and Alley trailers.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo