Reform School

Always strange to see (and review) a film of great cultural and historical relevance with little to no cinematic or dramatic interest. In other words, congrats to the powers that be behind this 1939 work (the Popkins, presumably) for bucking both racial and gender stereotypes and financing and making a movie where the African American characters wear suits and dresses rather than porters caps and aprons and where the main character is a working woman who gives the orders rather than receives them. But oh ye gods the acting and writing are horrendous! One only has to compare a great actress like Louise Beavers' performance in "Imitation of Life" to the stiff, mechanical reform school head she portrays here with her line readings of dull dialogue in the most awkward, amateur manner to see that for African Americans in Hollywood this film is a first, very welcome, but tentative step forward. Give it a C plus (mostly for groundbreaking reasons).

This is a well-meaning and impressive low-budget film of historical importance. The first half shows the deplorable state of the penal system in the United States in the 1930s. Then the second half of the movie tries to show how conditions could be improved. But the sad thing about watching the film today is that the first half is TRUE. It was true in 1939 and it's still true now, in 2022. (If anything, they downplayed how awful things really were, and are.) The second half, however, is FALSE. No significant reforms were ever made. The system is just as bad today as it was then, or even worse. :(

"Reform School" is a film thought lost until recently, as it was just shown fully restored on Turner Classic Movies. It's also a so-called 'race film'...a movie that was made for black audiences. This is because, sadly, many theaters in the USA didn't allow black patrons...and so black only movie theaters began springing up and an industry developed making films specifically for these theaters. Sadly, most of the race films were pretty bad...mostly because they had miniscule budgets. Is "Reform School" any better?

This story is most unusual because it stars Louise Beavers...and she's NOT playing a maid or is subservient as she did in Hollywood movies. Instead, she's a well meaning woman who aims to help young offenders walk the straight and narrow.

Mother Barton (Beavers) is parole officer who thinks the system is creating more problems than it solved. After exposing the corruption and brutality in a local reform school, she is made the new warden and implements policies to make the place more humane. But a disgruntled guard hates her and these changes and threatens to destroy the progress she's made. But how? See the film.

In many ways, the film is clearly a product of its times. The 1930s was a period in which many social reform pictures were made, such as "I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang". It's also very, very similar to films such as "Crime School" (with the Dead End Kids).

While I wouldn't say it's a great film technically speaking (some of the acting was a bit stilted and a bit of the camerawork was suspect), it's very good compared to other race films. It's also, most importantly, very watchable and is one of the better films of its type.

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.

How do you change bad behavior? Bad boys reap the consequences of their actions by spending time in a typical reform school, where beatings are a normal part of life. What if it could be done another way? What would a shift in leadership look like and would it work? Enter Mother Barton, a smart and successful woman who takes over and instills a new kind of guidance. It's a very simple story of how brutality never changed anyone, only thru trust and love. People will see themselves in the best light if you dare to. It also so happens this is with an all black cast. Humanity is a story as old as time.