Dead End
Director: William Wyler
Year Released: 1937
Rating: 2.5
Examines the polarity of life in New York City, where the wealthy live on one side of the street and the destitute live on the other and neither side (predictably) gets along. Humphrey Bogart, a poor kid made rich through crime, returns to his place of birth to find an old love (Claire Trevor, underused and given only one 'real' scene) while the grating Dead End kids (who must have taken Cagney 101) squawk obnoxiously at each other down in the street and the rich party in their buildings rising to Heaven. Could have been a good film, but I'm not convinced it comes together in the third act (its weakest part) - it's too moral and not long enough to develop the rich into anything other than snobs, leaving Joel McCrea and Sylvia Sidney as the only ones in the 'middle' ... and even Sidney's character is little more than a weeping mother-figure.
