Youth Runs Wild (1944)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

John Fante (story) and
Herbert Kline (story) ...

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

TIMELY! TRUTHFUL! (original ad under alternate title "Are These Our Children" - all caps)

Plot:

During WWII, adults are either off fighting or busy in the factories, so juvenile delinquency becomes a major problem back home...

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Home Front | Youth | Juvenile Delinquent | Parole

Cast

Bonita Granville	...	'Toddy' Jones
Kent Smith	...	Danny Coates
Jean Brooks	...	Mary Hauser Coates
Glen Vernon	...	Frank Hauser (as Glenn Vernon)
Vanessa Brown	...	Sarah Taylor (as Tessa Brind)
Ben Bard	...	Mr. Taylor
Mary Servoss	...	Mrs. Cora Hauser
Arthur Shields	...	Father Killed by His Son (scenes deleted)
Lawrence Tierney	...	Larry Duncan
Johnny Walsh	...	Herb Vigero
Rod Rodgers	...	Rocky
Elizabeth Russell	...	Mrs. Mabel Taylor

Runtime:

67 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #9767) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The movie did poorly at the box office and lost $45,000.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I Get the Neck of the Chicken

Trite, painfully dull take on juvenile delinquency, '40s style...

With parents at war, kids apparently had idle time on their hands during the '40s and some of them turned to crime. Yawn, yawn! This is the most obvious, the most painful depiction of juvenile delinquency ever scripted, even for a B-film.

The print shown on TCM was a poor one, making the skimpy production values look even worse than they probably were. BONITA GRANVILLE and KENT SMITH get top billing, but VANESSA BROWN is lower down in the credits and yet has a sizable role as an unhappy teen-age girl. The story makes any resemblance between these juveniles and today's troubled kids purely a coincidence.

KENT SMITH, as a level-headed wounded soldier, doesn't even make an appearance until the film is half over. It's hard to believe that this sluggish B-film was directed by Mark Robson and produced by Val Lewton. It's certainly got to represent the nadir of their respective careers.

GLEN VERNON, JEAN BROOKS, ARTHUR SHIELDS, DICKIE MOORE, and LAWRENCE TIERNEY are the slightly familiar names that fill the supporting cast--but nothing helps overcome the weak plotting, the preachy attitudes and dull and obvious storyline. Thumbs down on this one.