Master Minds (1949 film)

Master Minds is a 1949 comedy horror film by Monogram Pictures. It is the sixteenth film in The Bowery Boys series.

In the film, a man gains the ability of precognition. He uses it perform at a sideshow carnival. He is soon kidnapped by a mad scientist who wants to use him in a brain transplantation experiment. The man's brain is scheduled to be transferred into the scientist's version of Frankenstein's monster.

Plot
Sach has eaten too much candy, which gives him a toothache that allows him to predict the future. Slip and Gabe come up with an idea to make money from this and put him in a sideshow carnival. A mad scientist sees Sach's photo in the newspaper and reads about his ability. He visits the carnival where after seeing Sach in action he decides to kidnap him so he can transfer his brain into the brain of Atlas, a Frankenstein type humanoid creature.

The boys attempt to rescue Sach but are captured themselves. Meanwhile Sach and Atlas have had their brains swapped temporarily and Louie has arrived in the hopes of rescuing all of them. He dons a knight's armor and temporarily outwits the scientists but is eventually captured as well. However, the police, who Louie tried to alert earlier, arrive and arrest the scientists. Slip then tries to put Sach back on display at the carnival, but Sach says he no longer has a toothache because he swallowed it.

The Bowery Boys

 * Leo Gorcey as Terrance Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
 * Huntz Hall as Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones
 * William Benedict as Whitey
 * David Gorcey as Chuck
 * Bennie Bartlett as Butch

Remaining cast

 * Gabriel Dell as Gabe Moreno
 * Bernard Gorcey as Louie Dumbrowski
 * Alan Napier as Dr. Druzik
 * Skelton Knaggs as Hugo
 * Glenn Strange as Atlas
 * William Yetter as Otto
 * Jane Adams as Nancy Marlowe

Production
Bennie Bartlett temporarily left the series after this film. He would be replaced by Buddy Gorman for the next seven films.

Released after Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the tagline "The Bowery Boys Meet the Monster" is used in the film's trailer, but that title was not used until the 1954 film. The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters

Release
The film was released by Monogram Pictures on November 29, 1949.

Home media
Warner Archives released the film on made-to-order DVD in the United States as part of "The Bowery Boys, Volume One" on November 23, 2012.