Dead End Kids: They Made Me A Criminal

Starring:John Garfield, The Dead End Kids, Ann Sheridan
Director: Busby Berkeley
Studio: Front Row Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

East Side Kids Outshine Garfield
They Made Me a Criminal
The boys are working on a farm. Here comes John Garfield.
John Garfield meets the Dead End Kids
A Very Thirties Film

They Made Me a Criminal (B&W)
Starring: John Garfield , The Dead End Kids , Claude Rains , Ann Sheridan , and May Robson
Director: Busby Berkeley
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

Body and Soul
Dead End
Force of Evil
Angels With Dirty Faces
We Were Strangers

ASIN: B00006G8F8
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Customer Reviews:

East Side Kids Outshine Garfield.......2007-05-24

John Garfield stars as Johnnie, a prize figher with a distinctive style of fighting. He unfortunately takes it too far and accidentally kills a reporter, forcing him to take action. However, two of his friends (including the beautiful Ann Sheridan) die in an automobile accident, and the cops mistake one of them for Johnnie. In an attempt to save his skin, Johnnie flees to the countryside where he stumbles upon a home for wayward boys (The East Side Kids). He becomes a role model for the boys and eventually learns not to be so selfish.

Suprisingly, Garfield is not the big attraction for this film. Instead, The East Side Kids take presidence over the star. They have their own brand of talent stemming mainly from truth. Here, none of them stand out above the other, both a good and a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Leo Gorcey shoots his mouth off, but he is hardly the leader he came to be in later films. Huntz Hall is the goofy comic relief. Bobby Jordan is the innocent little brother type. The boys work exceptionally well in a tense swimming scene in a water silo, the most memorable part of the film.

This movie has all the makings of a b-movie, but it's cast makes it highly enjoyable.

They Made Me a Criminal.......2004-11-16

Interesting, corny story of professional boxer John Garfield who takes it on the lam after being wrongly charged with murder. He starts in New York and ends up in Arizona. Hires on with a mother and daughter team who are also in charge of a number of juvenile delinquents, the Dead End Kids, who've been sent west to `reform.'
In the late 30s Warner Brothers was cycling most of its gangster stars (Bogart, Cagney, etc.) through the Dead End Kids mill with a fair amount of success. Garfield wasn't an established star yet, but he had the accent, the attitude, and could dance a convincing boxing scene.
THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL is just all right, although fans of the Dead End Kids (none in this room) should probably enjoy it more than those who find them incredibly annoying. Garfield plays the innocent pug with ease and the story has us rooting for him throughout. The usually reliable Claude Rains is miscast as the tough talking, big city cop who stays hot on his trail. Ably directed by famed choreographer Busby Berkeley.

The boys are working on a farm. Here comes John Garfield........2003-09-04

This is the forth Dead End Kids film. (Dead End [1937], Crime School [1938], Angeles With Dirty Faces [1938]). A boxer (John Garfield) has a little party after his fight. In a apartment, Johnnie trys to swing a punch at a nosy reporter, but he is so drunk he misses and ends-up passed out in a chair. Another man hits the reporter over the head with a whiskey bottle. The reporter McGee ends up dead. Later, they decide to make Johnnie take the fall. Johnnie is innocently drunk-sleep. The bad man and woman try to make there getaway, but with the police catching them, they go off the road and instantly die. They think it is Johnnie who is dead. But one detective is on the hunt. Johnnie runs away and he comes across a farm where the delinquent Dead End Kids (Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsly) have been sent to work. There he meets the boys who he trys to reform. Also a woman at the date farm, Peggy (Gloria Dickson), softens his heart too. Meanwhile a detective (Claude Rains) is close on the trail. This is a good film for Billy Halop, who practically steals the film. Great acting from Halop. Good performances by May Robson who played the Grandma on the farm. Filmed at Palm Desert, California. Great ending. Get a hankercheif. On this DVD version, Alpha Video only offers an "index" which is a chapter selection. Very good print of film.
John Garfield also appeared with Leo Gorcey (and Bernard Gorcey) in "Out of the Fog" (1941).

