The Wrong Way Out

WE MAY HAVE seen some other entries into this CRIME DOES NOT PAY series of shorts from Metro Goldwyn Mayer, but damn if the memory has been able to access any such "file" deep in the recesses of our gray matter filing system. If this is episode of the series, they certainly made a fan in our house.

HAVING BEEN EMPLOYED as a Chicago Cop for 34+ years, it stands to reason that expectation of some degree of realism would be among the list of priorities in viewing any Police Procedural, Detective Story or Crime Drama. That would definitely be the case here. Our very skeptical nature is quick to analyze and put under a microscope just how much the story on the screen compares to the real world.

THAT IS NOT to say that all that we see has to be an extension of and an actual mirroring of that which we deal with daily in our lives. There is another side to this "Cops & Robbers" coin of ours.

THAT WOULD BE the escapist fantasy that is exemplified by such well known films such as RADIO PATROL (Universal,1937) a serial in 12 chapters; which was adapted from the King Features Syndicate comic strip. Any of the screen adaptations of Chester Gould's DICK TRACY would certainly fit into this category.

BUT IN GETTING back to our subject in the spotlight, we find that this little film was rendered in the most sincere way. It transcends the cops n' robbers sub-genre and reveals a powerful, truthful bit of morality play. Without being heavy handed, preachy or sanctimonious, a screening of this short may well impart the beginnings of a better and more moral life style on many of its viewers, be they young or old.

INASMUCH AS THIS is just one of many 20 minute mini-features, it struck us of how much it bears a resemblance to series television. The series that we see as its having a strong relation to is RACKET SQUAD (1951-53). It was an anthology series featuring Reed Hadley as Captain John Braddock, commanding officer of the bunco squad of a large, unnamed and fictional city's police department. Mr. Hadley's role was host, narrator and the detective who would show up at stories end to tie it all up.

AS WE'VE PREVIOUSLY said, this episode piqued our interest and we'll certainly be watching the listings for TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES to see more episodes, all of them we hope.

... although Murphy has some help here as the two lead characters are far from wise.

Two youngsters - their exact age is never stated, but from what's said they are not out of high school yet - want to get married right now. Both sets of parents object and refuse to sign consent forms to let them get married. The parents note their lack of any money or skills and say they want them to wait until they are out of (high) school. The two youngsters show their maturity by throwing a tantrum like they are three.

So they decide to elope because, unfortunately, unlike three year olds, they have drivers licenses, a car, and just enough money to get married but not enough to support themselves. Things go from bad to worse with them moving to crime when a drunk lawyer passes out in the restaurant where they work after everybody else has gone home. And the lawyer's pockets are flush with cash.

It's interesting that the two kids, when they are looking for jobs, meet a hiring manager that could have given them good jobs if the girl had known shorthand and the boy had been a draftsman. Both of those skills are obsolete today, although shorthand is still used in a few professions. Today you have to be out of college or be in one of the trades to have a chance of finding a good job.

Having grown older -- if perhaps, no wiser -- I know that running away from home can be a darned stupid thing to do when you have halfway decent parents. As we learn in this episode of MGM's short subject series, it can lead to crime, and -- repeat after me -- Crime Does Not Pay!

Unhappily, not all parents are at least halfway decent, and certainly when you're all grown up at 15 and they won't let you get married, and there's no money, running away becomes attractive. What Kenneth Howell and Linda Perry don't realize in this short is that their parents do care, and stand ready to help. They just can't find them!

Gustav Machatý, the director of this short, was a big director in Hungary. When he came to the United States with his star discovery, Hedy Lamar, he found out that they wanted Hedy, but his talents were more technical as far as the producers were concerned. He spent about ten years in Hollywood before returning to Europe.

Once again the law enforcement guy was a fake underage couple--they are actually in mid-20s though they did look younger "The Wrong Way Out" is another installment of MGM's long series of shorts "Crime Does Not Pay". Like the title implies, this is the story of criminals who end up being caught and ruining or losing their lives. It begins with an introduction by a police captain* and the story follows.

The film is about an underage couple who are deeply in love and deeply stupid. Since their parents won't give permission, they run off and marry on the sly. However, their new lives suck because they have few job skills and they can barely afford to live. Eventually these geniuses gravitate to a life of crime--and naturally it ends in tragedy.

This episode is a bit preachy but the ending is what I usually like in these films--it's violent and satisfying. And, I was happy that for once teenage characters actually looked their age--even though the actor and actress were actually in their mid-20s.

*In most of the films in the series, some district attorney or cop does the introduction. Well, these real-life professionals were all actors--NOT the folks they claimed to be. MGM deliberately made it look like they were professionals, I assume, to give their shorts clout. Still, this one was entertaining and worth seeing in spite of this.

Didn't realize what I was getting into when this started. It soon became apparent this was meant to be a cautionary tale about running away! Like Reefer Madness, it takes the extreme arguments (against) to a ridiculous extent, probably reducing its effectiveness.