It's obvious that MGM's "Boy's Town" was a high profile attempt to capture the essence of the Dead End Kids, and for the future Bowery Boys, their follow-ups to "Dead End" and "Angels With Dirty Faces" got more sentimental as an effort to capture the essence of the more polished MGM hit. At least they didn't have a sneering, over acting Mickey Rooney type in them, but for this last Warner Brothers effort (a low B after several A films), the sentimentality is off the charts. It takes nearly half of the hour long film to go by before anything dramatic really occurs, and it's obvious that a lot of that first half is filler due to the rushed script.
Leo Gorcey is the equivalent of "Boy's Town's" Rooney, a tough kid set up as a troublemaking bully, sent to the military academy against his will, and forced to take a good look at himself when his antics cause another cadet to have a serious accident. Gorcey does a 180 degree turn, wins the respect of the other cadets who earlier hated him, and proves to academy head John Litel (a friend of Gorcey's late father) that his instinct was right.
The first scenes of the film are a pointless montage of the last days of World War I and historical events following it, but it is the last half of the film that really takes off. Gorcey is joined by Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall and a few others from "Dead End", but it's very apparent that the talented Gorcey was the breakout star, even if he simply settled on becoming a caracterature once established in the upcoming series of B films. Too much stock footage and unnecessary filler makes this seem desperately rushed out rather than properly developed.
Leo Gorcey is the equivalent of "Boy's Town's" Rooney, a tough kid set up as a troublemaking bully, sent to the military academy against his will, and forced to take a good look at himself when his antics cause another cadet to have a serious accident. Gorcey does a 180 degree turn, wins the respect of the other cadets who earlier hated him, and proves to academy head John Litel (a friend of Gorcey's late father) that his instinct was right.
The first scenes of the film are a pointless montage of the last days of World War I and historical events following it, but it is the last half of the film that really takes off. Gorcey is joined by Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall and a few others from "Dead End", but it's very apparent that the talented Gorcey was the breakout star, even if he simply settled on becoming a caracterature once established in the upcoming series of B films. Too much stock footage and unnecessary filler makes this seem desperately rushed out rather than properly developed.