Dead End (1937)

Dead End
Directed by William Wyler
Written by Lillian Hellman based on the play by Sidney Kingsley
1937/USA
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
First viewing

[box] Hugh ‘Baby Face’: [Hugh doesn’t give a street kid money when the kid doesn’t deliver] Nothing for nothing, kid.[/box]

This gritty story of the mean streets of New York has a lot going for it, including some outstanding performances and a carefully rendered setting.

The story takes place near the Hudson River where highrise apartment buildings have sprung up that overlook a squalid tenement. A gang of unruly boys camps out on the back stoop of one of these posh buildings rough housing and annoying all the passers-by. Dave (Joel McCrea) grew up here.  He has been educated as an architect but can only get odd jobs.  He is infatuated with the beautiful Kay (Wendy Barrie) who lives in the apartment building.  Drina (Silvia Sidney) is a striking factory worker who is bringing up her younger brother Tommy in the tenements on her own.  Drina loves Dave.

Into this environment comes fugitive murderer Baby Face Martin (Humphrey Bogart).  Martin has changed his appearance with plastic surgery and has come back to his old stomping grounds after a long absence to see his mother (Marjorie Main) and girl (Claire Trevor).

Tommy joins the gang of kids.  They engage in all kinds of petty mischief but things get serious when they beat and rob a rich kid from the building.  In the meantime, Martin’s reunion with his mother and girl do not go as expected.  Martin’s anger leads him to attempt a desperate crime.

I thought this was really good in all aspects.  While Bogart is still playing a thug, he does so very sensitively.  We can see the pain in his eyes as his mother and girlfriend do not live up to his dream.  The other actors are all fine.  The collective “lead” is really Leo Gorsey, Huntz Hall and the rest of the Dead End Kids.  They give the film much of its life and have the timing down perfectly.  While the plot contains few surprises, this genre has seldom been done better.  Recommended.

Dead End was nominated for four Academy Awards:  Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Claire Trevor), Best Cinematography (Gregg Toland) and Best Art Direction; (Richard Day).  This was the first of seven movies featuring the Dead End Kids.  The group subsequently evolved into the East End Kids and Bowery Boys and made many B comedies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10MCEnHKxR4

Trailer