John Garfield meets the Dead End Kids.......2003-06-15

Future superstar, John Garfield, is cast as a boxer on the lam from a (false) murder rap.
Claude Raines is miscast as the detective who pursues him.
Garfield winds up at a farm where the ever-popular Dead End Kids are too.
There's plenty of action, drama and intrigue as Garfield gets involved with the farm's gorgeous owner and the Dead End Kids, who come to idolize him.

A Very Thirties Film.......2002-04-13

The always intense John Garfield stars as a boxer framed for the murder of a newspaper reporter who was about to expose the real story behind his carefully crafted public image. Conveniently, the real killer and the only witness to what really happened are both killed in a car accident, leaving Garfield without a defense. So he takes off, ends up in California and gets mixed up with the Dead End Kids, a girl, and an old lady who befriend him, not knowing his real identity. There's a lot left to luck in this film as dogged detective Claude Rains chases after the boxer. The Dead End Kids are an acquired taste, although in this film they aren't as grating as they would become in later years. Garfield, as usual, is very watchable and believable. Rains, on the other hand, is miscast as the detective and never for a moment seems convincing. Ann Sheridan is equally miscast as Garfield's drunk girlfriend, although she makes a quick exit in the film, despite her uncalled-for high billing. Gloria Dickson, the girl he falls in love with, has a few good moments, but lacks star quality. The script has a number of holes in it, but it also has some good moments. I particularly enjoyed the dramatic water tower sequence, as the boys must try to escape from a water tower where the water is going down. This is very much an old fashioned movie, especially in the boxing scenes, but that is also part of its appeal, since it is a great example of the kind of film Thirties audiences enjoyed.

Average customer rating:

they made me a criminal-ROAN DVD

Lady Gangster/They Made Me a Criminal
Starring: John Garfield , The Dead End Kids , Claude Rains , Ann Sheridan , and May Robson
Director: Busby Berkeley , and Robert Florey
Manufacturer: ROAN
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Drama | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Film Noir Double Feature, Vol. 2: The Chase/Bury Me Dead
Barbara Stanwyck: Lady of Burlesque

ASIN: B000286RJS
Release Date: 2004-06-29

Customer Reviews:

they made me a criminal-ROAN DVD.......2005-03-04

ROAN boasts these movies are re-mastered from the best possible sources but when i saw the poor quality of the print i was very disappointed. The print of lady gangster is better, both of which are decent movies. I recently saw "Criminal" on Turner Classic Movies and the print was exceptional. why couldn't ROAN use that print? you get what you pay for.

Average customer rating:

Dead End Kids: They Made Me A Criminal
Starring: John Garfield , The Dead End Kids , and Ann Sheridan
Director: Busby Berkeley
Manufacturer: Front Row Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Drama | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

Independently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Dead End Kids: Little Tough Guy
Dead End Kids: Junior G-Men of the Air (Volume 1)
Dead End
Dead End Kids: Junior G-Men of the Air (Volume 2)
Angels With Dirty Faces

ASIN: B0006951L8
Release Date: 2001-02-02

Average customer rating:

East Side Kids Outshine Garfield
They Made Me a Criminal
The boys are working on a farm. Here comes John Garfield.
John Garfield meets the Dead End Kids
A Very Thirties Film

They Made Me A Criminal
Starring: John Garfield , The Dead End Kids , Claude Rains , Ann Sheridan , and May Robson
Director: Busby Berkeley
Manufacturer: Westlake Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video

Independently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Body and Soul
Dead End
Force of Evil
Angels With Dirty Faces
We Were Strangers

ASIN: B0000Z6NA6
Release Date: 2003-11-01

Customer Reviews:

East Side Kids Outshine Garfield.......2007-05-24

They Made Me a Criminal.......2004-11-16

The boys are working on a farm. Here comes John Garfield........2003-09-04

John Garfield meets the Dead End Kids.......2003-06-15

A Very Thirties Film.......2002-04-13

Average customer rating:

They Made Me a Criminal
Starring: Irving Bacon , Clem Bevans , Richard Bond , Ward Bond , and Nat Carr
Director: Busby Berkeley
Manufacturer: Vidtape
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Independently Distributed | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

Independently Distributed | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0002LCYPG
Release Date: 2005-01-01

Product Description

Johnnie wins the world boxing championship, and on the same night, while drunk, he is charged with the murder of a reporter. Running away from New York, he ends up on a workfarm ranch for delinquent teens in Arizona. He becomes their hero, but there was that matter in N.Y.

