A teenager lands in a brutal reform school for refusing to squeal on his bootlegger boss.
Acting
Bette Davis elevating thankless girlfriend role.
Production
Authentic reform school location, no Hollywood gloss.
Director
Howard Higgin
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Junior Durkin, who plays Jimmy, died in a car accident at 19, just two years after this film. His haunted performance carries accidental weight.
Released during Prohibition's final months, the film's bootlegger sympathy and prison critique slipped through before the Code tightened in 1934.
US
