Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Daniel Ahern (story)
Earl Baldwin (screenplay)

Release Date:

7 October 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Adventure

Tagline:

Girls living like boys! Boys living like savages!

Plot:

At the bottom of the depression, Tom's mother has been out of work for months when Ed's father loses his job...

Plot Keywords:

Railway | Train | New York City | Columbus Ohio | Teenage Boy

Cast

Frankie Darro	...	Edward 'Eddie' Smith
Edwin Phillips	...	Tommy Gordon
Rochelle Hudson	...	Grace
Dorothy Coonan Wellman	...	Sally (as Dorothy Coonan)
Sterling Holloway	...	Ollie
Arthur Hohl	...	Dr. Henry A. Heckel
Ann Hovey	...	Lola
Minna Gombell	...	Aunt Carrie
Grant Mitchell	...	Mr. James Smith
Claire McDowell	...	Mrs. Smith
Robert Barrat	...	Judge R.H. White
Willard Robertson	...	Captain of Detectives
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Beaudine Anderson	...	Boy (uncredited)
Ward Bond	...	Red, the Raping Brakeman (uncredited)
Wade Boteler	...	Policeman in Court (uncredited)
James Cagney	...	Himself, film clip (archive footage) (uncredited)
Eddy Chandler	...	Brakeman Throwing Stones (uncredited)
George Cooper	...	Man Near Columbus (uncredited)
Shirley Dunstead	...	Harriet Webster (uncredited)
Charley Grapewin	...	Mr. Cadman (uncredited)
Alan Hale Jr.	...	One of the Boys (uncredited)
Guy Kibbee	...	Himself, film clip (archive footage) (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee	...	Movie Usher (uncredited)
Jack McHugh	...	Mac, One of the Boys (uncredited)
Buddy Messinger	...	One of the Boys (uncredited)
Sidney Miller	...	Boy Selling Letter (uncredited)
Adrian Morris	...	Buggie Maylin, a Gangster (uncredited)
Louis Natheaux	...	Buggie's Pal (uncredited)
George Offerman Jr.	...	One of the Boys (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Movie Theatre Patron (uncredited)
Lee Shumway	...	Mike - Policeman (uncredited)
Edwin Stanley	...	Merchant (uncredited)

Directed by
William A. Wellman

Writing credits
Daniel Ahern		(story "Desperate Youth") (as Daniel Ahearn)
Earl Baldwin		(screenplay)

Produced by
Robert Presnell Sr.	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Arthur L. Todd

Film Editing by
Thomas Pratt

Art Direction by
Esdras Hartley

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Art Department
Scotty Moore	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Robert B. Lee	....	sound recording engineer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles Davis	....	key grip (uncredited)
Claude Hutchinson	....	chief electrician (uncredited)
Mac James	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Vernon Larson	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
William Schurr	....	second camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	conductor
Bernhard Kaun	....	composer: music cues (uncredited)

Other crew
Cyril Hume	....	treatment (uncredited)

Production Companies

• First National Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1933) (USA) (theatrical)
• First National Pictures
• Vitaphone Corporation, The

Other Companies

• Vitaphone Orchestra  orchestra

Also Known As:

Dangerous Days (UK)

Runtime:

68 min | Germany:53 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2694)

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

Film debut of Alan Hale Jr.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Noticably slimmer stunt man for Tommy as he hits his head on the RR sign post and falls on the tracks.

Quotes:

Edward 'Eddie' Smith: [to judge] I knew all that stuff about you helping us was baloney. I'll tell you why we can't go home--because our folks are poor. They can't get jobs and there isn't enough to eat. What good will it do you to send us home to starve? You say you've got to send us to jail to keep us off the streets...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Wanderlust (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

In a Shanty in Old Shanty Town

Teenagers take on the Great Depression

One of the surprisingly realistic dramas that Hollywood created in the early 1930's has teenagers hitting the road during the hard times of the Great Depression.

With their east coast (New "Yawk?") accents, and rough around the edges "Bowery Boys"-style (harken, Leo Gorcey!), Frankie Darrow and a gang of displaced down-on-their-luck (formerly middle class?) teens band together and roam the countryside on foot or by rail, getting into hot water seemingly everywhere they go. Amazing graphic scenes for 1933 include a kid's leg being amputated by a train and an attempted rape scene.

Miserable living conditions and hunger are also depicted with kids lying cheating and stealing to stay alive, but willing to straighten themselves out when given a chance.

You'd think Warner Brothers was taking a risk financing a film that was so bleak and lacking in entertainment value for people that may have been LIVING the kinds of scenes shown, but the film also seems like a propaganda piece for Roosevelt's New Deal. There's a Roosevelt look-alike judge who places his hand, almost in a blessing, on poor Frankie's head and says "things are going to get better very soon".

Overall, Wild Boys of the Road is an interesting social drama that deserves more exposure and recognition.