Jeunesse triomphante

You can see why John Garfield rocketed to stardom just from watching this film: he has a tough but charismatic demeanor and is a natural born actor. He plays an embittered, cynical and distrustful youth, who is released from prison at the start, being told he was wrongly convicted when the real culprit was caught and confessed. He vows that he will never again trust authorities. He lands in a state work farm because of vagrancy and meets Priscilla Lane, the stepdaughter of the yard boss (Stanley Ridges) and they fall in love. But they are caught in an embrace by Ridges, who slaps Lane, incensing Garfield enough to hit Ridges, who dies of a heart attack due to his poor health caused by alcoholism. They flee and feel safe over the border but are almost penniless, so they take advantage of a promotion at a movie theater and get married on stage free of charge with lots of bonuses, despite it being a humiliating experience for both. Then they hear Ridges' death is considered a murder and they are wanted fugitives. Lane wants to turn themselves in, but Garfield will have none of that, and she sticks by him. Eluding police, they are given a job by kindly diner owner, Henry Armetta, who even helps them escape when Lane is caught and Garfield breaks her out of jail. This was an exciting nail-biting sequence. Garfield then lucks out when he is at the right place at the right time: he photographs details of a bank robbery in progress and gets a job as photographer with a newspaper. Because of these sensational photos and the fame it was sure to bring, Garfield was again threatened with being exposed as the wanted fugititve. This film is worth seeing for Garfield's performance, but Henry Armetta and Alan Hale are both excellent, and there's an enjoyable Max Steiner score. For those who are interested in credit abberations, Victor Kilian and Frank Jaquet are both in the onscreen cast credits but were edited out of the film. I've seen this happen occasionally for one performer in movies of the 1930's, but this is the only time I can remember it occurred for two.

Down on his luck John Garfield finally sees his fortunes improve, and I do mean improve, when he teams up with Priscilla Lane. But the bad luck returns and the two end up on the lam for what turns out to be a pretty good movie.

A few scenes shot on location spice things up a bit and there are some very nice supporting performances as well.

The lead actors, John Garfield and the beautiful Priscilla Lane, work well together, as evidenced in their previous work on Four Daughters and Daughters Courageous.

The reputation of John Garfield has suffered somewhat on account of his being accused of Communism by that bigoted lunatic Joseph McCarthy. It changes nothing in that John Garfield was a fine actor, one of the best of his generation. He was an actor who could modify his style of that from the theatre, so that he could be natural and convincing on screen. "Warner Bros" didn't really appreciate the value of such a talent and the films Garfield was forced to do, were not worthy of him at all. However, "Dust Be My Destiny" is a very watchable movie. Even though Garfield is playing the kind of character he was stuck with for a while, he is nevertheless very good. For years, he was always cast as those people who found themselves on the wrong side of the law, usually down to bad luck rather than being criminally inclined. In this film, Garfield is a man on the run with a young lady by his side. Her drunken stepfather is dead due to an accident and Garfield has been innocently implicated. He and his girlfriend take to the countryside, barely staying one step ahead of the authorities. They hop onto freight trains, hitchhike along the highway. It is a tense yarn where you don't know what is going to happen next and I found the experience exciting. Frank McHugh is totally wasted in a cameo appearance as a rather insistent wedding photographer but Alan Hale does well as a newspaper editor who takes the wanted youngsters under his wing. Two of the Dead End Kids make an appearance but they are written out quite early on. Very enjoyable.

Garfield is excellent as falsely-accused Joe Bell escaping to try to prove his innocence. Priscilla Lane is excellent in a character type she repeated three years later, virtually word-for-word, in Saboteur with Robert Cummings. But, this film stands on its own merits, even without the Hitchcockian camera angles or the Statue of Liberty. It is soulful, well-scripted, and tense.

I highly recommend it.

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.