User reviews

Humphrey Bogart takes over a reform school and tries to straighten out the Dead End Kids in this fine urban drama from Warner Bros. It's the second movie featuring the Dead End Kids after their debut in "Dead End" and their first for Warner Bros. This one is essentially a remake of a great Pre-Code movie called "The Mayor of Hell," which was also made by WB and starred James Cagney. That movie was grittier than this one and, since it didn't star the Dead End Kids, was less comedic. That isn't to say this movie is a comedy but the mugging of the Kids brings levity to even the most serious of scripts. Eventually someone would realize the boys were better suited for comedies but in these early dramas they were used to illustrate the plight of tough street kids.

The Dead End Kids have their share of detractors among classic film fans today. Read through some of the reviews of their movies here and you'll come across some very vocal 'haters.' I like them myself, particularly the later movies they did as East Side Kids and Bowery Boys where Leo Gorcey was the leader of the gang instead of humorless Billy Halop. Anyway, the Kids are good here despite drama not being their forte. Humphrey Bogart shines as the good guy, an unusual role for him at this point in his career. Bogart also appeared in "Dead End," although he was a gangster in that one. Gale Page is nice in a sympathetic role as the sister of Halop's character. It's a good movie of its type and I have no doubt fans of the urban crime pictures WB specialized in will like it. And, of course, Bogart and Dead End Kids fans will enjoy it most.

The Dead End Kids star with Humphrey Bogart in "Crime School," a 1938 film from Warner Brothers.

The boys live in a rough neighborhood. They steal things and bring them to a fence, whom Spike accidentally kills. They are sent to reform school, but the school turns out to be more like a prison, run by a horrible warden (Cy Kendall) and his henchman (Weldon Heyburn).

Bogart plays Braden, the new Deputy Commissioner of Correction. When he comes for a visit he sees Frankie (Billy Halop) untreated in the hospital with lash wounds all over his back. He tastes the food, which is inedible.

Braden also fired the warden and several guards. He fires the drunk doctor. The bars come off the windows, the food is better, the kids are in training for various skills, no more whippings.

Then the henchman, still working there, sets Braden up to take a big fall by convincing Spike (Leo Gorcey) to take his car keys and escape. Of course the rest of the boys come with him.

Entertaining, with Bogart playing a nice guy. Gale Page is Frankie's sister. If you like the Dead End Kids, this is okay, though I understand it's not their best.

Of interest, "under God" is left out of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Warner Brothers decided to save a bundle on purchasing new properties for the Dead End Kids. The boys did They Made Me a Criminal a year later which was a remake of The Life of Jimmy Dolan and Crime School is a remake of The Mayor from Hell.

Fellow gangster icon James Cagney starred in The Mayor from Hell which I also reviewed here. Such things as Cagney's motivation and commitment to the reform school and the manner with which the boys take matters into their own hands is pretty grisly. None of that in this kinder, gentler film.

Sleepers has a lot of the same elements in both The Mayor from Hell and Crime School. It's certainly better than Crime School. This was one film whose message was watered down to nothing.

Nevertheless Crime School does have Humphrey Bogart in it and the Dead End Kids are always entertaining.

I wonder what kind of stuff the Dead End Kids would have been turning out had they come along pre-Code?

The Dead End Kids gets into an argument with a junkman called Junkie and Spike hits him over the head. The kids are brought in front of a judge for the assult but they refuse to cooperate. They are all sent to the state reformatory school run by the sadistic warden Morgan for two years. New deputy commissioner Mark Braden (Humphrey Bogart) attends the Kids' case and grows concerned. He checks up on them at the school. After some horrific discoveries, he fires four guards and the discredited doctor. He sets out to reform the reform school. The guard Cooper cozies up to Braden but secretly sows dissention among the boys.

It's the second movie for the Dead End Kids. Their disruptive antics have already caused issues on the lot. Their antics on screen can be quite rough also. The movie starts with Spike almost killing a guy. These are no angels. That is interesting. The whip marks are really brutal. The characters are also oddly naive at times. Some of the Kids are interesting as they continue to rotate in and out from one movie to the next. There is no continuity which does devalue their story. It is an interesting aspect of depression era cinema.

This was the first "Dead End Kids" film that I watched and I really enjoyed it (too bad they don't show it on television anymore). When I first watched it, it was at a time when I thought all "kid gang" films were like the Little Rascal/Our Gang Comedies. The Dead End Kids were the ones who broke the mold and made the kids believable and this film hooked me on them. The one scene that I was particularly shocked with was when Frankie (Billy Halop) tried to make a break for it and got caught in the barbed wire fence. What happened to him after still makes me cringe as he is whipped within an inch of his life with a cat-a-nine tails. Even though this film is not a classic like "Dead End", the film that introduced us to the Kids, it still is a good picture on it's own.

