Dead End (1937 William Wyler)

Not Warner Bros. but a Sam Goldwyn production.* Sidney Kingsley's play has been transformed (presumably) faithfully by Lillian Hellman, in its single main set (remarkable work from Richard Day - incredible credits) and setting over a single day.

Killer Humphrey Bogart returns to his East River hood to see his Mom Marjorie Main (who we saw not so long ago in Undercurrent; also Heaven Can Wait, Another Thin Man, Test Pilot) - very disappointed in him - and ex Clare Trevor - now a prostitute he rejects. ('Can't you see - I'm sick' she says - a suggestion from the play she has syphilis, lost of course in the film version.) Observes youth gang from the slums at 'play' whilst the new rich neighbours in their swanky apartments abut the district. Trained architect Joel McRae (reduced to painting signs for the local Italian restaurant) dallies with socialite Wendy Barrie but has a soft spot for childhood friend Sylvia Sidney, whose hands are full with strikes for fair pay and an errant brother Billy Halop, who's one of the gang.

And a tough little gang they are too - and a tough little film, startlingly photographed by Gregg Toland (sometimes from vertigo-inducing height). The fact there's no incidental music adds edge.

Not many of Wyler's characteristic long takes, but the performances are as usual good. Edited by Daniel Mandell.

With Allen Jenkins, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey (the snitch), Gabriel Dell, Minor Watson, George Humbert and Ward Bond (doorman).

If that's the same bridge from Manhattan in the background then it's the Queensborough Bridge (also known as the 59th Street Bridge). Or it's the Manhattan Bridge, down to the south of the island.

Angels With Dirty Faces - featuring the same teenagers - is I guess a sort of reworking.

* Goldwyn - apparently notoriously difficult to work with - was fired from his own company Goldwyn Pictures in 1922 (or 1924, depending on your source) - thus when MGM was formed his name was part of the brand even though he had nothing to do with it. He remained an independent production company responsible for films such as Dodsworth, Stella Dallas, Wuthering Heights, Raffles, The Little Foxes, Ball of Fire, The Best Years of Our Lives, and The Bishop's Wife. (Interesting that seven of these films, including Dead End, were shot by Gregg Toland.)