I Can't Think of Anyone More Qualified For the Job
This weekend's review: Crime School.
I was drawn to Crime School both by the title and by the fact that Humphrey Bogart was in it. I didn’t know what to expect, except that Bogart would probably be playing a tough guy. Imagine my surprise when the movie turned out to not only be pretty entertaining, but also featured Bogart in a type of role he generally wasn’t known for.
While Bogart gets top billing, he isn’t technically the star of the show. That honor belongs to a group of boys (billed in the credits as The Dead End Kids) who are growing up in a bad section of town and are shaping up to be crooks and layabouts when they grow up. Things come to a head when they steal some stuff and try to sell it to a pawnbroker, only for the pawnbroker to stiff them. One of the boys, Spike (Leo Gorcey), angrily strikes the man, nearly killing him and leading to the whole group getting arrested. When none of the boys will confess to the crime, they’re all sentenced to two years at a reform school, run by the brutal and corrupt Morgan (Cy Kendall). Initially, conditions are miserable, complete with horrible beatings and minimal medical care, but then a ray of hope arrives in the form of the new Deputy Commissioner of Correction, Mark Braden (Bogart). Taking one look at the way things are run, Braden fires Morgan and takes over, instituting gentler policies and working to win the boys over. Unfortunately, Morgan and his lackey Cooper (Weldon Heyburn), who pretended to be on Braden’s side so Morgan could have a man on the inside, are looking for a reason to get rid of Braden. And they find one when Sue Warren (Gale Page), the sister of Frankie (Billy Halop), one of the boys, starts dating Braden. It all comes down to which will win out-Cooper’s manipulations and Frankie’s natural hotheadedness, or Braden’s firm but fair lessons.
The thing that really stands out about this movie is Bogart. First off, we need to remember that this was made in 1938, during the period where Bogart was mostly playing gangsters and other bad guys (it would be three more years before the one-two punch of High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon). Bogart always trended more towards anti-heroes than straight up good guys, so seeing him as a stalwart figure of light and justice, especially in this phase of his career, is both surprising and refreshing. It helps that he does an amazing job with the role, genuinely treating the boys kindly and understanding why they don’t immediately trust him. At the same time, there’s still a streak of the tough guy in him, which appears at entirely appropriate times (one at the end is particularly satisfying). He’s always engaging when he’s onscreen; seeing a role like this just makes it all the more obvious why he would rocket to stardom.
When Bogart’s not present, though, the rest of the movie is less exciting. The early scenes establishing the boys and their lives are laid on a little thick, and the scenes of the reform school under Morgan are exactly the sort of thing you’d expect from prison movies, especially the “scare ‘em straight” variety. All of the boys are your standard tough guys, generally sporting broad New Yorker accents to boot, and most of them aren’t really developed besides Frankie and to a lesser extent Spike. And while I love almost everything revolving around Bogart and Braden, I do have to admit that the plot point that he’s dating Frankie’s sister is a bit awkward. While the movie tries very hard to make it clear that there’s no direct connection between his treatment of Frankie and his relationship with Sue, he did get her a job while knowing her connection to Frankie, and then started dating her after that. It isn’t exactly nepotism/favoritism, but it’s not a surprise that it was used against him.
While it’s never going to be one of the greats, Bogart alone makes this worth watching. Sure, it’s got some melodramatic elements, but it’s overall best classified as a “feel-good” movie. Especially since Bogart is good in more ways than one.
I was drawn to Crime School both by the title and by the fact that Humphrey Bogart was in it. I didn’t know what to expect, except that Bogart would probably be playing a tough guy. Imagine my surprise when the movie turned out to not only be pretty entertaining, but also featured Bogart in a type of role he generally wasn’t known for.
While Bogart gets top billing, he isn’t technically the star of the show. That honor belongs to a group of boys (billed in the credits as The Dead End Kids) who are growing up in a bad section of town and are shaping up to be crooks and layabouts when they grow up. Things come to a head when they steal some stuff and try to sell it to a pawnbroker, only for the pawnbroker to stiff them. One of the boys, Spike (Leo Gorcey), angrily strikes the man, nearly killing him and leading to the whole group getting arrested. When none of the boys will confess to the crime, they’re all sentenced to two years at a reform school, run by the brutal and corrupt Morgan (Cy Kendall). Initially, conditions are miserable, complete with horrible beatings and minimal medical care, but then a ray of hope arrives in the form of the new Deputy Commissioner of Correction, Mark Braden (Bogart). Taking one look at the way things are run, Braden fires Morgan and takes over, instituting gentler policies and working to win the boys over. Unfortunately, Morgan and his lackey Cooper (Weldon Heyburn), who pretended to be on Braden’s side so Morgan could have a man on the inside, are looking for a reason to get rid of Braden. And they find one when Sue Warren (Gale Page), the sister of Frankie (Billy Halop), one of the boys, starts dating Braden. It all comes down to which will win out-Cooper’s manipulations and Frankie’s natural hotheadedness, or Braden’s firm but fair lessons.
The thing that really stands out about this movie is Bogart. First off, we need to remember that this was made in 1938, during the period where Bogart was mostly playing gangsters and other bad guys (it would be three more years before the one-two punch of High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon). Bogart always trended more towards anti-heroes than straight up good guys, so seeing him as a stalwart figure of light and justice, especially in this phase of his career, is both surprising and refreshing. It helps that he does an amazing job with the role, genuinely treating the boys kindly and understanding why they don’t immediately trust him. At the same time, there’s still a streak of the tough guy in him, which appears at entirely appropriate times (one at the end is particularly satisfying). He’s always engaging when he’s onscreen; seeing a role like this just makes it all the more obvious why he would rocket to stardom.
When Bogart’s not present, though, the rest of the movie is less exciting. The early scenes establishing the boys and their lives are laid on a little thick, and the scenes of the reform school under Morgan are exactly the sort of thing you’d expect from prison movies, especially the “scare ‘em straight” variety. All of the boys are your standard tough guys, generally sporting broad New Yorker accents to boot, and most of them aren’t really developed besides Frankie and to a lesser extent Spike. And while I love almost everything revolving around Bogart and Braden, I do have to admit that the plot point that he’s dating Frankie’s sister is a bit awkward. While the movie tries very hard to make it clear that there’s no direct connection between his treatment of Frankie and his relationship with Sue, he did get her a job while knowing her connection to Frankie, and then started dating her after that. It isn’t exactly nepotism/favoritism, but it’s not a surprise that it was used against him.
While it’s never going to be one of the greats, Bogart alone makes this worth watching. Sure, it’s got some melodramatic elements, but it’s overall best classified as a “feel-good” movie. Especially since Bogart is good in more ways than one.