THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL

US, 1939, 92 minutes, Black and white.
John Garfield, Claude Rains, Gloria Dickson, May Robson, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Ann Sheridan.
Directed by Busby Berkeley.

The Made Me a Criminal is a remake of the 1933 film The Life of Jimmy Dolan. This is a star vehicle for John Garfield at the beginning of his short but successful career. He was able to portray tough guys -with the heart of gold underneath. He is supported by Claude Rains, looking rather uneasy but trying his best to be the tough American detective. The supporting cast includes the Dead End Kids who were popular at the time (Dead End, Angels With Dirty Faces).

The film is in the tough Warners vein of the '30s: the boxing rackets, police, criminals, the contrast with the Boys Town kind of film also popular at the time. Of interest, the film was directed by Busby Berkeley who had made his name as a choreographer-director.

1. An entertaining piece of '30s Americana? film? Boys' rehabilitation film? types?

2. Boxing film? Criminal ?A satisfying blend of these?

3. The production values of the time: the atmosphere of the city, the prizefights, the police precincts, the world of criminals? The contrast with the Depression and wandering the United States in search of work? The rehabilitation communities? The small American towns? The special effects - especially for the boxing sequences? Musical score?

4. The title and its focus on Johnny? His seeming innocence, his double game, his being exploited, his being forced to escape and change his name? The ending with the contradiction to the title?

John Garfield's screen presence: the opening bouts, his success as a boxer? The talk to the press and their praise of him as a great guy - love for his mother, no drinking etc.? The contrast with the reality, the women, the manager,. the drinking? The girlfriend coming and her newspaper boyfriend? The clash? The manager killing him? Johnny being unconscious? The reading of the paper about their deaths? His panic, getting the money from the bank, being swindled? The advice to change his name? To go West? His wandering the country looking for a job? The encounter with Peggy, Grandma and the boys? Their helping him to health? His staying with their, falling in love with Peggy, helping the boys, rescuing the boy while swimming in the tank? His affection for them? The boxing bout, the training? Seeing the policeman pursuing him? His trying to back out, the disappointment of the group? Tommy and his wanting to go with hirp,? The decision to fight? The motivation? To hide his left-handed strength? The discussions with the manager, the fellow-fighters? The bout and his staying there, the detective indicating that he knew who he was? Winning the money? The detective coming to take him away, Peggy's grief, Tommy following him? The discussion at the railway station? The detective's change of heart and letting him go? A future?

5. Claude Rains as the detective? His mistake, his colleagues holding it over him? His knowledge of Johnny? Knowing that he was innocent? Determining to pursue the case, the leads, discovering Johnny, watching the bout, the conversation at the end - and his letting him go? A credible good-hearted gesture?

6. Johnny's background and double image? His manager, the girlfriend? The death, their going off, the chase and the crash? The venal bank manager taking most of his money?

7. The contrast with Grandma, Peggy and the boys? Their work, the echoes of Boys' Town with the help from the priest in New York? Their work, supervision? Johnny as a model for the boys? Their support, the Dead End Kids' style, the young boy with the movie camera and the strip poker and winning his camera? Buying the boxing gloves? Disappointment in Johnny, their faith in him, confirmed? Peggy as heroine, her work, in love with Johnny, supporting him? Knowing when he was lying?

8. The boxing background of the film? The opening bouts? Johnny withstanding the champion at the end?

9. A popular piece of entertainment? Real/unreal? The gangster theme so prevalent in the 1930s, the possibility of reform, the atmosphere of groups doing good in the 1930s and the Depression? An entertaining piece of 30s Americana?