This is a re-pairing of much of the cast of DEAD END--with the Dead End Kids and Humphrey Bogart together in the same film. The BIG difference this time is that instead of Bogey playing the nasty gangster, he is a juvenile prison crusader--bent on reforming the system and stressing rehabilitation. While this is an interesting twist, it is odd considering Bogart mostly played heavies during this era. And the overall effort isn't bad BUT once again I need to knock off a point because I simply find the Dead End Kids annoying at times. While not as annoying as they were to become when they were re-dubbed the Bowery Boys (complete with a few cast changes), a little of their hijinks goes a long way!

"Crime School" is clearly from the same mold as "San Quentin" and Cagney's "The Mayor of Hell."

It is a predictable vehicle for the Dead End Kids, in which Bogart played, in a dull, unemotional style, a deputy commissioner of correction who takes over the running of a reformatory housing the Kids when he finds the warden is a sadist…

There is a threat to Bogart's plan when the Kids escape as part of the warden's calculated attempt to prove Bogart's regenerative prison policies are valueless, but the ruse fails as Bogart gets the boys back winning the solemn recognition of merit

Enjoyed this 1938 film dealing with a young boy named Frankie Warren, (Billy Halop) who is placed in a reform school which is in bad condition and the leadership does not care about the young men and treats them all like hardened criminals. Mark Braden, (Humphrey Bogart) is assigned a Deputy Commissionier of Correction and decides to take off the bars on the reformatory and sets a new policy of giving the young men jobs to keep them busy and educate them for the outside world. Mark Braden meets Frankie Warren's sister named Sue Warren, (Gale Page) and they fall in love with each other after Sue sees how Frankie is improving and has changed his personality towards people and himself. Mark Braden discovers that there is corruption going on in his correction institute and he confronts his chief guard and finds out that Reformatory Superintendent, Morgan are working together stealing funds from the reformatory. All the "Dead End Kids" appear in this film and they give lots of comedy and drama throughout the entire picture. Great 1939 Classic.

Crime School is a mediocre film, but still a good performance by Bogart. One of the Dead End Kids films, it struggles to keep you interested. The Dead End Kids are, well dead. The acting is very poor and the characters and almost annoying with the over done accents and supposed gang behavior. The main problem which contributes to the entire films downfall is the unrealistic dialog and actions. When one of the kids shows up at the pawnshop with a 100 lb cast iron bathtub, you roll your eyes. But when Cy Kendell gets fired from a job he has had for 12 years and he puts up almost no protest you have to reach for remote and try not to stop the tape. Its finer points are the moral and political statements the film makes on reforming child criminals. Sadism versus compassion, hate verses love, good points clouded by comical attempts at portraying tough street kids. Bogart is a great actor and plays the part well, of all the characters in the film his is the most believable and entertaining. Definitely not one of Lew Seiler's best movies. I would not rent it unless you are old enough to connect for nostalgic reasons, but if it shows on TV it is worth muddling through it.

This movie is a remake of a more entertaining movie called "The Mayor of Hell" in 1933 with James Cagney. The plot is basically the same but it doesn't involve the Dead End Kids (which is good because they can be annoying) but the plot is enhanced in "The Mayor of Hell" because of the absurdity of a gangster getting a favor from a politician by being appointed Deputy Commissioner. Crime Story is a more serious version and could be plausible but that makes it less entertaining. It's sort of weird that a movie could be this close to plot and time, only five years, and attract such a big of a star as Humphrey Bogart. Also that Humphrey Bogart would do this movie up against Jame Cagney so close to the original. In this time frame Bogart and Cagney were doing films together as well.

In their second film appearance, The "Dead End" Kids are petty New York City street thieves. Starting a trend that will last two decades, the group play essentially the same characters - but with occasional name changes, and no dependable continuity from story to story. Herein, the depression-strapped youth are charismatic leader Billy Halop (as Frank "Frankie" Warren), young orphan Bobby Jordan (as Lester "Squirt" Smith), wisecracking Huntz Hall (as Richard "Goofy" Slade), incorrigible Leo Gorcey (as Charles "Spike" Hawkins), chubby Bernard Punsly (as George "Fats" Papadopolos), and dropout Gabriel Dell (as Timothy "Bugs" Burke).

