On D List of Movie Reviews

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Dead End (1937)

Rate: 3
Viewed: 1/25

1/25: Why? Why? Why?

Dead End is no Best Picture candidate, having been thoroughly destroyed by the impossible-to-stand juvenile delinquents. Afterwards, they'll be called the Dead End Kids and ruin more movies until their thankful retirement in 1958. It's an automatic three or four point reduction in the film's rating whenever they appear, causing to me to yell, "Aaaaarrrrrrgh...kill me now!"

The other issue is how stagy the whole thing feels which was shot on nearly one spot along with a fancy penthouse right in the middle of the slum (riiiiight). I wouldn't have minded it if the kids were entirely eliminated, but it's unbelievable that there's enough motivation for Humphrey Bogart's and Allen Jenkins' characters to stand there for hours in their fancy suits.

As for the story, who cares? It's like watching two films in one. By the time Humphrey Bogart's character died, the whole thing was over. But nooooo...I have to stay on longer because of the extremely tenuous connection between him and the mother's boy.

Obviously, Humphrey Bogart is the best (read that as "only") thing going in Dead End despite being billed third in the opening credits. Who cares about Joel McCrea? Sylvia Sidney plays a stupid bitch that's common in the annals of crime; they always say the same thing: "No, my boy is a good boy! Please, no! I promise that he won't do it again!" Make no mistake about it: they're 100% bad seeds. As Francey, Claire Trevor was Oscar-nominated? No, no, no...get out of here.

All in all, introducing the Dead End Kids is the worst mistake of Dead End.

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