Crime School

This movie is a remake of a more entertaining movie called "The Mayor of Hell" in 1933 with James Cagney. The plot is basically the same but it doesn't involve the Dead End Kids (which is good because they can be annoying) but the plot is enhanced in "The Mayor of Hell" because of the absurdity of a gangster getting a favor from a politician by being appointed Deputy Commissioner. Crime Story is a more serious version and could be plausible but that makes it less entertaining. It's sort of weird that a movie could be this close to plot and time, only five years, and attract such a big of a star as Humphrey Bogart. Also that Humphrey Bogart would do this movie up against Jame Cagney so close to the original. In this time frame Bogart and Cagney were doing films together as well.

This is a re-pairing of much of the cast of DEAD END--with the Dead End Kids and Humphrey Bogart together in the same film. The BIG difference this time is that instead of Bogey playing the nasty gangster, he is a juvenile prison crusader--bent on reforming the system and stressing rehabilitation. While this is an interesting twist, it is odd considering Bogart mostly played heavies during this era. And the overall effort isn't bad BUT once again I need to knock off a point because I simply find the Dead End Kids annoying at times. While not as annoying as they were to become when they were re-dubbed the Bowery Boys (complete with a few cast changes), a little of their hijinks goes a long way!

Enjoyed this 1938 film dealing with a young boy named Frankie Warren, (Billy Halop) who is placed in a reform school which is in bad condition and the leadership does not care about the young men and treats them all like hardened criminals. Mark Braden, (Humphrey Bogart) is assigned a Deputy Commissionier of Correction and decides to take off the bars on the reformatory and sets a new policy of giving the young men jobs to keep them busy and educate them for the outside world. Mark Braden meets Frankie Warren's sister named Sue Warren, (Gale Page) and they fall in love with each other after Sue sees how Frankie is improving and has changed his personality towards people and himself. Mark Braden discovers that there is corruption going on in his correction institute and he confronts his chief guard and finds out that Reformatory Superintendent, Morgan are working together stealing funds from the reformatory. All the "Dead End Kids" appear in this film and they give lots of comedy and drama throughout the entire picture. Great 1939 Classic.

The Dead End Kids gets into an argument with a junkman called Junkie and Spike hits him over the head. The kids are brought in front of a judge for the assult but they refuse to cooperate. They are all sent to the state reformatory school run by the sadistic warden Morgan for two years. New deputy commissioner Mark Braden (Humphrey Bogart) attends the Kids' case and grows concerned. He checks up on them at the school. After some horrific discoveries, he fires four guards and the discredited doctor. He sets out to reform the reform school. The guard Cooper cozies up to Braden but secretly sows dissention among the boys.

It's the second movie for the Dead End Kids. Their disruptive antics have already caused issues on the lot. Their antics on screen can be quite rough also. The movie starts with Spike almost killing a guy. These are no angels. That is interesting. The whip marks are really brutal. The characters are also oddly naive at times. Some of the Kids are interesting as they continue to rotate in and out from one movie to the next. There is no continuity which does devalue their story. It is an interesting aspect of depression era cinema.

This was the first "Dead End Kids" film that I watched and I really enjoyed it (too bad they don't show it on television anymore). When I first watched it, it was at a time when I thought all "kid gang" films were like the Little Rascal/Our Gang Comedies. The Dead End Kids were the ones who broke the mold and made the kids believable and this film hooked me on them. The one scene that I was particularly shocked with was when Frankie (Billy Halop) tried to make a break for it and got caught in the barbed wire fence. What happened to him after still makes me cringe as he is whipped within an inch of his life with a cat-a-nine tails. Even though this film is not a classic like "Dead End", the film that introduced us to the Kids, it still is a good picture on it's own.