Dead End (1937)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Lillian Hellman (screenplay)
Sidney Kingsley (play)

Release Date:

27 August 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

THE GREATEST GANGSTER THRILLER THAT EVER EXPLODED FROM THE SCREEN! (1944 reissue print ad - all caps)

Plot:

The Dead End Kids, an unemployed architect, and gangster Baby Face Martin interact with an East Side neighborhood over one day and night.

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Architect | Dead End Kids | Slum | Murderer

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars.

Cast

Sylvia Sidney	...	Drina
Joel McCrea	...	Dave
Humphrey Bogart	...	'Baby Face' Martin
Wendy Barrie	...	Kay
Claire Trevor	...	Francey
Allen Jenkins	...	Hunk
Marjorie Main	...	Mrs. Martin
Billy Halop	...	Tommy
Huntz Hall	...	Dippy
Bobby Jordan	...	Angel
Leo Gorcey	...	Spit (as Leo B. Gorcey)
Gabriel Dell	...	T.B.
Bernard Punsly	...	Milty
Charles Peck	...	Philip
Minor Watson	...	Mr. Griswald

Also Known As:

Dead End: Cradle of Crime (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Germany:12 (2005) | Finland:K-15 (2001) | Finland:K-16 (1966) | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Finland:(Banned) (1937) | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #3596) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Trivia:

Humphrey Bogart got the role of "Baby Face" Martin after George Raft declined it.

Quotes:

Hunk: Maybe I'm wrong. We all make mistakes, boss. That's why they put the rubber on the ends of pencils.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

Boo-Hoo

The film turned out to be Bogart's most significant film since "The Petrified Forest."

It offers a vivid portrait of people caught up in a continual fight to somehow satisfy themselves despite the oppressive environment that seemed to quiet their every attempt…

Joel McCrea is a frustrated architect who dreams of tearing down the slums and Sylvia Sidney portrays a shopgirl struggling for identity and meaning in her life, a life made even more complicated by having to look after her brother (Billy Halop). The boy idolizes the decadent Bogart, an excessive admiration shared by the rest of the Dead End Kids, here recreating their original Broadway roles with noisy good humor…

Opposing these idealists is their real threat, Bogart, an assassin named Baby Face Martin… Bogart is impolitely rejected by a mother (Marjorie Main) who hates him and an ex-girl friend (Claire Trevor) who leaves him bitter and disillusioned when he discovers that she has become a hooker…

Rebuked by those he had been sentimental enough to want to visit, he rapidly reverts to represent beforehand and plans a kidnapping in order to rescue something from the consumed affair…

"Dead End" remains one of Bogart's best films, where the actor proves that he is capable of handling difficult material with considerable skill…