''Up in Smoke'' is a 1957 film directed by

William Beaudine William Washington Beaudine (January 15, 1892 – March 18, 1970) was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres. Life and car ...

and starring the comedy team of

The Bowery Boys The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 195 ...

. The film was released on December 22, 1957, by Allied Artists and is the penultimate film in the series.

Plot

The Bowery Boys have been collecting money to help a young polio survivor in the neighborhood. A local crook delivers Sach to a phony bookie joint, where Sach loses the $90 the gang collected. At Mike Clancy's café, Sach declares that he would give his very soul to get even with the bookies, and immediately receives a visit from

the Devil Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. ...

himself, sporting a morning coat and two small horns under his hat. The Devil offers Sach a deal: he will give Sach the name of a winning horse every day for a week in return for Sach's soul. Sach signs the Devil's contract and is provided with his winner of the day. The Devil keeps materializing unexpectedly with more tips. Sach returns to the phony bookie joint to make a bet. The bookies, mystified by Sach's inside information, persuade girlfriend Mabel to take a waitress job at Mike's and find out the source of Sach's tips. On the last day of their agreement, the Devil gives Sach a $100 bill and tells him to go to the racetrack and await word from him. At the track the Devil, disguised as a soft-drink vendor, gives Sach the winning horse's name, "Rubber Check." Sach's pal Chuck arrives with the news that the Polio Fund has agreed to pay for their friend's treatment. Sach then realizes that they no longer need the money and he can cancel the Devil's contract. The Devil refuses and points out that if the horse wins, Sach's soul is his. Sach takes the place of Rubber Check's jockey in the race, but the horse wins anyway. The Devil reappears to claim Sach, but is thwarted: Rubber Check is disqualified because he had an unauthorized jockey, thereby nullifying the Devil's contract with Sach and causing the bookies to lose all their money. Back on the Bowery, Sach is surprised to find the disenfranchised Devil working as a busboy at Mike's. After the Devil tells him that he can regain his "horns" by securing new clients, Sach directs him toward the bookies.

Cast

The Bowery Boys

* Huntz Hall as Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones * Stanley Clements as Stanislaus "Duke" Coveleskie *

David Gorcey David Gorcey (February 6, 1921 – October 23, 1984) was an American actor and the younger brother of actor Leo Gorcey. Gorcey is best known for portraying "Chuck Anderson" in Monogram Pictures' film series The Bowery Boys, and "Pee Wee" in i ...

as Charles "Chuck" Anderson *

Eddie LeRoy The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 1 ...

as Blinky

Supporting cast

* Byron Foulger as Mr. Bubb *

Dick Elliott Richard Damon Elliott (April 30, 1886 – December 22, 1961) was an American character actor who played in over 240 films from the 1930s until the time of his death. Early years Elliott was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Career Elliott p ...

as Mike Clancy *Judy Bamber as Mabel *

Ralph Sanford Ralph Dayton Sanford (May 21, 1899 – June 20, 1963) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films and in at least 200 episodes on television between 1930 and 1960, mostly bit parts or supporting roles. Sanford frequently ...

as Sam * Ric Roman as Tony *

Joe Devlin Joseph or Joe Devlin may refer to: * Joseph Devlin (1871–1934), Irish journalist and nationalist politician * Joe Devlin (American football) (born 1954), American football offensive tackle * Joe Devlin (footballer) (born 1927), retired Scottish ...

as Al * Fritz Feld as Dr. Bluzak * Benny Rubin as Bernie * James Flavin as Policeman * Earle Hodgins as Friendly Frank * John Mitchum as Desk Sergeant * Jack Mulhall as Police Clerk * Wilbur Mack as Druggist

Production

Producer Ben Schwalb had moved on to other projects at Allied Artists, but Huntz Hall still had two more films left on his contract. Staff producer

Richard Heermance Richard V. Heermance (February 21, 1910 – January 10, 1971) was an American film producer and film editor.Gevinson p.350 In one round of the October 14, 1958 edition of the television game show To Tell The Truth, he appeared as one of 'three c ...

was assigned to make these last two Bowery Boys features, ''Up in Smoke'' and '' In the Money''. The team's longtime director

returned to film them quickly. The writers deliberately cast against type for the key role of the Devil. Instead of casting a screen menace like

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established h ...

or Peter Lorre, or a lower-priced villain like Philip Van Zandt, they selected Byron Foulger, long established as the meekest and mildest character in the movies. Foulger played the role with enthusiasm, and the studio gave him special billing in the advertising and theatrical posters. ''Up in Smoke'' is the only film in which Sach refers to Duke as "Chief," a nickname formerly reserved for Leo Gorcey as Slip. Typically, Sach would refer to Duke as "Dukey."

Home media

Warner Archives released the film on made-to-order

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

in the United States as part of ''"The Bowery Boys, Volume Three"'' on October 1, 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Up In Smoke (1957 Film) 1957 films 1957 comedy films American black-and-white films Bowery Boys films 1950s English-language films Films directed by William Beaudine Allied Artists films The Devil in film