Average customer rating:

Gangs Inc/They Made Me a Criminal
Starring: Gangs Inc , and They Made Me a Criminal
Manufacturer: Krb Music
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0007W6LUE
Release Date: 2006-04-04

Product Description

This DVD includes 2 movies, a cartoon, breakdowns & some old fashioned TV commercials, all for one low price. Gangs, Inc.-A young woman is put in jail after taking the rap for her rich boyfriend's drunk driving manslaughter charge. Upon her release she decides to make up for lost time and becomes a master criminal, vowing to destroy the lawyer that set her up. They Made Me a Criminal-Hollywood legend John Garfield plays a bad boy boxer who gets blamed for a murder he didn't commit.

Impact / The Second Woman / They Made Me a Criminal

Average customer rating:

Three Very Different Crime Films Represent 3 Decades.
Rediscovered film noir gems

Impact / The Second Woman / They Made Me a Criminal
Starring: John Garfield , The Dead End Kids , Claude Rains , Ann Sheridan , and May Robson
Director: Busby Berkeley , James V. Kern , and Arthur Lubin
Manufacturer: Sling Shot
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Film Noir | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Mystery | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( I ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

The Blue Gardenia
Force of Evil
The Big Combo
Warner Bros. Pictures Tough Guys Collection (Bullets or Ballots / City for Conquest / Each Dawn I Die / G Men / San Quentin / A Slight Case of Murder)

ASIN: B00003ETQ3
Release Date: 2000-06-27

Customer Reviews:

Three Very Different Crime Films Represent 3 Decades........2005-08-24

Compiled as "Cinema's Dark Side Collection", these three films span from pre-War to post-War Hollywood, each film bearing hallmarks of its time. They have in common a vague connection to film noir that gets a little stronger with each film, and Harry M. Popkin produced 2 of them at United Artists. They're all crime films, but the role that crime plays in the narratives varies. "They Made Me a Criminal" (1939) concerns a man wrongly accused, a theme that would later be associated with film noir, but this film is a low-rent morality tale. "Impact" (1949) was made at the height of the film noir movement and features a femme fatale. "The Second Woman" (1951) is psychological thriller/romance. John Garfield and Helen Walker are memorable in roles that typified their onscreen personas, but otherwise there is nothing special about the films. They are most interesting compared to one another, as characteristic of middle quality Hollywood filmmaking of their eras.

The prints of the films are unrestored. "They Made Me a Criminal" and "The Second Woman" are plagued with small black and white lines and specks. "The Second Woman" also has a couple of momentary interruptions in the picture. And the sound needs cleaning up on both films. But they are still quite watchable. "Impact" is in better shape. The specks are minor, and the sound is ok. There are no bonus features on the disc except chapter selections. No subtitles.

"They Made Me a Criminal" (1939) was John Garfield's follow-up to his Hollywood breakthrough in 1938's "Four Daughters". Garfield plays a boxer and flawed but endearing tough guy, a role which he would play again to great acclaim in 1947's "Body and Soul". Johnnie Bradfield (John Garfield) is brutal in the ring but known for being straight-laced outside of it. He preaches against booze, womanizing and for respecting your mother every chance he gets. But it's all an act, "a line for suckers". Partying in his apartment after winning the World Championship, Johnnie lets his secret slip in the presence of reporter Charles Magee (John Ridgely). His manager (Robert Gleckler) breaks a bottle over Magee's head to prevent him from writing the story and accidentally kills the man. Johnnie is blamed for the death. Realizing that he has lost the life he loved and will lose the one he has if he is caught, Johnnie changes his name and heads west. He takes employment at an Arizona ranch run by elderly woman for reform school boys from New York. But Johnnie is more corrupt than the young delinquents, and they may end up reforming him. The collection of urban criminal youth, the "Dead End" kids, places this film firmly in the Depression era. It's a mediocre morality tale that warns against the consequences of drinking and preaches that all will turn out well for those who place the welfare of others before themselves. But there is no denying John Garfield's charisma. (1 hour 30 minutes) 3 stars.

