Crime School 1938 Humphrey Bogart

A junkman does business with the Dead End Kids: Frankie, Squirt, Spike, Goofy, Fats, and Bugs. When the boys ask for a $20 payoff, "Junkie" says "Five is all you'll get. Now take it and get out of here." In a rage, Spike strikes the man in the back of the head with a hard object, and the junkman falls to the floor and doesn't move. When Judge Clinton cannot convince the boys to divulge which one struck the damaging blow, they are all sent to reform school. The harsh warden of the reformatory, Morgan, inflicts discipline at the school and flogs Frankie after he tries to escape. The superintendent of the state reformatories, Mark Braden, visits the school and finds evidence of Morgan's subtle cruelty, as in feeding his new inmates poor-quality food. He then visits Frankie in the hospital ward, finding him untreated and the doctor inebriated. As a way of starting over, he fires the doctor, Morgan, and four ex-convict guards, while retaining the head guard, Cooper. Braden takes charge of the reformatory himself and wins over the boys' cooperation by considerate treatment, while romancing Frankie's sister, Sue Warren. Meanwhile, Cooper is afraid that Braden will learn of Morgan's embezzlement of the food budget, which would implicate him as well. He learns that Spike is the one who dealt the blow to the junkman and blackmails him. He gets him to tell Frankie that Braden's generous treatment is due to his sister's acceptance of Braden's attentions. Although untrue, it causes the kids to escape from the school in Cooper's car with his gun. They go to Sue's apartment, and Frankie climbs the fire escape with the gun to confront Braden, but Sue and Braden dispel Frankie's suspicions. Meanwhile, Cooper "discovers" that the kids have escaped, and Morgan calls the press to discredit Braden and get him fired. But, Braden drives the boys back to the reformatory and gets them into their beds, before the Commissioner, alerted by Morgan, arrives for an inspection with the police in tow. Their plot foiled and their fraud uncovered, Morgan and Cooper are arrested. The boys are subsequently paroled into the care of their parents. Directed by Lewis Seiler Written by Crane Wilbur Vincent Sherman Produced by Bryan Foy Starring Humphrey Bogart Gale Page Billy Halop Bobby Jordan Huntz Hall Leo Gorcey Bernard Punsly Gabriel Dell Charles Trowbridge Cinematography Arthur Todd Edited by Terry Morse The Dead End Kids Billy Halop as Frankie Warren Bobby Jordan as Lester "Squirt" Smith Huntz Hall as Richard "Goofy" Slade Leo Gorcey as Charles "Spike" Hawkins Bernard Punsly as George "Fats" Papadopolos Gabriel Dell as Timothy "Bugs" Burke Additional cast Humphrey Bogart as Deputy Commissioner Mark Braden Gale Page as Sue Warren George Offerman, Jr. as Red Weldon Heyburn as Cooper Cy Kendall as Morgan Charles Trowbridge as Judge Clinton Spencer Charters as Old Doctor Donald Briggs as New Doctor Frank Jaquet as Commissioner Helen MacKellar as Mrs. Burke Al Bridge as Mr. Burke Sibyl Harris as Mrs. Hawkins Paul Porcasi as Nick Papadopolos Frank Otto as Junkie Ed Gargan as Officer Hogan James B. Carson as Schwartz Hally Chester as Boy