Reform School

Louise Beavers is a social worker who takes over a reform school and institutes reforms to prepare the boys for a life after.

It's certainly a well meaning race film, and it's a pleasure to see Miss Beavers in a lead role. There is also some money spent on set decoration, rendering this quite watchable. Unfortunately, Miss Beavers has some trouble with long expository sections, and many of the older performers -- although not the youngsters -- sound like they are reading it off a card without warning.

William Hyer's camerawork is quite striking, particularly in the group shots, but one-time editor Bart M. Rauw shows people walking up to doors like this is a 1934 B western and he has to stretch things out to bring it up to feature length.