Are These Our Children

Surprisingly interesting for a morality tale with that blaring, sensationalistic title, and for the relatively poor quality print that was a little fuzzy. It's definitely a B picture too, with no big names, acting that's often stilted, and a direction to its plot that's too predictable. The young kids these days! What with their listening to jazz music, dancing late at night, and their carousing about! We know what that leads to ... drinking, crime, and murder right? It tickles me to see references to the depravity of the younger generation in each and every age, whether it be in film or literature, and this one takes it to an extreme.

One of the entertaining aspects was the dialogue of the young kids, and no one delivers it any better than Arline Judge. I love her voice and how she flirts with the main character, played by Eric Linden. Nothing is ever shown, but it's clear she sleeps around from the beginning, as she tells her friends "you don't know what happened at Coney Island," with her piercing eyes over the purse she has in front of her face. She calls him "big boy" in a way far more alluring that Mae West ever was, and then after an amusing scene with the flappers and sheiks out on the dance floor, we see her pulling at the top of her blouse rapidly to fan herself. This exchange follows:

Flo (Arline Judge): "Phew, am I hot." Eddie (Eric Linden): "I'll say you're hot." Flo: "Feel?" She grabs his hand and uses it to pat down her chest, giving him the subtlest of winks and a smile in the process. Eddie: "Uh oh, a hundred and eight." She then pulls her blouse forward and then looking downward, blows down her chest, practically inviting him to see. Eddie: (laughing) "Say, did the doctor tell you to watch your stomach?"

This is shortly before examining his chest and observing that he doesn't wear undershirts, and letting him know how attracted she is to him. "You got the stuff that gets 'em, boy," she says. She's also magnetic while on the witness stand later, giving wide eyed answers to the prosecutor before telling him off.

Eric Linden (age 22 playing 18) is not bad himself, with a baby-faced earnestness and look that's reminiscent of James Cagney (and it's notable that he would star with Cagney the following year as his little brother in 'The Crowd Roars'). His interactions with the media before the trial reminded me of Martin Sheen in Terrence Malick's film 'Badlands,' and he's strong in the courtroom when his character elects to cross-examine witnesses himself.

The film is pretty creaky early on, with a slow start that feels quaint, including Eddie calling his virtuous girlfriend (Rochelle Hudson) on the phone out in the hallway after walking home. It picks up as it goes along though, with surprisingly decent cinematography as well as dialogue with expressions that evoke the era. The transitions between scenes are interesting, with newspapers and spirals that ominously signal the downward path the young man is on. The film's low-budget feel sometimes works in its favor; the scene where the six hooligans are horsing around and sliding down a bannister while drunk has one of them really slipping but landing on his feet, giving it an air of danger and authenticity. Unfortunately the ending is more than a little heavy handed, with an overwrought prayer accompanied by the dramatic singing of a choir in the background, which was a bit much. I'm rounding up a bit out of my own interest for pre-Code films, the snappy dialogue, Eric Linden, and Arline Judge.

Couple of other quotes, while Judge's character tries to convince Linden's to have a drink: Flo (Arline Judge): "Come on, make yourself interesting, won't you? Have a drink." Eddie (Eric Linden): "I'm getting along all right, I don't need any hooch." Flo: "Well, you be that way and everbody'll hate ya." Eddie: "Oh, I'm all right." Flo: "I'll say you're all right, honey."

Later she'll sing into his ear, "it makes you forget your troubles, it makes you forget you're sad, it makes you feel good and confident..."

This film is stolen by bad girl ARLINE JUDGE as "Flo Carnes" (see pun in name: FLOWER MEAT) -- and when she calls Eric Linden "big boy" in her inimitable growling voice, she means business! My favorite scene is when she is putting on lipstick, covers half her face with her purse and all you see are her HUGE BULGING eyes on a really angry Eric while she mutters, "NO? YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AT CONEY ISLAND!" to a very naive Mary Kornman who just told her, "Awwwwwww, you can't have him!" This film evokes, presumably, Depression era teen angst. Miss Judge also sings a few saucy lines of "MAKES YOU FORGET YOUR TROUBLES" accompanied by a black jazz band, leaving no doubt as to her meaning. She even "marks" Eric (like a cat) by squirting perfume on him after she sings. Lots of PRE-CODE wardrobe and suggestive dialogue. A MUST SEE.

