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Audience rating
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Synopsis
Rejected for military service because of their age, the East Side Kids look for a way to contribute to the war effort. Their reckless treatment of a shopkeeper leads them into a murder investigation and then a suspected sabotage ring. Trying to distinguish actual enemies from their own assumptions becomes part of the adventure.
Cast
DirectorsWallace Fox
Historical context
Released during the Second World War, the film mixes a juvenile gang comedy with anti-Japanese propaganda. It criticises the boys for attacking an innocent Chinese shopkeeper while retaining racial caricatures in its treatment of Japanese characters, revealing tensions within its wartime message.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.
Availability checked on September 10, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- Leo Gorcey — NBC Radio · Public domain
- Huntz Hall — Monogram Pictures · Public domain
