Despite the Depression, the vast majority of movies coming from Hollywood during the 1930s showed little evidence of widespread poverty and unemployment. Even fewer talked about the plight of kids during this era...a time when untold thousands of kids ran away from home to look for work because their families couldn't afford to feed them. One of the few movies to talk about this was "Wild Boys of the Road" as well as this picture, "Boy Slaves". It's a shame, as the exploitation and mistreatment of kids was rather widespread.
When the film begins, a family is in trouble when the oldest son, still a mere boy, loses his job. His younger brother doesn't want to be a burden to his poor family, so he runs away to seek his fortune. Being only about 12, it's not surprising his prospects are bleak. When he meets up with a gang of tough kids (sort of like RKO's answer to the East Side Kids), things seem to be improving. However, when they are rounded up by the local authorities things become a whole lot worse. A seemingly kind man offers to give the boys jobs...but they are essentially sent to a forced labor camp...complete with barbed wire fences and guards with guns! Soon, they learn that EVERYTHING the company 'gave' them has been charged to their accounts...at ridiculously high rates so that they are now essentially slaves. Then the beatings, rancid food and other forms of mistreatment evident but there appears to be no escape!
I was surprised by this film. Despite being a tad melodramatic and one or two of the kids overacting, the film is a very strong and convincing exposé. It's well made and worth seeing...and a great example of a film with a low budget and mostly no-name cast that STILL is very, very good.
By the way, like the East Side Kids, Dead End Kids and the like, this group of kids acted pretty similar. They also had a black kid (pretty progressive for the era) and dopey kid (like Huntz Hall). The only difference is this group looked a bit younger.
When the film begins, a family is in trouble when the oldest son, still a mere boy, loses his job. His younger brother doesn't want to be a burden to his poor family, so he runs away to seek his fortune. Being only about 12, it's not surprising his prospects are bleak. When he meets up with a gang of tough kids (sort of like RKO's answer to the East Side Kids), things seem to be improving. However, when they are rounded up by the local authorities things become a whole lot worse. A seemingly kind man offers to give the boys jobs...but they are essentially sent to a forced labor camp...complete with barbed wire fences and guards with guns! Soon, they learn that EVERYTHING the company 'gave' them has been charged to their accounts...at ridiculously high rates so that they are now essentially slaves. Then the beatings, rancid food and other forms of mistreatment evident but there appears to be no escape!
I was surprised by this film. Despite being a tad melodramatic and one or two of the kids overacting, the film is a very strong and convincing exposé. It's well made and worth seeing...and a great example of a film with a low budget and mostly no-name cast that STILL is very, very good.
By the way, like the East Side Kids, Dead End Kids and the like, this group of kids acted pretty similar. They also had a black kid (pretty progressive for the era) and dopey kid (like Huntz Hall). The only difference is this group looked a bit younger.