This was a crusading against corruption thing, with performances that didn't quite hit the mark. It's worth noting that Louis Calhern plays a crooked lawyer in much the same way he would almost two decades later in The Asphalt Jungle, but the character here is a smirking, one-dimensional weasel.

I was going to give this a "watchable" but about two thirds of the way through, there is a scene in which they give Eric Linden the third degree (having recently seen ARE THESE OUR CHILDREN?, I thought he deserved it), when suddenly a light bulb hanging from the ceiling is set wobbling, the shadows come out and you remember that Karl Freund is the DP. Freund transforms this average picture into something very good. With ur-noir techniques.

This film is very similar to the exploitation films made by small studios during the 1930s, though this one has a bit more polish and a glossier look since it's from RKO. But like these super-cheap productions, the acting is suspect, the writing very suspect and the overall film rather stupid. I know that the other reviews (so far) have enjoyed the movie but I can't see what they saw in this dopey film.

When the film begins, Eddie is living in a nice home and life is grand. He's practicing for a speech contest about the Constitution but when it doesn't go well, he literally becomes a drunken jerk almost immediately! His new friends bring out the worst in him and his transformation is so rapid and so ridiculous that you can't help but laugh. It's more like "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde" than a realistic film about youth gone wild! Where does all this end? Well, you are told at the onset that Eddie would face the death penalty...so it isn't like there's any suspense about the movie.

The film is anything but subtle. While it's not as ridiculous as trash films like "Sex Madness" and "Reefer Madness", it's not a whole lot better and comes off like one of these movies combined with "The Public Enemy"! In fact, it's often unintentionally very funny such as when Eddie (Eric Linden) is supposed to be drunk! Likewise, the final emotional scene is supposed to elicit tears...and I just felt a strong need to laugh! An awfully stupid film that apparently is a lesson warning us of the dangers of public speaking contests!

OK, you'll think this story is stupid, contrived and manically preachy. You'll think the acting is over the top, unrealistic and trying too hard to make a point......you're right but even so, when this craziness ends, you'll find yourself quite moved with your bottom lip starting to tremble.

It is a self indulgent, overacted sermon of a picture but it's so 'in your face' it's hard to ignore. This isn't the sort of film you'd watch simply for entertainment. Its storytelling style is firmly stuck in the past and unlike many old movies, is watchable more as a documented reflection of life in 1931 than as an alternative to what's on the tv tonight.

A year after making this, Eric Linden stared in YOUNG BRIDE doing a third rate Cagney and surprisingly he was excellent. (Yes, I know!) In this, his first starring role he's even more Cagney than Cagney ever was and most of the time he comes across as an aspiring young actor trying far, far, far too hard to pretend to be the big I Am, the toughest bad-ass on the block, the meanest, rootinest , tootinest most arrogant big shot in town. Watching this gangly gauche wannabe gangster swaggering around becomes almost comical.....but that's point! His character Eddie, is pretending to be someone he isn't. He's meant to be false and trying too hard to be a Cagney but not getting it quite right.

Contemporary reviews of this picture suggested that his character and those of his mates were actually quite representative of kids at the time so what seems like unrealistic acting might be weirdly genuine. Despite YOUNG BRIDE revealing that he could actually be a really good actor, he's still however Eric Linden. His character has also got to be one of the biggest idiots ever committed to celluloid which doesn't help endear him to you.

This is a pretty big budget RKO big picture. Wesley Ruggles pulls out all the stops with this: there's some very interesting and innovative camerawork, some not very subtle imagery and we've even got a full score from Max Steiner! It's a lot flashier than what Warner Brothers were doing but even so it lacks the integrity, the emotional punch and the authenticity which the likes of Wellman, Hawks, LeRoy etc at Burbank were achieving.

One thing this has got however is that explosive firecracker bursting with charisma, Arline Judge. She's certainly no Joan Blondell nor even Clara Bow but she definitely has screen presence. Being a loud, wild nineteen year old Brooklyn girl makes her perfect for playing a loud, wild nineteen year old Brooklyn girl. Like Linden however she seems to be trying too hard to be the bad girl but like Linden, she's pretty representative of the kids of the time trying to be something they aren't. Also like Linden, this isn't her best film either ....to be fair, most of her films were pretty awful with one notable exception: 1932's AGE OF CONSENT.

As you're watching this, you'll be wishing you weren't but by the end you'll find that you've enjoyed it a lot more than you think you would have and indeed should have done.