Hell's Kitchen

That doesn't mean "Hell's Kitchen" isn't worth a viewing though. The cast is fantastic, where you have the Dead End Kids, Ronald Reagan, the gorgeous Margaret Lindsey, and other familiar faces. Stanley Fields is a decent mug leaving the rackets, and Grant Mitchell also plays a fantastic evil head of the reform school.

Fields plays Buck, who is on probation and wants to clean up the school. There are some decent curiosities, like hockey footage that resembles a 1939 version of "Slap Shot," and Frankie Burke, the Cagney lookalike (and soundalike) first seen as a young Rocky Sullivan in "Angels with Dirty Faces." His film career lasted only four years but he managed to appear in no less than eighteen films.

As good as Stanley Fields is, it's tough to beat Cagney in "The Mayor of Hell," which also had the advantage of being pre-code. The Dead End Kids take over the movie, with Billy Halop and Leo Gorcey getting the most lines.

Overall, a decent enough movie, but not one you'll be in a rush to view again. Still, decent.

Dead End kids may get the billing, but it's really Stanley Fields' (Buck) movie. A Wallace Beery look-a-like, his fractured English and Runyonesque manner hit the right notes for what is really a soft hearted gangster. Seems he's got to help out at a boy's home or he's off probation and into the slammer. Trouble is the boys' home is run by cruel supervisor Krispan (Grant Mitchell in a fine performance), who's also skimming money from donors. So Buck uses gang money to buy in and run the home in a more humane manner. But the scheming Krispan's got other ideas.

The subplot here is interesting since it's the wayward boys and the soft-hearted gangster who come across as humane and just, while the politically connected, respectable guy is the real crook. It's sort of a reversal of what is usually expected, but perhaps not unusual for the restive 1930's.

Anyway, Bobby Jordan (Tony) shows his chops in a nicely calibrated emotional scene, while Gorcey (Gyp) does his tough guy bit, and Halop shows leadership abilities. Surprisingly, Huntz Hall (Bingo) has a secondary, non-comedic role, unlike his later dominating role in the long- running series. Reagan fans may be disappointed since his is also a secondary role, but at least he gets the girl as played by the fetching Margaret Lindsey.

All in all, the movie's an entertaining combo of serious themes seasoned with humor. However that hokey hockey game looked anything but real since there was neither officiating nor penalties for roughhousing. But that's a relatively minor point in an otherwise well executed production.

Crime boss Buck Caesar gets a suspended sentence. Supported by his nephew and lawyer Jim Donahue (Ronald Reagan), he decides to go legit. His criminal minions are not so supportive. Jim suggests contributing to a reform school for boys. Unbeknownst to them, the place is a cruel place run by Krispan. He fires caring teacher Beth Avery which happens to be seen by Buck and Jim. Buck is taking over. He intends to reform the reform school.

It's the "Dead End" kids. It's their third movie. The subject matter is still serious with some moments of humor. It has the stiff acting of Ronald Reagan. He's the quintessential square jaw actor. Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall are still only two of the boys. It's good standard Dead End Kids.

The first of two films in which Ronald Reagan was featured with the Dead End Kids was Hell's Kitchen where after one stint of time in reform school in Crime School, the boys are back in the juvenile joint. The adult players take a distinct back seat to the boys in both these films.

Crime School was an out and out remake of the James Cagney classic The Mayor Of Hell and this one also has aspects of those films in it as well. We've got a self righteous warden of the school in Grant Mitchell who's once again skimming off the tops and treating the kids like dirt. His infamous cooler is an old meat locker where he locks the kids in to 'cool' them off. When one of them dies, it all hits the fan.

Challenging him for control of the institution is paroled racketeer, Stanley Fields who is playing his role like a cut rate Wallace Beery. Ronald Reagan is his nephew and Margaret Lindsay is the secretary of the school under Mitchell and who is ready to quit when Caesar arrives on the scene.

Jack Warner must have really been in a bind here because he even acknowledges a hit film from another studio. One of the reforms that Fields wants to bring in is a kind of self governing institution by the kids like Father Flanagan's Boys Town. In fact I'm sure that's why this film was made, to cash in on the success of Boys Town.

No Oscar winning performances here though like Spencer Tracy's. Still it's entertaining enough.

The fact that this is a remake of a 1933 film and a reworking of a film made in 1938 is not that unusual for Warner Brothers. Often they remade films only a year or two or three later. Other studios often did the same but Warner seemed to do it a lot.

In spite of this being a remake, and I usually hate remakes, I found I enjoyed this every bit as much as the other two films--perhaps a little more. This is because instead of the tough guys Cagney or Bogart playing the lead, this one had Stanley Fields who brought an entirely different element. He was much larger and scarier looking but also had a comedic edge to him--sort of like a big criminal teddy bear!! The only part that didn't work for me was the whole hockey team angle--that was weird and the street kids seemed practically like champion skaters almost immediately! Still, this is an enjoyable Warner film and another chance to see the early (and best) incarnation of the Dead End Kids--a group that morphed and changed a lot over the years as the East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys (which were almost like a parody of the Dead End Kids). Well worth seeing.