Monogram's "Boys of the Streets" and Samuel Goldwyn's "Dead End" both came out in 1937, so one would be hard pressed to decide if either picture influenced the other. The Dead End Kids, by virtue of their reemergence in other films and revived as the East Side Kids and later The Bowery Boys, had a more recognizable cast of characters, whereas the only youthful gang member recognizable here is Jackie Cooper, no longer the cute child star of Hal Roach's Rascals and "The Champ". By the same token, he doesn't have the wise-cracking charisma of a gang leader like Leo Gorcey, so his appearance here is more on the order of a street-smart hoodlum willing to take short cuts to make ends meet in his lower-class neighborhood. It doesn't help that his father (Guy Usher) is a no-account toady for a local businessman, a fact when learned by Cooper's character Chuck, has him reevaluate his life after a string of misfortunes.
I liked Marjorie Main in this one, even as she portrayed the world-weary Mom of Chuck Brennan, her role calling for a subdued performance unlike those of a character she made famous with the introduction of Ma Kettle in 1947's "The Egg and I". Mary Brennan plays along with local beat cop Rourke (Robert Emmett O'Connor) when he brings sixteen-year-old Nora (Maureen O'Connor) to the family's door, pinched for singing underage in a speakeasy. That too was arranged by Chuck, figuring he'd cash in on a ten percent commission for her ten dollar a week pay at Pete's Grotto.
A couple of local brawls against a rival gang, failure to initially join the Navy, and a warehouse heist gone wrong that leaves Officer Rourke wounded, all contribute to Chuck finally seeing the light and realizing that the street life would only lead to a dead end of his own. The picture successfully closes on Chuck's successful enlistment in the Navy with his family seeing him off to make his way in the world, surprising Nora with a kiss that she wasn't expecting. Much like the Warner Brothers pictures of the era, the story sought a way for its principal character to rise above his surroundings and find a way to become a valuable member of society.
I liked Marjorie Main in this one, even as she portrayed the world-weary Mom of Chuck Brennan, her role calling for a subdued performance unlike those of a character she made famous with the introduction of Ma Kettle in 1947's "The Egg and I". Mary Brennan plays along with local beat cop Rourke (Robert Emmett O'Connor) when he brings sixteen-year-old Nora (Maureen O'Connor) to the family's door, pinched for singing underage in a speakeasy. That too was arranged by Chuck, figuring he'd cash in on a ten percent commission for her ten dollar a week pay at Pete's Grotto.
A couple of local brawls against a rival gang, failure to initially join the Navy, and a warehouse heist gone wrong that leaves Officer Rourke wounded, all contribute to Chuck finally seeing the light and realizing that the street life would only lead to a dead end of his own. The picture successfully closes on Chuck's successful enlistment in the Navy with his family seeing him off to make his way in the world, surprising Nora with a kiss that she wasn't expecting. Much like the Warner Brothers pictures of the era, the story sought a way for its principal character to rise above his surroundings and find a way to become a valuable member of society.