Cradle of Crime

During the late Depression, the American public was introduced to a group of unruly, yet lovable kids in the MGM movie Dead End (1937). Oddly enough, the group would be known as the Dead End Kids for the remainder of their career. The main reason for the movie’s relevance today is because of the kids, but it can stand on its own merits as it was nominated for four Academy Awards including best picture. It also tells a story that is still poignant today. The cast and crew are outstanding as well.

The basics of the story are that a sister and brother do not get along. The sister, played by Sylvia Sidney, cares for the brother, but the brother doesn’t appreciate her and goes and joins a gang of fellow kids. These kids roam the docks of New York’s Lower East Side. They have a good time picking on any new kid who arrives in the neighborhood. If the new kid can accept the ribbing, then they are in to the group. If they can’t then they continue to be made fun of. The Dead End Kids find someone else to get after when local kid turned gangster, Baby Face Martin (Humphrey Bogart), shows up. He walks through his old haunts to see if anything has changed. He finds his mother’s door closed to him and his former girlfriend has turned into a prostitute. The only joy he gets from his homecoming is the ability to razz a former schoolmate who has remained in the slums with goals to become an architect. There is a love story between Dave, the wannabe architect, and Trina, the sister. In the end, Martin is killed and Trina’s brother turns over to side of good. It is a happy ending all around.

As mentioned above, the cast and crew is top notch. This should be no surprise as the producer was Samuel Goldwyn who did everything first class. The director was William Wyler who would be known for his great epics, Ben-Hur (1959), being the greatest example. It was written for the screen by Lillian Hillman, who was romantically involved with Dashiell Hammett, who would have ties to another Bogie movie called The Maltese Falcon(1941). .

The cast includes Sylvia Sidney, who was a Hollywood veteran and a capable lead actress to play a strong woman. Bogie plays the gangster well, as he was typecast in this part at this time. Joel McCrea plays the part of Dave and does it well. He is both passive around Martin, but can become aggressive when needed. Claire Trevor was recruited to play Francey, the former girlfriend turned prostitute. She did not appear on the screen for more than 10 minutes, but her performance earned her a nomination for best supporting actress. She didn’t win here, but would later on in another Bogie movie Key Largo (1948).

The role of Baby Face Martin was one coveted by most in Hollywood. Sidney Kingsley, who wrote the play for the stage, had wanted to use Bogie for the role, but Warner Brothers was hesitant to loan him out to MGM. They knew that he was being paid too low and didn’t want another studio to cash in on him. So MGM looked to George Raft for the part of Martin. As would be the case many times in the careers of Raft and Bogie, Raft could not make up his mind about the part and refused it. Warner Brothers found someone on the MGM lot who they wanted and the two studios swapped actors. The results of the swap were in MGM and Bogie’s favor. Bogie appeared in his second most prestigious role up to this point, the other being that of Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936). MGM came away with a box office hit that earned the studio four Academy Award nominations. When Warner Brothers got their gangster back on the lot, they put him to work on more gangster pictures. They also managed to get the Dead End Kids away from MGM. The team of Bogie and the Dead End Kids would be present in Warner Brother movies for the next few years.