Delinquent Parents

Delinquent Parents (1938)

** (out of 4)

Edith Ellis, a good but poor girl, is involved in a wreck where her rich boyfriend's parents demand that he stays away from her. It turns out Edith is pregnant but her mother demands that she give the baby up for adoption. Flash forward eighteen years and now Edith is a judge in a small town where her daughter Carol (Doris Weston), who doesn't know she's adopted, is another good girl. This all changes when she finds out that she's adopted.

DELINQUENT PARENTS is sold as an exploitation movie today but it's actually a fairly straight-forward and serious drama that takes a look at how some folks just consider themselves "above" others when in fact they're not. This film deals with several social issues including the rich getting away with certain behaviors but the real goal of this film is to show parents that their poor judgment can also effect the children they're trying to protect.

There's certainly nothing bad about this picture. It runs for less than a hour and director Nick Grinde actually does a nice job at keeping it entertaining. He certainly manages to keep it flowing at a nice pace and we're also given a couple good performances. I thought Weston was fine in her role as was Maurice Murphy and Helen MacKellar who plays the judge. Again, if you bought this picture expecting an exploitation movie then you're going to be disappointed because this isn't another REEFER MADNESS or SEX MADNESS.

This is a very low-budget social drama of the type familiar to modern audiences as a "tv drama" -- that is, a short, sincere look at a serious social problem, dramatised through the lives of a small number of people. The story is simple: a young female law student gives her child up for adoption and must live with the consequences, as must the girl, who, when she finds out that she was adopted, runs wild and enters into unsavoury company. The past has repercussions on the present, and in the end the young law student, now a kindly family court judge, must face her own past if she is to continue to serve the troubled teens to whom she has dedicated her career. Despite the motherhood-loss issues, this movie is not a tear-jerker like "Stella Dallas" or "Madame X," to which easy comparisons could be made, and in many ways it is more progressive and more satisfying than those famous films. The acting is top-notch, the premise is strong, and the resolution is surprisingly low-key and realistic. The only fault i can find with the print i saw (from alpha video) is that it is a noisy print lacking the title credits -- which is why i had to come here to get the full credits. Kudos to Helen MacKellar as Judge Ellis, to Sybil Harris as Kathryn Caldwell, and to Marge Champion as the teen dancer leading the Big Apple number and also the "dance director" for the teen party scene.

Oh, oh, I thought - exploitation cheapie but, surprise, surprise, "Delinquent Parents" turns out to be a pretty decent movie. The story makes sense, the acting is quite good, the solution is satisfactory. The leads are quite good, quite likable. The 'who is my momma?' story keeps you interested throughout. Much better movie than you might expect. Sure, you can see where some expenses may have been cut, but the end result is a damn good movie. No, not a blockbuster, but plenty easy to take.

One surprise was the Big Apple dance. I had heard about it but never saw it. The movie did not go the route often taken by many of these types of movies - it stayed within the decency limitations, perhaps more than need by. By today's standards it might be a bore, but if it is a good story and good performances you are looking for check this out. For the most part, by the way, the title is misleading.