Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

Second viewing; first seen between 1983 and 1986.

Two childhood friends go their separate ways as they grow up: one of them becomes a criminal, and the other a priest. When they reunite, the latter worries about the influence that the former may exert on the neighborhood youngsters.

This film is practically all of it made of memorable scenes. Its conception is clever, too, bringing together two strands of drama, one concerning adults and the other concerning kids. The Dead End Kids are exceptionally well handled for comedy. The film's theme is a complex one, and inevitably one may be misled into thinking that some of its characters' assertions are actually the film's purported thesis. For instance, it is implied that the reform system "made Rocky a criminal", and that furthermore it was all a matter of chance, or of who ran faster. This is all vey poetical, but the film makes it very clear that, since their childhoods, Rocky and Jerry were very different in temperament. It is uncertain whether this kind of film is good or bad for the cause of improving society. It was from a time when individual choice was still considered important. Yet, the emphasis here is on improving the environment where people grow up. I am skeptical of both, because ultimately people make their environments, and choice must always overcome individual predispositions. That does not mean social work, on one side, and moral teaching, on the other, are useless. It's just that they can only do so much. Anyway, this is a necessary film especially as a piece of implicit self-criticism of the film industry regarding all the criminal idol-making that made for much of the production of the time.

Rating: 74 (up from 50)