"The Second Woman" (1951) is unusual in that it includes a brief female voice-over narration. Its heavy, psychoanalytic themes recall the popularity of Freud in the 1940s and presage the criminal psychology of the 1960s. As the film opens, Jeff Cohalan (Robert Young) has attempted suicide while staying at the home of his neighbor and girlfriend Ellen Foster (Betsy Drake). Ellen recalls the events of the past few months in flashback, beginning with how she met Jeff while they were traveling on the same train. Ever since Jeff's fiancée Vivian died in an automobile accident on the night before their wedding a year earlier, strange things have been happening that have caused Jeff to doubt his sanity. Objects in his home break mysteriously. His animals are injured. Files disappear at the architectural firm where he works for Vivian's father Ben Sheppard (Henry O'Neill). Ellen doesn't believe the mishaps are accidental or the result of bad luck, and she is determined to investigate. But Dr. Hartley (Morris Carnovsky) warns her against getting involved with Jeff, whom he believes may be paranoiac and responsible for the accidents himself. "The Second Woman" is a competent mystery, but it suffers for the blandness of the main characters, Ellen and Jeff. (1 hour 30 minutes) 3 ½ stars.

"Impact" (1949) opens with this explanation: "Impact: The force with which two lives come together. Sometimes for good. Sometimes for evil." Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) is a bold businessman and top production man at Universal Motors. He has wealth, a lovely San Francisco apartment, and a stylish wife whom he adores. His wife Irene (Helen Walker) is supposed to accompany him on a business trip to Denver but excuses herself with a toothache. She asks Walter to give her cousin Jim Torrence (Tony Barrett) a lift to Denver instead. Walter obliges, and Torrence tries to kill him with a lug wrench and rolls him down a cliff. Hurt and angry when he figures out that his wife set him up for murder, Walter settles in a small town in Idaho and takes a job working for a pretty young widow, Marsha Peters (Ella Raines). Meanwhile, a clever but unassuming police Lieutenant Quincy (Charles Coburn) suspects that Irene may not be innocent in the matter of her husband's apparent death. "Impact" starts out film noir, turns to small town idyll, and ends up courtroom drama. It's strength is Helen Walker's vicious performance and the film's unpredictability. It is thematically confused -which could be a good thing- touting the virtues of small town wisdom, and especially women, over city slickers, but then almost taking it back. It looks like Walter's cynicism and disillusionment with doing the right thing will lose out to Marsha's naïve morality -but maybe not. I was amused by some obvious product placements, which I haven't noticed before in films of the 1940s: "Bekin Van & Storage Co." and "Pabst Blue Ribbon". Maybe it worked. They're both still in business. (1 hour 50 minutes) 4 stars.

Rediscovered film noir gems.......2000-11-20

"Impact" and "The Second Woman" are excellent examples of the kind of quality programmers that Hollywood seemed to churn out effortlessly in its golden age. Both have clever, tight plotting, well-written dialogue and fine acting. Neither director is much remembered these days, but on the evidence here they deserve reassessment. "They Made Me a Criminal" is solid too, but not really a film noir and not as interesting as the other two. The quality of the prints on this triple-feature DVD is surprisingly good, and the whole package is an amazing bargain.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Blind Fists of Bruce

Winston Churchill - The Wilderness Years - Vol. 3: The

The Firm [1993]

DVD: I Don't Buy Kisses Anymore

Jackie Chan Adventures - The Dark Hand Returns