the audience applauded

From my favorite movies..

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

A stagey, turgid mess contrasting slum-kid poverty with ill-defined high-rolling crime, though committed off-screen and merely suggested, and classy capitalist riches. Wait a year and watch The Adventures of Robin Hood and his 1938 redistribution of wealth instead. It is difficult to think of any creatures less appealing than those dead-end mini-gangsters. The impression left by this movie is its sense of unreality. The unvarying set scene is crammed with uninteresting incident, often repeated, which fails to advance the plot. Even the manner that McCrea gets chucked into the ditch, and then the misdirected shoot-out with Bogart towards the end both seem flimsy and fake. Bending over backwards to make allowances for the film's vintage, it still amazes me that it has attracted so many positive reviews and currently enjoys such a high rating.Its hour and a half is only redeemed by the presence, naturally, of Humphrey Bogart. Something of a mystery how this short, fairly homely- looking man succeeds in commanding such a strong screen presence. This may have its origins in the way he speaks. Firstly, no matter how rapidly the words leave his mouth, they are always clear and understandable. Secondly, they never sound like lines scripted by someone else: it's as if he had just thought of them himself, and instantaneously come up with them. Added to which is the realism of his facial expressions. But since he only has a supporting role, and gets eliminated by McCrea, he can't really help the story. He does glamorise the bad guy, which isn't what the film is trying to say. Most kids would rather be Bogart than McCrea. The romantic sub-plot adds nothing, and is of minimal interest.

The Dead End Kids, an unemployed architect, and gangster Baby Face Martin (Humphrey Bogart) interact with an East Side neighborhood over one day and night.Based on a play, this is a great cross-section of New York in the 1930s. We have gangster, street kids, and a man who tried to live legitimately. We have love and death. Perhaps most interesting, we open with the idea that the new houses on the East River overlook the slums. This is especially relevant in the 1930s when poverty was probably at it worst.Bogart is given a place of honor on the DVD cover. That is no surprise. But the real star is Joel McCrea, and on a personal note, I think it's a real shame that McCrea -- despite playing a fine leading man many, many times, seems to have been forgotten by the general public. Everyone knows Bogey, whether they watch his films or not... but not McCrea. Is it just because one is easier to parody?

The Great Depression was a Tragic but Fertile Foundation for Hollywood in the 1930's. This one, adapted for the Screen from a Long Running Stage Play, is one of the Most Powerful indictments of the Failed Capitalist System that Caused the Suffering for so many. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) was the Best at Capturing the Heart and Soul of the Dirt Farmers, and this may be the Best at showing the Scarred Situation in the City's Slums. Not Restrained, or Confined by its limited Sets it is also one of the Best Movies to virtually Film a Play. It was a Thing that Hollywood Rarely Pulled-Off as the two Art-Forms never really meshed that well and both Platforms suffered when it was attempted.This Film is so "Rich" with Layers of Truth and Talent that in its rather Short Running Time, it is nothing less than Captivating. Everything is worth mentioning. The Source Material, the Direction, the Cinematography, the Actors, and the overall Production Design.In this Atmospheric Display of the Human Condition under Immense Degradation, there are many things that are Indelible and not Easily Forgotten. Humphrey Bogart's Pre-Starring Gangster Thug being Slapped Down by His Mother. Joel MccRea's Upper Class Girlfriend entering a Tenement, "I have been poor, but I never saw anything like this."Director William Wyler's insistence on Realism in Defiance of the Producers (Samuel Goldwyn visiting the set…"Why does he make it look so dirty?") The Dead End Kids provide the Humor, not yet Old Enough to really feel the Life Defeating Environment and take Everything pretty much in stride. Claire Trevor's One Scene as Baby Face Martin's Old Girlfriend who is now Repulsive as a Member of the "Oldest Profession".The Movie is one of the Best of the Decade and Reflects the Social Concerns with Timeless Truths. There's Nothing Dated Here and if You Think it is, You are Only Scratching the Surface.

Dead End (1937)While there is no doubt this is an amazing film it's also a slightly stylized and ultimately stilted one. These East End NYC kids--all white, all supposedly "bad" but in a likable way--are filmed on a suburban Los Angeles movie studio lot. It's convincing enough for the plot, but it feels like a huge stage set, constrained and not quite New York City in its scale, noise, or grime. But then you get used to all this (if you notice it at all) and realize it is, in fact, a play on a stage with some cameras recording it for us. It's not a documentary, but a morality tale, filled with types and stereotypes.And filled with such great acting and visual beauty you can't help but appreciate it.I loved it. I loved it most of all for the kids and for the photography. The two titular stars are superstars in the making--Humphrey Bogart in a somewhat stiff but prescient role as a thug returning to see his mother and ex-girlfriend, and Claire Trevor as a tough big sister looking very young and very unlike the more sophisticated woman she often played. Both had done many films before and are sharp and very strong (especially Trevor), but the kids are the real stars, with physical and emotional energy. This is the first appearance in the movies of the "Dead End Kids."The story is a Depression era classic, with the haves having more and the have-nots having less than ever. There is an un-shown labor strike going on and a poor kid/rich kid conflict. And there is the waning power of the gangster at hand, the Bogart thug who really is a bit lost, not only looking for old contacts from the 1920s but failing to find them, not like he expected. In a way, it's the hardworking Trevor who takes the lead, sticking up for what is right and then sometimes thinking only of survival even if it isn't quite right any more.The point is that the system is broken, money is divided unfairly, the cops are both good guys and bad guys at once, and family comes first. Sound familiar? Yes, and that's partly why the movie works--the story is eternal.But it's also a tiny bit hackneyed, or so it will seem if you have the least bit of cynicism in you. So then you watch and realize you have some of the most amazing technical and artistic talents on the planet converged for this film. The director, William Wyler, is the most highly regarded of the studio mainstays--not for his individualism (there are many directors with more distinction) but for his perfection, his sense of timing and space, and his handling of stories and the actors who tell them. The cinematographer is the one most revered camera guys this whole period, Gregg Toland, and he makes even ordinary scenes astonishing. Not that the scenes are ordinary. There is a huge cast in this small space, and the camera goes way up high at times and then down in the midst of the chaos at others, moving with the flow of action, never tiring. Music? Alfred Newman, another great. So take the slightly contrived style as part of its intention and let it unfold on you for what it is. Quite a special film.