I watched it last night and really enjoyed it for a number of reasons but also thought there were funny things about it that weren't supposed to be funny. For instance, it makes no sense at all the the brother and sister characters would have different accents. Gale Page sounded like a well-educated person and her brother sounded like a thug. Her grammar was correct; his wasn't. Not even the brother's tutor in crime spoke in such a stereotypically thuggish way.
I thought Bogart was amazingly good as he tried to hold onto his boastful self-confident king of the world personna but became increasingly neurotic. His use of cigarettes as a dramatic tool has always been amazing and it is here, too. He seems, towards the end, to metamorphose into a rat quite literally.
I loved the elegance of Madge's clothing.
What was most interesting was the speed of the justice system. From conviction to appeal to execution in just a few months!
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nateba
14 years ago
For instance, it makes no sense at all the the brother and sister characters would have different accents. Gale Page sounded like a well-educated person and her brother sounded like a thug. Her grammar was correct; his wasn't. Not even the brother's tutor in crime spoke in such a stereotypically thuggish way.
It seems that Billy Halop's entire early movie career consisted of roles in which he acted thuggish but his big sister seemed well-educated and fell for the leading man. In "Crime School" Billy is once again the delinquent, Gale Page once again the the more well-educated older sister and once again she falls for the leading man. But this time the leading man is crusading reform-minded reform school warden Humphrey Bogart!
cinefreak
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skylands
11 years ago
"It seems that Billy Halop's entire early movie career consisted of roles in which he acted thuggish but his big sister seemed well-educated and fell for the leading man."
Exactly the plot in "Dead End", yup..
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