When their junk dealer offers a paltry $5 for the gang's latest booty, an argument leads to Mr. Gorcey giving the man a fractured skull. No stool pigeons, the kids won't squeal and consequently all six receive a two-year stint in the reformatory. They are physically abused by sadistic superintendent Cy Kendall (as Morgan). Mr. Halop is whipped after a failed attempt to escape, then put in the care of a drunken doctor. By the time young Jordan is about to be punished for repeatedly dropping his trousers, socially conscious deputy Humphrey Bogart (as Mark Braden) has arrived to investigate. He dates Halop's pretty sister Gale Page (as Sue).

Future member Hal E. "Hally" Chester debuts herein. To follow-up on the successful original film, Warner Bros. merely re-worked their own "The Mayor of Hell" (1933), which starred James Cagney and Frankie Darro. Rehashing old plots became a cottage industry in the Bowery, and the "Crime School" story re-appeared almost instantly as "Hell's Kitchen" (1939) with Ronald Reagan filling Mr. Bogart's shoes. Note that the hardened delinquent George Offerman Jr. (as "Red") who bunks with Halop and the others in "Crime School" is the same actor who registered strongly in "The Mayor of Hell" and would even appear in "Hell's Kitchen".

****** Crime School (5/10/38) Lewis Seiler ~ Billy Halop, Humphrey Bogart, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey

Crime School (1938)

*** (out of 4)

The Dead End Kids gets sent off to reform school where they're beated and abused by the warden but a do-gooder (Humphrey Bogart) decides to clean things up and help the kids. This film isn't in the same league as Dead End, Angels With Dirty Faces or They Made Me a Criminal but it still works due to some unique casting. At first it's rather weird seeing Bogart playing the nerdy good guy but this wears off and he's actually pretty damn good in the film. After watching this I somewhat wished he had played more good guys that didn't use their muscles all the time.

Wow, the dead end kids even got top billing over bogart in the opening credits! In this one, frankie is the boss (not spike). And only one gorcey... Leo hadn't figured out how to get his brother and father into the story yet. So when spike puts a pawn shop owner in the hospital, they end up in reformatory school. It's so badly run, that the top guy (Bogart) decides to run it himself. Which makes the kids more cooperative, but now the reform school employees are the problem. Throw in a love story, and it's a film. This was just a couple years after Petrified Forest, and Bogie was just finding his style. The "kids" would go on to make films as the east side kids, and the bowery boys, which Gorcey owned with his agent. Directed by Lewis Seiler and William Clemens.

"Crime School" wouldn't have done many favours for Humphrey Bogart's career. When this film was released in 1938, the actor wasn't yet a star and had no choice but to accept any and all films the studio gave him. A remake of the 1933 film "The Mayor of Hell" with James Cagney, "Crime School" features the Dead End Kids who are sent to some kind of reform school after being caught committing a burglary. They come up against a ruthless and sadistic warden. At least Bogart is cast on the right side of the law for a change. He plays a social worker who is determined to protect all the boys at the reform school from further ill treatment. Nothing much to say in this film's favour and I daresay it didn't make much money at the box office.

The guys were believable as every-day city guys. They had chips on their shoulders, for sure, but growing up poor in the lower east side of NYC in depression times would tend to tighten you up. They supported each other and showed emotion and humor. I wish I could find it to rent sometime soon.

In general, I'm not a big Dead End Kids fan. Their first film, appropriately titled "Dead End" and considerably aided by a good screenplay by Lillian Hellman from Sidney Kingsley's play and direction from William Weyler, is powerful but their other stuff can all be gathered under a banner that reads, "The Jets Do It Better". The only member with a distinct personality and look is Leo Gorcey (call it Cagney Lite) while the others all meld into one sneering, Brooklyn accented, dark haired juvy. And one wearies of the constant "So's your old man!" schtick that constitutes their dialogue.

As for Bogie, he's pretty much wasted when he's asked, as here, to play a conventional good guy. And Gale Page is a most unremarkable actress. As is Lewis Seiler as a director and Crane Wilbur and Vincent Sherman as scenarists (although Sherman could occasionally rise to the directing occasion, especially with Crawford). Solid C.

They did it with The Maltese Falcon/Dangerous Woman & got it right the third time under John Huston. Crime School was Mayor of Hell in 1933 with Cagney and finally in 1939 also with the Kids & Ronald Regan as Hell's Kitchen which the UK Censor considered so brutal he clapped on the then rare 'H'certificate (16+ only). Indeed,check out punishment meted out to one of the Kids by sadistic reform school super,Grant Withers who kills him by locking him in a refrigeration unit. I waited many years before catching an isolated TCM screening (since this is not on commercial video) having formerly seen a wartime reissue alongside Return of Dr X. It is better directed than the other two versions but it is the Kids + Reagan all the way battling Grant Withers in true Capt Bligh form. But grim stuff.

Brendan Kent UK