East Side Kids: That Gang of Mine

Joseph H. Lewis's That Gang Of Mine arrives on DVD from Alpha Video in a reasonably clean edition, at least a match for the standard set by the other East Side Kids movies in the company's catalog. The source looks to be a 16mm dupe print of the kind that were sent out to television stations near the end of the series' major circulation in the medium. There's not a lot of detail or sharpness, but it doesn't have too many blemishes and is reasonably intact, with only an occasional missing frame or damage to the print to break up the smooth unfolding of the story, such as it is. And most of those problems only come up at edit points, rather than in the middle of shots. The night shots are a little too hazy and dark, but not the worst that this reviewer has seen on DVD or from this company; the major disappointment is the final reel, which is in rougher shape than the rest, with regular blemishes, including a fair number of horizontal scratches, though it's still watchable, despite some nearly (but not quite) whites out faces in one daytime shot. The sound is in better condition than the picture, mastered at a high volume level and more finely detailed than the picture. This DVD is also notable as the first digital disc release of any movie to feature distinguished Black actor Clarence Muse, playing the owner of a thoroughbred that has a chance to be a winning race horse -- he's the best thing in the movie, and perhaps the best actor ever to work in an East Side Kids movie, and he was such an important part of Black cinema as an actor (and a star) around whom serious dramas could be built that this disc is worth owning just to see his work in what might be the only extant film in Muse's output, as of 2003. Alpha's usual six chapters are here, adequate for a movie running a total of 62 minutes without an overly complicated plot or too many characters.