This Day and Age (1933)

This Day and Age
Directed by Cecil B. deMille
Written by Bartlett Cormack
1933/US
Paramount Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

“And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations.
They’re quite aware of what they’re going through. – “Changes” by David Bowie

Cecil  B. DeMille makes even a crime story into an epic.

A high school holds a “Boy’s Day” in which the senior boys shadow city officials such as a District Attorney, a Chief of Police, a Judge, etc.  Simultaneously, a Jewish tailor is slain by Louis Garrett (Charles Bickford), the boss of a protection racket.  The boys try to get justice for their friend from the officials they are shadowing.  They learn the justice system is entirely corrupt.  So they organize the boys from all the high schools to apprehend Garrett for some vigilante justice.  Part of their scheme involves Gay Merrick’s (Judith Allen) agreement with her boyfriend (Richard Cromwell) to detain an enforcer who “likes his olives green”.  With John Carradine under the name John Peter Richmond in a small part as an Assistant Principal.

This is a strange movie to say the least.  The story and dialogue are somewhat naive.   But deMille directs the cast of thousands to great effect.  The “trial” at the end reminded me of the trial by the criminals in Fritz Lang’s M (1931), without the pathos of Peter Lorre. Very pre-Code.