A Criminal Is Born

With an obvious play on words of a popular film that came out of another studio, MGM made this short subject A Criminal Is Born as part of its Crime Does Not Pay series. In its time the short subjects which range in quality purport to show the easiness in which can fall into criminal ways and how it can be avoided.

One look at it and you can tell this film does not exactly relate to the urban ghetto. In fact look closely and you'll note it looks very much the streets of Carvel, that mythical small town where the Hardy family comes from. Like the other studio moguls, Louis B. Mayer did not believe in leaving assets lying idle be they human or material.

In fact more than the sets give this short subject an identification with Carvel. George Breakston who played Mickey Rooney's best friend Beezy in the Andy Hardy series, is one of the three young budding criminals. The lead however is Warren McCollum, whose dad Joseph Crehan is preoccupied with too many civic affairs and his own business to deal with a teenage kid with too much idle time on his hands. Ditto for David Durand and Breakston. A fourth kid played by Norman Phillips, Jr., is shown to have concerned parents who make sure his time is filled with useful pursuits.

McCollum and the kids deliver some sincere performances and William Stack as the judge could easily have been Lewis Stone sternly delivering a lecture from the bench. A Criminal Is Born is dated for the most part, but still a sincere effort to tell parents to know where their kids are and take an interest in what they're doing.

This installment of the "Crime Does Not Pay" series begins with an introduction by Judge Marshall. However, like many of the 'experts' in these shorts, the judge is actually an actor (William Stack)! What follows is a story about some kids from normal homes that go bad--thanks to bad parenting! It begins by introducing the viewer to four young men. Three have selfish and self-absorbed parents--and ultimately the three boys end up going on a crime spree in some sick attempt to get attention and get their kicks. It goes from some petty thefts and ultimately ends up with murder! While much of this episode is very good, too many times the short preaches at the audience. It also makes the assumption that bad or indifferent parenting makes criminals--and the judge at the end even goes off on a harangue about this. Subtle, it ain't! Despite the slick MGM production values, this one is shallow and comes up short.

Four bored middle class youngsters get their hands on a pistol and begin a reign of terror, shooting shop owners, and becoming wanted men, even though their parents think they're absolutely normal teenagers in this episode of MGM's long running CRIME DOES NOT PAY series.

It's all the fault of the parents, of course, who go out at night to bridge parties, leaving their sons to dine on a can of corned beef hash. Behold the results of eating corned beef hash for dinner, without an egg!

It's an early example of the sort of teenage problem movies that would become popular in the post-war years. At this time, people were only just beginning to think of adolescence as a stage of life; earlier, one was a child, and then one was an adult. Now society was extending childhood, and this caused a strain on the young men and women who didn't like it.

Criminal is Born, A (1938)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Hard-hitting entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series takes a look at the parents responsibility in keeping their kids off the streets. Four friends begin doing small crimes but one of their fathers gets him interested in fishing. That friend drops out of the gang just in time because the other four start doing more serious crimes after they find a gun. I'm a major fan of this series so if you find these movies over dramatic or too preachy then I'm sure you're going to feel the same way about this entry. With that said, I think it's important to remember when this film was being released and with that in mind, the movie works very well. I thought director Fenton did a good job at building up some suspense as the kids start doing more dangerous crimes. There's one robbery where a clerk trips over a certain item that I won't mention here but the stunt really appears to have gone wrong and the stunt man got injured. I have nothing to back this up but when you watch the film check the sequence out again. The performances were pretty good with Warren McCollum really standing out as one of the punk kids. The 20-minutes fly by at a very fast pace making this one of the better entries in the series.

Although just a short (21 minutes) film, it carries a strong message for both impressionable teenagers and parents alike. Although this film was released 82 years ago, the message is still more than relevant in today's ever changing society where teenagers are exposed 24 hours a day to social networking and extreme bullying.

That message being "Parents you need to stay engaged with your adolescent children", find things to do WITH THEM and don't be afraid to have deep conversations with your teenage children even if YOU feel uncomfortable or believe your little Johnny is an angel.

I think all Grade 9 and again Grade 10 students should be exposed to this film and a copy (electronic, physical, or YouTube) sent home for the entire family to sit down and watch it together and discuss the pros and cons of watching this 82 year old film which still resonates with today's spoiled and incorrigible youth.

A 7 out of 10 rating