Jeunesse triomphante

John Garfield and Priscilla Lane always made a good team and this is one of their best pictures. Being a Warners film the subject of a young couple in love and on the run is given the gritty treatment that suits the story and the pair do very well in conveying the hardships faced. The wedding scene is particularly well played by both. As with most of the studios films at the time it looks at the problem through the lens of current events and society's ills. Not a timeless classic like Priscilla's Saboteur or Garfield's The Postman Always Rings Twice but a solid film with excellent work by the stars as well as the supporting cast.

John Garfield (Joe) is released from prison after being found innocent and now has a chip on his shoulder thanks to the penal system finding him guilty in the first place. He goes looking for work but gets caught jumping trains and his insolent manner does not help with his sentencing. He's back inside a corrective institution, this time a jail/work farm where he comes across Priscilla Lane (Mabel). Together, they make a break and try to live under the radar whilst being hunted for murder.

This film is a series of episodes which keep you watching until we get to a court case at the film's end which descends into sentimental claptrap and shoves Moroni Olson into the picture as a defense lawyer who is atrocious in his part. His monotone delivery is so off that his name becomes a true description (just drop the "i" from his first name) of his acting ability. It's a shame they had to change the original ending which would have left us with a better film. As it is, smiles all round.

There is a segment in which Garfield and Lane get fed up with each other along a road and decide to split up, even though they are newly married. The way the scene is filmed is tense and fraught with the realism of a relationship that will hook you into the sequence and have you rooting for them to stay together. Then a hitch-hiker stops to give Lane a lift. The behaviours and emotions during this sequence are spot on for anyone who has ever had a row and doesn't really want things to go the way they are going.

A few soppy moments (why does Ferike Boros always turn up as a sickeningly kind older lady - aaarrggh!) but an engaging film to watch.

Optimism and hope versus cynicism and despair. Depression era tale of a wrongly accused ex-con taking on a society that never seems to give a guy an even break. Although he is given quite a few, fate intervenes and knocks him off his feet.

Broke and running (once again) from a crime he did not commit, this time he has a companion (guardian angel) that understands him and guides, then forces, the troubled soul on a path of belonging to a world that can offer peace and a place to hang their hats.

A very good, if typical, movie that during the depression was a fitting try at uplifting the downtrodden. An idealistic, progressive endeavor from a studio that could deliver a message and a Star that epitomized method acting before there was method acting.

Although at times a bit over written and assuming it is a time capsule that stands the test.

John Garfield stars in "Dust Be My Destiny" from 1939, also starring Priscilla Lane, Alan Hale, Billy Halop, Frank McHugh, Henry Armetta, and John Litel.

Garfield is Joe Bell, who is released from prison when someone else finally confesses to the robbery he was accused of engineering. Riding the rails, he's arrested again and sentenced to a prison farm for 90 days. There he meets 19-year-old Mabel (Lane), and they fall in love.

Mabel's stepfather is a drunk with a bad heart. He catches Joe and Mabel in a clinch; they run. He chases them, has a heart attack, and collapses, dead. Joe is sure it's no use telling the truth - he's going to be accused anyway. He has to go on the run again, this time with a determined Mabel.

Along the way, Joe and Mabel marry. They meet some decent people, and they actually start to settle down. However, another incident makes Joe want to run again, and this time, Mabel has had it with the authorities looking for them.

Good movie, with Garfield and Lane an attractive couple. This was not an unusual role for Garfield, as he often played tough, bitter guys in need of a break. He is very effective. Good performances along the way by Alan Hale and Henry Armetta.

A routine John Garfield film that Garfield really didn't even want to do. It starts out with Garfield serving thirteen months in jail for a crime he didn't commit and as soon as he's back on the streets, he gets on a train with two of the dead end kids and winds up getting in a fight with Ward Bond, who is hiding out from the cops. The cops arrest all of them and Bond says Garfield helped him when he committed the crime and he's sent up again for a crime he didn't commit. He's given 90 days on a work farm and he and warden take a disliking for each other immediately. That's when he meets the warden's daughter and there is a lot more plot to the movie but you can find that out for yourself.