The Wrong Way Out

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.

It's another episode of A Crime Does Not Pay Subject series. A young couple is struggling. With their $18, they run away to the big city to get married. With no training, they can't get a good job. The young couple is alone cleaning up when a drunken rich patron stumbles in. He passes out and the couple robs him of $200.

This would work better if the young couple is more desperate. This is more crimes of opportunity. Quite frankly, Windy would probably steal whether they run away or not. He's a criminal at heart. It has little to do with their lack of money.

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.

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.

In another episode of their "Crime Does Not Pay" series, MGM focuses on the "impatience" of the "under 21" crowd. Specifically, we meet handsome young Ken Howell (as "Windy" Brown) and pretty girlfriend Linda Perry (as Ann Stevens) on a boating date. They discuss marriage with their respective parents, but both sets think it's a bad idea. Denying their consent, the parents think Mr. Howell and Ms. Perry are too young, inexperienced and poor to marry. Howell says their folks "can go jump in a lake." Perry thinks they're stuck in the mud. Howell and Perry marry anyway, but life is hard...

This is less an episode warning about crime life and more a call for teenage couples to cool off their romantic feelings. Perry doesn't finish school and Howell has no way to support a wife, so getting serious is not recommended. When tempted to take advantage of a drunk with money, the couple robs the man. This is more of a slippery slope than you think, and the newlyweds seem to become "Bonnie and Clyde" overnight. It's amusing. Teen idol Howell did this while appearing in his own feature film series (as Jack Jones) and Perry was nearing the end of a hesitating career as an ingénue.

***** The Wrong Way Out (12/24/38) Gustav Machaty ~ Kenneth Howell, Linda Perry, Ray Mayer, George Meeker