In the late 1930s into the 40s, Monogram Studios made a string of films starring Frankie Darro and Mantan Moreland. What makes them unique is that Moreland was Darro's friend and partner in the film....and Moreland was black. While in their relationship Darro seems to be the boss, the fact that they'd be friends and treat each other as near equals is very unusual and quite progressive for the day.
The films they made together share two things in common. First, Darro, despite being a tiny guy, is very pugnacious. And, second, Moreland is more of a coward....going along with Darro but protesting all the way when times get tough!
In "The Gang's All Here", the pair look for work as truck drivers...unaware that one trucking company will stop at nothing to destroy the other. This means that the gang has no problem running them off the road or even killing them. So, it's up to the pair...plus an undercover man (Keye Luke) to get to the bottom of everything.
The casting here is interesting, as Moreland AND Luke both were veterans of the Charlie Chan series and appeared in several of these films together. Moreland plays a similar character to Birmingham Brown in the Chan films, though he's not quite as cowardly.
So is it any good? For a B-movie, it's decent....nothing great but not bad. The story is pretty good, however the Patsy character is pretty annoying and Darro's pugnaciousness is a bit silly at times. Overall it's worth watching....a decent time-passer and pretty comparable to the other Darro-Moreland pictures.
