Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

John T. Ryan 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!

utgard14 Nightclub crooner Dennis Morgan joins the police academy to impress pretty blonde policeman's daughter Gloria Dickson. Cop John Payne is also sweet on Gloria and, as movie luck would have it, he winds up as Morgan's trainer at the academy. Nice little B movie with a misleading title. There's no tear gas squad, although tear gas does play a part in the final minutes of the picture.Morgan's somewhat miscast but does get to sing some songs, which is primarily what they paid him for. Poor John Payne has to play O'Brien to Morgan's Cagney. Nice supporting cast includes many future TV stars: Edgar Buchanan (Petticoat Junction), William Hopper (Perry Mason), Herbert Anderson (Dennis the Menace), George Reeves and John Hamilton (Adventures of Superman). Director Terry O. Morse would go on to direct the American footage for the first Godzilla. Not a bad movie of its type and a decent way to kill an hour.

jarrodmcdonald-1 I love this one-- it's the little film that could. It is easily my most favorite B-film. It has some great Irish music, some fast-paced action scenes (especially at the end), and appealing lead performers (like Dennis Morgan, John Payne & Gloria Dickson) to sustain our interest. But what impresses me most is the way this story deftly combines several different genres-- it's a musical, police procedural, romance, mystery and gangster drama all rolled into one. It tries to be all things to all viewers, and since the cast is so versatile, it succeeds. And to think they packed it all into a film that doesn't even run a full hour! Great entertainment.

Lou Rugani A bit of history is called for in explaining the misleading title.Often in B-film productions, the studios would assign the producer only a "power title" with a hoped-for marquee value. From just that pre-assigned title with which to work, the film's storyline would then evolve.Well, the film attached to the title "Tear Gas Squad" turns out to be a terrific little musical-comedy programmer with a great cast and original songs and music by Jack Scholl and M. K. Jerome (whose biggest fame would come from "Casablanca" two years later).The great Irish tenor of Dennis Morgan shines. All else is a pleasurable hour of concise entertainment. Recommended!