The Wrong Way Out

Having grown older -- if perhaps, no wiser -- I know that running away from home can be a darned stupid thing to do when you have halfway decent parents. As we learn in this episode of MGM's short subject series, it can lead to crime, and -- repeat after me -- Crime Does Not Pay!

Unhappily, not all parents are at least halfway decent, and certainly when you're all grown up at 15 and they won't let you get married, and there's no money, running away becomes attractive. What Kenneth Howell and Linda Perry don't realize in this short is that their parents do care, and stand ready to help. They just can't find them!

Gustav Machatý, the director of this short, was a big director in Hungary. When he came to the United States with his star discovery, Hedy Lamar, he found out that they wanted Hedy, but his talents were more technical as far as the producers were concerned. He spent about ten years in Hollywood before returning to Europe.

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.

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.

Wrong Way Out, The (1938)

*** (out of 4)

The twentieth episode in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series is one of the weakest I've seen but there's still enough that works here for fans. In the film, young adults Wendy (Kenneth Howell) and Ann (Linda Perry) want to get married but their parents refuse so they decide to elope. Once out on their own they realize it's not easy to make a living and soon they are forced into a life of crime. A lot of reviewers call this series over dramatic but I've never agreed with that except for right here. The entire "warning" this film offers is against eloping and having too much of an ego to return home to your parents. The film takes that and turns out two teens into a Bonnie and Clyde type, which is a tad bit over the top as the film never gives them any real motivation in doing what eventually happens here. I also find it rather funny that both sets of parents are shown as good people yet they too are actually rather mean spirited when the kids first come to them for advice. The parents turn their backs and then they wonder why, later in the film, the kids don't come back to them for help. The over the top antics of the film would make me recommend newcomers to the series to start somewhere else but I think fans will still want to check it out. The performances are all rather mixed with Howell coming off rather lame as the good turned bad guy. The scene with the drunk singing "Happy Days Are Here Again" gets a mild laugh as does the ending that goes way too far.

... although Murphy has some help here as the two lead characters are far from wise.

Two youngsters - their exact age is never stated, but from what's said they are not out of high school yet - want to get married right now. Both sets of parents object and refuse to sign consent forms to let them get married. The parents note their lack of any money or skills and say they want them to wait until they are out of (high) school. The two youngsters show their maturity by throwing a tantrum like they are three.

So they decide to elope because, unfortunately, unlike three year olds, they have drivers licenses, a car, and just enough money to get married but not enough to support themselves. Things go from bad to worse with them moving to crime when a drunk lawyer passes out in the restaurant where they work after everybody else has gone home. And the lawyer's pockets are flush with cash.

It's interesting that the two kids, when they are looking for jobs, meet a hiring manager that could have given them good jobs if the girl had known shorthand and the boy had been a draftsman. Both of those skills are obsolete today, although shorthand is still used in a few professions. Today you have to be out of college or be in one of the trades to have a chance of finding a good job.