Criminal is Born, A (1938)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Hard-hitting entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series takes a look at the parents responsibility in keeping their kids off the streets. Four friends begin doing small crimes but one of their fathers gets him interested in fishing. That friend drops out of the gang just in time because the other four start doing more serious crimes after they find a gun. I'm a major fan of this series so if you find these movies over dramatic or too preachy then I'm sure you're going to feel the same way about this entry. With that said, I think it's important to remember when this film was being released and with that in mind, the movie works very well. I thought director Fenton did a good job at building up some suspense as the kids start doing more dangerous crimes. There's one robbery where a clerk trips over a certain item that I won't mention here but the stunt really appears to have gone wrong and the stunt man got injured. I have nothing to back this up but when you watch the film check the sequence out again. The performances were pretty good with Warren McCollum really standing out as one of the punk kids. The 20-minutes fly by at a very fast pace making this one of the better entries in the series.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Hard-hitting entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series takes a look at the parents responsibility in keeping their kids off the streets. Four friends begin doing small crimes but one of their fathers gets him interested in fishing. That friend drops out of the gang just in time because the other four start doing more serious crimes after they find a gun. I'm a major fan of this series so if you find these movies over dramatic or too preachy then I'm sure you're going to feel the same way about this entry. With that said, I think it's important to remember when this film was being released and with that in mind, the movie works very well. I thought director Fenton did a good job at building up some suspense as the kids start doing more dangerous crimes. There's one robbery where a clerk trips over a certain item that I won't mention here but the stunt really appears to have gone wrong and the stunt man got injured. I have nothing to back this up but when you watch the film check the sequence out again. The performances were pretty good with Warren McCollum really standing out as one of the punk kids. The 20-minutes fly by at a very fast pace making this one of the better entries in the series.