I'd stupidly avoided this film for years - why would I want to watch a film without stars, with just a bunch of scruffy teenagers? The answer I now know was: because it's made by William Wellman.
For young people like those in this picture, it really must have felt like this was it. They never knew anything different. Life's never going to get better, this was the new normal. This really gets across the sense of sheer hopelessness and utter desperation. If you're looking for a 'time machine' film that doesn't just give you a taste of the era but immerses you totally like you've been dropped into quicksand, look no further.
I've never really liked Frankie Darro, he never came across as being that genuine and this film didn't change my opinion. He's not a very good actor and neither are his colleagues in this but somehow that slightly amateurish style makes this seem more authentic - it's like we're not watching actors, we're watching real kids trying to tell us about themselves. This approach along with Wellman's professional and dynamic style makes this utterly compelling. And it was of course based on reality: in 1933, a quarter of a million teenagers were roaming America searching for food, for shelter, for a future.
It's almost impossible to imagine that such a situation existed in a developed country not too long ago but this film makes it so real. But don't think that this is just a cold documentary - it's an exceptionally engaging drama.
Neither is it all doom and gloom. Being made by Warner Brothers you know it's going to be gritty and realistic but there's also their obligatory message of hope at the end delivered by an FDR 'avatar.' Even that tacked on ending works brilliantly. FDR had just been elected and virtually the whole country was excited about what he was going to do to fix the country so that message is as much an immersive trip back to 1933 as is the despair you experience earlier.
For young people like those in this picture, it really must have felt like this was it. They never knew anything different. Life's never going to get better, this was the new normal. This really gets across the sense of sheer hopelessness and utter desperation. If you're looking for a 'time machine' film that doesn't just give you a taste of the era but immerses you totally like you've been dropped into quicksand, look no further.
I've never really liked Frankie Darro, he never came across as being that genuine and this film didn't change my opinion. He's not a very good actor and neither are his colleagues in this but somehow that slightly amateurish style makes this seem more authentic - it's like we're not watching actors, we're watching real kids trying to tell us about themselves. This approach along with Wellman's professional and dynamic style makes this utterly compelling. And it was of course based on reality: in 1933, a quarter of a million teenagers were roaming America searching for food, for shelter, for a future.
It's almost impossible to imagine that such a situation existed in a developed country not too long ago but this film makes it so real. But don't think that this is just a cold documentary - it's an exceptionally engaging drama.
Neither is it all doom and gloom. Being made by Warner Brothers you know it's going to be gritty and realistic but there's also their obligatory message of hope at the end delivered by an FDR 'avatar.' Even that tacked on ending works brilliantly. FDR had just been elected and virtually the whole country was excited about what he was going to do to fix the country so that message is as much an immersive trip back to 1933 as is the despair you experience earlier.