“I want you boys to get this straight from
the start. You’re here because you are petty criminals.”
Those
attracted to this film because of Cagney’s mobster persona would find within
its tough working-class narrative a scathing attack on the juvenile criminal
justice system. Warners’ pre-code hoodlums were often depicted as more compassionate
than those who wield power over the great unwashed; the ability for a hood to
redeem himself (often by saving the souls of more impressionable youths) was always
within reach. There was no greater exponent of this archetype than Cagney and,
though he may be merely regurgitating his Tom Powers persona here, such was his
belief in the subject matter that he added weight to the project with his
considerable marquee value.
A
teenage street gang led by obdurate Jimmy Smith (Frankie Darro) pass their time
‘protecting’ rich folks’ automobiles, and shoplifting. When one of the
storekeepers is injured they’re sent to a reform school run by the splenetic
Thompson. As a political favour, mobster Patsy Gargan is awarded the role of
deputy commissioner and introduces reforms that allow the boys a degree of
self-determination. Threats to his racket and a shooting, however, force him to
go on the lam, leaving Thompson to fill the vacuum.
Art
design invokes an atmosphere of Depression-era austerity. The boys’ tenement-block
hideout is as frayed as their clothing and it’s there that the police apprehend
them. The subsequent courtroom scene accents the issues facing both the legal
system and the accused minors. All are from low-rent neighbourhoods. The
liberal ideology, however, doesn’t prevent the film-makers from painting immigrant
parents with broad racial strokes. This may be of its time, but it’s no less tiresome,
nor is it completely offset by the production pointing accusatory fingers at
poverty and its associated ills.
The
stark interiors of the Reformatory are run with military precision by Thompson whose
modus operandi is to browbeat and break the inmates. The boys are fed gruel
while Thompson gloatingly enjoys bacon and eggs. Madge Evans as Dorothy, the school
nurse, is perhaps too virtuous by contrast, pleading with her crooked boss to
be more compassionate. When a consumptive is afforded no extra care, it’s clear
her task is thankless.
Patsy
enters into this dynamic looking for easy money but, when he sees Jimmy attempt
an audacious escape by scaling a wire fence, he’s inspired to challenge the
abusive Thompson, while addressing his own karma. His entrance is delivered
with Cagney’s characteristic panache. It’s satisfying to see him outfox
Thompson and make the authoritarian shrink in stature. As well as identifying
with the toughs, Patsy’s desire to help is reinforced by Dorothy’s alternative
ideas for the boys to manage their own affairs.
While
forensic care is taken with the politics and drama of the reformatory scenes, Patsy’s
racket remains vague. His sidekick Mike (Allen Jenkins) is nondescript, but mugs
comically when cutting the cake Patsy offers the boys during the new regime’s inauguration.
More conventionally menacing is Jo (stock Warners tough guy Harold Huber) who,
in Patsy’s absence, opportunistically takes over his racket. The fratricidal
violence that follows forces Patsy to go on the lam, providing impetus for a
powerhouse ending.
A
death among the boys leads to an uprising. In an explosion of revolutionary
fervour, they steal weapons and put Thompson on trial. This nocturnal sequence
is lit with flaming torches, creating a portentous atmosphere. Thompson,
terrified, is shot from a low angle, shadows flickering across his face. One
would think Patsy a rather dubious role model but, in the film’s biggest
contrivance, on hearing of their mistreatment, he risks arrest while urging
them not to intensify the violence. Cagney would take this self-sacrificial
instinct further in Angels with Dirty
Faces.
Cagney
may be the star attraction but acting honours must go to 16-year-old Darro as
Jimmy; bruised by his upbringing, nervy and insolent, his street smarts earn respect
from his peers and the title of mayor of a neglected underclass.
Clark Hodgkiss
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