Youth Runs Wild (1944)

During WWII, adults are either off fighting or busy in the factories, so juvenile delinquency becomes a major problem back home. Dan Coates, a wounded soldier, finds this out as he returns ... See full summary »

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

John Fante (screen play), Ardel Wray (additional dialogue)

Stars:

Bonita Granville, Kent Smith, Jean Brooks

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bonita Granville	...	Toddy Jones
Kent Smith	...	Danny Coates
Jean Brooks	...	Mary Coates
Glen Vernon	...	Frankie Hauser (as Glenn Vernon)
Vanessa Brown	...	Sarah Taylor (as Tessa Brind)
Ben Bard	...	Mr. Taylor
Mary Servoss	...	Cora Hauser
Arthur Shields	...	Mr. Dunlop
Lawrence Tierney	...	Larry Duncan
Dickie Moore	...	Georgie Dunlop
Johnny Walsh	...	Herb Vigero
Rod Rogers	...	Rocky (as Rod Rodgers)
Elizabeth Russell	...	Mabel Taylor

Storyline

During WWII, adults are either off fighting or busy in the factories, so juvenile delinquency becomes a major problem back home. Dan Coates, a wounded soldier, finds this out as he returns and three young boys are promptly placed in the care of him and his wife by the court after some hooliganism. How to keep them straight?

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | home front | war injury | war hero | truancy | 

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Taglines:

The Truth about Modern Youth! It will ASTONISH you! It will AMAZE you! It will ELECTRIFY you! (original poster)

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

Because RKO re-cut Val Lewton's original version and eliminated several scenes, many cast members in studio records/casting call lists did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names): Margaret Landry (Hysterical Girl), Joan Blair (Mrs. Loring), Molly Lamont (Mrs. Webster), Dorothy Malone (Girl in Booth), Daun Kennedy (Girl in Booth), Mike Road (Boy with Toddy), Donald Kerr (Member of Horse Act), Les Clark (Member of Horse Act), Gordon Jones (Truck Driver), Harry Harvey (Watchman), Jack Gargan (Man at Shooting Gallery) and Don Dillaway (Drunk). Some other more obscure cast members may also have been cut.

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Quotes

Frank 'Frankie' Hauser: Boy, if my folks would only let me work. Then I could do all the things I want to do. I could take you dancing, the way you like to go, places you like to go to. You know, they need welders. They need 'em worse than soldiers.
Sarah Taylor: But your mother wants you to go to school, Frankie.
Frank 'Frankie' Hauser: Yeah. That's the trouble.

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Connections

Featured in Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007)

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Soundtracks

One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)
(1943)
Music by Harold Arlen
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Played on piano at Rocky's place

User Reviews

Dutiful "warning" film for teens from, all of people, Val Lewton!

From producer Val Lewton comes this awkward, hardly bearable WWII mini-soap with teenagers at its center. Beginning with a rash of newspaper headlines exclaiming the downward spiral of the era's delinquent youth, Lewton and director Mark Robson focus on working-class teen sweethearts who live next door in a small town housing project: she's from a rowdy, low-class family yet is inexplicably wholesome, he's a straight arrow who gets into trouble with the law by trying to impress his girl. The unsympathetic nature of the girl's parents is very believable and well-portrayed, but the kids themselves and the other adults are poorly-cast and sketchily-written. There's some business at the beginning about an auto shop dealing in stolen goods, but it's as irrelevant as the salty chanteuse who gets the girl a job as a hostess. Reportedly a troubled production, with R.K.O. altering the finished product against Lewton's wishes (he considered at one point removing his name from the credits). It has to be seen to be believed! *1/2 from ****

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 May 1945 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Dangerous Age

Filming Locations:

RKO Studios - 780 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

67 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1