Crime School
Encyclopedia
Crime School is a 1938 Warner Bros.
film directed by Lewis Seiler
and starring the Dead End Kids
and Humphrey Bogart
.
), Squirt (Bobby Jordan
), Spike (Leo Gorcey
), Goofy (Huntz Hall
), Fats (Bernard Punsly
), and Bugs (Gabriel Dell
) and suffers a concussion. When the court cannot convince them to admit which one struck the damaging blow, they are all sent to reform school.
The superintendent of the state reformatories, Mark Braden (Humphrey Bogart
), visits the school and finds that it is being mismanaged. He fires four ex-convict guards, while retaining the head guard Cooper (Weldon Heyburn), as a way of starting over. Morgan (Cy Kendall
), the cruel warden, is also fired. Braden runs the school himself and attempts to parole the kids, as well as romancing Sue Warren (Gale Page), Frankie's sister.
Meanwhile, Cooper is afraid that Braden will learn of Morgan's illegal use of the food budget, which would implicate himself as well. He learns that Spike is the one who dealt the blow to the junkman and blackmails him. He gets him to tell Frankie that Sue is being forced by Braden into paying for the special treatment that they have received. Although untrue, it causes the kids to escape the school.
They confront Braden once outside and learn the truth. Cooper "discovers" that the kids have escaped and Morgan calls the press in order to discredit Braden and get him fired. Once the kids are back at the school, and the police arrive, Braden delivers evidence about Morgan's fraud, and he is then arrested.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
film directed by Lewis Seiler
Lewis Seiler
Lewis Seiler was an American film director. He directed 88 films between 1923 and 1958.He was born in New York, New York, and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:* A Bankrupt Honeymoon...
and starring the Dead End Kids
Dead End Kids
The Dead End Kids were a group of young actors from New York who appeared in Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play Dead End in 1935. In 1937 producer Samuel Goldwyn brought all of them to Hollywood and turned the play into a film...
and Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
.
Plot
A junkman is attacked by the Dead End Kids (Frankie (Billy HalopBilly Halop
William "Billy" Halop was an American actor born in New York City.He came from a Jewish theatrical family: his mother was a dancer, and his sister Florence Halop was a child actress, who later worked on radio and in television...
), Squirt (Bobby Jordan
Bobby Jordan
Robert "Bobby" Jordan was an American actor, born in Harrison, New York, most notable for being a member of the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys.-Early life and career:...
), Spike (Leo Gorcey
Leo Gorcey
Leo Bernard Gorcey was an American stage and movie actor who became famous for portraying on film the leader of the group of young hooligans known variously as the Dead End Kids, The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys. Always the most pugnacious member of the gangs he participated in, young Leo...
), Goofy (Huntz Hall
Huntz Hall
Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall was an American radio, theatrical, and motion picture performer noted primarily for his roles in the "Dead End Kids" movies, such as Angels with Dirty Faces , which gave way to the "The Bowery Boys" movie franchise, a prolific and highly successful series of comedies in...
), Fats (Bernard Punsly
Bernard Punsly
Bernard Punsly , was a New York City-born American actor who later left show business to become a physician.-Career and personal life:...
), and Bugs (Gabriel Dell
Gabriel Dell
Gabriel Dell was an American actor and one of the members of what came to be known as the Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/The Bowery Boys.-Early life:...
) and suffers a concussion. When the court cannot convince them to admit which one struck the damaging blow, they are all sent to reform school.
The superintendent of the state reformatories, Mark Braden (Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
), visits the school and finds that it is being mismanaged. He fires four ex-convict guards, while retaining the head guard Cooper (Weldon Heyburn), as a way of starting over. Morgan (Cy Kendall
Cy Kendall
Cy Kendall was an American film actor. He appeared in over 140 films between 1935 and 1950.Kendall's heavy-set, square-jawed appearance and deep voice were perfect for wiseguy roles such as policemen and police chiefs, wardens, military officers, bartenders, reporters, and mobsters.He was born...
), the cruel warden, is also fired. Braden runs the school himself and attempts to parole the kids, as well as romancing Sue Warren (Gale Page), Frankie's sister.
Meanwhile, Cooper is afraid that Braden will learn of Morgan's illegal use of the food budget, which would implicate himself as well. He learns that Spike is the one who dealt the blow to the junkman and blackmails him. He gets him to tell Frankie that Sue is being forced by Braden into paying for the special treatment that they have received. Although untrue, it causes the kids to escape the school.
They confront Braden once outside and learn the truth. Cooper "discovers" that the kids have escaped and Morgan calls the press in order to discredit Braden and get him fired. Once the kids are back at the school, and the police arrive, Braden delivers evidence about Morgan's fraud, and he is then arrested.
Background
- As this was a Warner Bros.Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
film and not a United ArtistsUnited ArtistsUnited Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
' film like Dead EndDead EndDead End is a 1937 crime drama film. It is an adaptation of the Sidney Kingsley 1935 Broadway play of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Joel McCrea, and Sylvia Sidney...
, they advertised the kids as 'The Crime School Kids' in this film, and their next, Angels with Dirty FacesAngels with Dirty FacesAngels with Dirty Faces is a 1938 American gangster film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, the Dead End Kids and Humphrey Bogart, along with Ann Sheridan and George Bancroft...
. However, the name did not catch on and they remained 'The Dead End Kids'. - Before the film was released, Halop, Dell, Hall, and Punsly were released from their contracts by Warner Brothers and they went on to make a film at UniversalUniversal StudiosUniversal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, Little Tough GuyLittle Tough GuyLittle Tough Guy is a 1938 Universal Studios film that starred several of the Dead End Kids. Although re-release posters and the DVD release credit them as The Dead End Kids they did not go by that title in the on screen credits. It was in the follow-up films that they began using the team name...
. The success of this film caused Warner to reconsider and they were rehired at a substantial raise. - The Dead End Kids received top billing over Humphrey Bogart for Crime School, with their typeface also larger than Bogart's in posters and advertising.