Movie Type: Crime Drama, Juvenile Delinquency Film
Themes: Clearing One's Name
Main Cast: Ann Sheridan, Billy Halop, Ronald Reagan, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsly, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall
Release Year: 1939
Country: US
Run Time: 86 minutes
Plot
Though not a sequel to Angels with Dirty Faces, this Warner Bros. programmer does star the Dead End Kids-or, more specifically, Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, and Bernard Punsley. Fresh out of reform school, Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) promises his sister Joy (Ann Sheridan) that he'll go straight, and promptly joins the Beale Street Termites (the Dead Enders), a tough but basically good-hearted street gang. Local mobster William Kroner (Bernard Nedell), seeking out a fall guy for a series of arsons, frames Gabe for a fire in which helpless invalid Sleepy (Punsly) dies. With the help of the other Termites, crusading DA Pat Remson (Ronald Reagan) tries to prove Gabe's innocence, using surprisingly high-handed tactics to get results: arresting Kroner on a misdemeanor, he turns the crook over to the kids, who force a confession out of the terrified crook. In this and several other instances in the film, the gang's rowdy behavior is "purified" because the end justifies the means. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Angels Wash Their Faces, a middling "Dead End Kids" flic, is a slightly above-average movie, though decidedly a lesser film than Angels with Dirty Faces. (Despite the title -- an obvious attempt to cash in on that earlier, much better film -- Faces is not a sequel.) The plot is a bunch of hooey, providing for plenty of melodrama spread over with big dollops of low comedy, and the last portion is particularly unbelievable. It also teaches a strange moral lesson, namely that it's perfectly okay to use illegal means as long as you're on the side of the angels. Of course, no once watches something like Faces for the moral lesson. They watch it to see what Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall and the boys are up to this time. Being an early one of their films, Gorcey and Hall don't dominate the way they will in later films. As a matter of fact, the real protagonist isn't one of the "Kids" at all. It's Frankie Thomas, turning in a very nicely etched performance as the basically good kid with some bad breaks. But once Thomas gets blamed for the fires, the Kids get to come into their own, and they don't disappoint. All of this leaves Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan with little to do, although Sheridan still makes the most of every moment she has. Ray Enright directs with an eye on pacing and speed, and also makes the fire scene extremely effective. Faces is no great film, but fans of the Dead End Kids will definitely want to seek it out. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) is released from reform school and it taken to a new house by his sister Joy (Ann Sheridan) to start a new life where no one knows of his past. However, Gabe immediately joins a local gang, the Beale Street Termites, where he meets up with William Kroner (Bernard Nedell), a local gangster. William accuses him of starting a fire at one of his properties, and Alfred Martino (Eduardo Ciannelli), the actual arsonist, uses this opportunity to frame Gabe for any fire. He decides to torch one of his apartment complexes so that he can collect the insurance money. Unfortunately, one of the kids, Sleepy (Bernard Punsly) is killed in the fire.
Patrick Remson (Ronald Reagan), the Assistant District Attorney, tries to prove Gabe's innocence. His motives are not only to prove Gabe's innocence, but also to get closer to his sister. Joy has devoted her life to helping Gabe and neglects her other interests, which was rallying against city government corruption, which pleases Martino. However, it is all for naught as Gabe is found guilty and sentenced to prison.
The other boys, led by Billy (Billy Halop), decide to do something to help Gabe. Billy runs for "boy mayor" and wins. He has Kroner arrested for a small infraction and sends him to jail. While there, Billy and the rest of the gang interrogate him and try to make him admit that Gabe is innocent. He does not cave in, that is until he is shown proof that his accomplices, Martino and the fire chief, are planning to skip the country. He confesses and Martino and the chief are arrested and sent to prison.
Production
It was filmed under the title, The Battle of City Hall. It was changed to reference the title of the unrelated movie Angels with Dirty Faces.[1]
