User Reviews

March of Crime, The (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

100% exploitation is this two-reel short that was either produced or directed by the one and only Dwain Esper (MANIAC). The documentary starts off warning parents to look for certain signs that might mean your child is a murderer or rapist in training. We then take a look at some real killers, cannibals, rapists and various other freaks of nature. The final portion of the film tells the story of John Dillinger. There's no question that this isn't a good movie but at the same time it remains interesting just as an alternate form of entertainment from the "golden age" of Hollywood. These films were certainly shown in low-rent theaters, just the type that would play stuff like MANIAC and REEFER MADNESS but that's what makes this so entertaining. People who would want to watch something like this were obviously not bothered by horror movies like THE BLACK CAT or THE RAVEN but instead wanted something real. This film shows a few graphic photos of dead people and shows one many who swallowed acid and turned into a mummy-like creature after his death. We even get autopsy photos of Dillinger. There's certainly nothing ground breaking here but it's an interesting piece of alternative cinema. I think fans of Espern's nut case film MANIAC will probably be the ones most entertained by this.

These exploitation fillers depend on the public's fascination with deviance and violence.

In this case -- and unlike the "second edition" -- the lurid and exploitive is wrapped in a fake narrative, just like Nabokov's introduction to "Lolita," which he said he copied from stuff like this.

The wrapper is: "Parents, there are hidden tendencies in your children, criminal tendencies. You must be on constant lookout for these and nip them in the bud. Your child can get swept up in the most repellent behavior, like THIS and THIS and THIS.

That is, unless you catch it. Oh, and did we say they could do THIS, so your young girls will turn out like THIS?

Since I am the first to comment on this, I'll note that it is much like "Reefer Madness" in tone: a warning to parents around a parade of stuff. That stuff is in part "dramatisations" of hangings, electrocutions, even crucification! There's a real hammy episode of a murderer being haunted in his cell with the specter of impending death (and guilt).

But the major part is the recounting of real crimes with as many film clips as they could find. There's a more blatant use of this material in the sequel.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life