Le châtiment

I've always loved this movie a lot. I'm a Bogie fan and a Billy Halop fan, too, so this movie really interests me.

Halop should have gone on to stardom, as he had the looks and charisma to make it. I don't know what went wrong, but this film is a good indication of his growing acting ability.

It's also a step in the right direction towards breaking Halop away from his silly juvenile roles. He could easily play more sinister, dark roles, and this movie proves it.

The ending could have glossed over the Halop-Bogie clash, but didn't, and I like that.

It's a well-made little gangster film that deserves much better accolades.

Humphrey bogart and bill halop are frank and john, out on the town, robbing gas stations. But things go wrong, and it's everyone for themself. And they left fred's gun at the scene! Fred was planning on marrying john's sister, but now it's all a big mess. Who's going to take the rap for a murder? Pretty good suspense. Who's going to do the right thing? Anyone? Anyone? Is there honor among thieves? Will the truth come out before it's too late? Good stuff. Most of bogey's films are really good. He did dark victory after this one. You'll recognize rochester anderson as one of the prisoners by his distinctive voice; was on the jack benny show for years. Film directed by lew seiler. Halop died young at 56. Bogie died at 57.

Before superstardom Humphrey Bogart took many of these "mugg" parts before exploding on the scene in "High Sierra". In this film Bogart plays a small time hood named Frank Wilson whom is followed by Johnny {aka Leader of the Dead End Kids featured in other early Bogart movies}. Johnny is a teenager heading down the wrong path and gets into big trouble when Frank murders someone at a botched heist job. The real trouble for Johnny is that Frank frames the murder on someone near and dear to Johnny. The two hoods end up in prison after accepting charges on another crime to beat the murder rap. While at Sing Sing prison the guilt starts to get to Johnny and Frank doesn't like it. Will Bogie get away with murder? Not a classic movie by any stretch, but worth checking out, especially Bogart fans.

To say that Humphry Bogart paid his dues is an understatement. From the time he joined Warner Bros. until his breakthrough role in "High Sierra," he was the studio's most reliable scowling, snarling double-crossing hood. Here's he's a penny-ante crook who enlists Billy Halop to join him in a quick stick-up. The pair are quickly caught and packed off to prison where Halop has continual bouts of conscience and Bogart masterminds an escape. If that sounds familiar, the plot -- and variations on same -- were standard Warner Bros. fare, especially in the 1930s. Bogart manages to pack a lot of charisma into a stereotype and Halop's ex-Dead End performance is pretty good, as well. But the movie itself doesn't veer too far from an all-too-familiar formula.

Don't come to this film expecting that much Bogart or that much action, and you'll probably enjoy this 80 minute-long late 30's crime drama.

Billy Halop of the Dead End Kids is the real star of this film, made two years before Bogart became a true star at Warner Brothers, but this time Halop is minus the other Dead Enders. Here he plays John Stone, a kid from Hell's Kitchen who idolizes small-time gangster Frank Wilson (Humphrey Bogart). John is troubled because it has always been himself and his sister alone against the world, and now big sister is seriously dating cop Fred Burke (Harvey Stephens). John feels replaced by Burke and also resents the guy trying to be a substitute big brother to him.

Frank and Johnny pull off one gas station robbery without a hitch, giving Johnny a taste for more, but the second robbery does not go so well, with Frank killing a pawn shop owner. The problem is that the gun left at the scene was stolen from Burke, is easily traced back to him, and soon Burke is sitting in the death house for a crime committed by Frank and Johnny. In the meantime, Frank and Johnny are picked up and sent to prison for a short stretch (3 years) for their first robbery. In spite of his rough exterior Johnny really has a conscience, and it's working on overdrive with Burke sitting in the same prison as Johnny, except Burke is awaiting execution, not parole. Time is counting down to both Burke's execution and the end of Johnny's sanity. Frank has no problem having someone else fry for his crime, but he can see Johnny is cracking up and he has to come up with some way to keep the kid quiet.

Henry Travers has a supporting yet significant part as the prison librarian - Pop - in a role that seems to be a warm-up for playing Clarence in "It's a Wonderful Life". He plays probably the only true father figure Johnny has ever had. Eddie Rochester Anderson of Jack Benny Show fame lightens the film just a bit as an inmate who comes to the library each day just to read cookbooks aloud.

As for Bogart, he's at his nastiest here without a shred of humanity. As Pop says, "He's the kind of guy who's so crooked if he tried to go straight he'd crack".