The Angels Wash Their Faces

ANGELS WASH THEIR FACES is an obvious attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the previous ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, but emerges as a vehicle for the Dead End Kids rather than giving ANN SHERIDAN or RONALD REAGAN a chance to demonstrate their chemistry.

If you happen to be a fan of The Kids, this film is up your alley. They seem more like delinquents than real gangsters (by today's standards), while Sheridan and Reagan try to resolve the problems they create involving a wrongly accused case of arson.

Ray Enright keeps it all moving rather briskly, but the script--with its focus on the kids rather than the stars--is a disappointment for fans of Sheridan and Reagan.

The cast includes the usual Warner stock company of contract players, including Bonita Granville, Henry O'Neill, Eduardo Ciannelli, Frankie Thomas and Margaret Hamilton.

Summing up: Routine crime drama interesting only for a glimpse of Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan at an early stage of their careers.

Angels Wash Their Faces, The (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The Dead End Kids star in this Warner crime drama, which has the boys trying to clear one of their pals of arson and murder charges. If you've seen one of these dramas then you've pretty much seen them all but this one here has a rather strange, stupid yet original twist at the end. The first half of the film is pretty boring as we sit through the typical story of a troubled kid trying to do good but getting into more trouble. Most of this is deadly dull and boring because we have seen it in previous films but then the twist takes place. In the middle of the movie one of the boys is elected Mayor and of course he appoints his pals into other positions throughout the city. This is how they go about getting their friend cleared but the screenplay is so far fetched that I couldn't help but break down laughing. All of this laughter made the second half of the film fast paced, loose and fun. The Dead End Kids are their typical self but Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan add nice support. Bonita Granville, from Warner's Nancy Drew series, also joins the boys and is an added touch. I'm not sure what it is about her but I've found her very charming and sweet in the five films of her's I've seen.

A club of boys gets a mayor elected during boys week in order to free their new member, who has been framed for arson by corrupt men.

At the state reformatory Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) is paroled to his sister Joy Ryan (Ann Sheridan). In their new neighborhood Gabe fights Leo Finnegan (Leo Gorcey), wins, and is initiated with tests into the Termite club. They put out a fire in a basement. Owner Kroner (Bernard Nedell) lets them go, but his boss Martino (Eduardo Ciannelli) tells him to cast suspicion on Gabe. Deputy D. A. Pat Remson (Ronald Reagan) questions Gabe and gets coffee from Joy. Kroner tells kids to leave his lot, and Sleepy Arkelian (Bernard Punsly) is hurt in the street. Joy knows it is corrupt politics and appeals to Martino and his civic league. Martino tells Haines (Cy Kendall) and Kroner to burn a building and blame Gabe by getting him to hate Kroner. Peggy Finnegan (Bonita Granville) urges Gabe to run for boys mayor. Pat kisses Joy. Sleepy is trapped in a burning building and is killed. Pat blames fire commissioner Haines. Sleepy's mother (Marjorie Main) is devastated, and Pat has Gabe arrested.

Witnesses including Miss Hannaberry (Margaret Hamilton) and Haines testify against Gabe, who says they are lying. District Attorney Remson (Henry O'Neill) persuades the jury, and Gabe is sentenced to ten years. Termite leader Billy Shafter (Billy Halop) runs for mayor. Termites discourage other candidates with rough tactics as Billy studies. Mayor Dooley (Berton Churchill) announces that Billy won the contest to be mayor for one week. Billy appoints as officers Termites Leo, Huntz, Luigi (Gabriel Dell), and Bernie Smith (Bobby Jordan) along with Peggy for street cleaning. Pat proposes to Joy that they marry, but she declines. Mayor Dooley leaves Gildersleeve (Grady Sutton) to watch Billy, who has his cabinet lock up Gildersleeve. They go to get Gabe from jail but have to go to a judge, who has them thrown out. They attack Gildersleeve, and the police chief calls Pat, who says they must find those who framed Gabe. Termites go after the records of Haines. Bernie's father hints of an impending fire for insurance. Pat takes Haines' account book to his father, the D. A. Then Pat, an attorney (Minor Watson), and the Termites find evidence along with Kroner and Shuffle (Dick Rich), who are arrested; but their lawyer gets them released.

Peggy says that Shuffle can be arrested for spitting on the sidewalk. The attorney and Leo have Kroner and Shuffle arrested and put in stocks. Billy accuses them of killing Sleepy. News reports Boys Week terror, and Mayor Dooley heads back. The lawyer can't free them and goes to Martino, who flees. Pat gets Kroner to talk. When Dooley arrives, Termites grab Haines. Pat shows Dooley Kroner's confession and congratulates him. In the final scene the city is cleaned up and has playgrounds as Pat invites kids to his wedding.

The young spirit of this drama has juveniles reforming corruption by democratic and legal methods with occasional strong-arm tactics.

Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) gets out of reform school and goes back to the slums. His sister (Ann Sheridan) does her best to keep him out of trouble, but it just seems to follow him. Aside from his associations with the Termite gang, Gabe is followed by real-life gangsters who have a scheme to set fire to random buildings to collect the insurance. They need someone to blame for the arson, and Gabe is it. It is up to the Termites to work the law in their favor and give the gangsters their just desserts.

The the scene that introduces the Dead End Kids is really quite good. The boys wander on over to the new resident's furniture on the street, and proceed to make it their own. They talk to each other in phoney posh accents and talk about drinking tea together; Bernard Punsley takes a nap in a chair. The boys then proceed to start a fight with the new boy, but after he proves himself a good fighter, they ask him to join their club.

The initiation scene is rather good too, filled with mischief that seems dangerous at first, but is really rather clever and innocent.

Later, when Billy Halop studies to become the boy mayor, he has a dream about schoolwork. This is wonderfully staged, with tiny holograms of the kids walking on his face and firing questions at him.

Angels Wash Their Faces is a great title because it plays off of the success of Angels With Dirty Faces, and really tells what the kids are doing. Notorious for bad behavior on and off the set, these boys make nice in this film. But rather than seem disingenuous, it makes for some great laughs. This is a preview of what many of the boys would become in The Bowery Boys series. We even get a few garbled words from Leo Gorcey.

The film begins with a bunch of kids in reform school and focuses on a kid named 'Gabe', who has apparently worked hard to earn his parole. Gabe and his sister move to a new neighborhood to make a fresh start and soon Gabe meets up with the Dead End Kids. The Kids in this film are little punks, but they are much less antisocial than they'd been in other previous films and down deep, they are well-meaning punks. However, in this neighborhood there are also some criminals who are perpetrating insurance fraud through arson and see Gabe as a convenient scapegoat--after all, he'd been to reform school and no one would believe he was innocent once he was framed. So, when Gabe is about ready to be sent back to "The Big House", it's up to the rest of the gang to save him and expose the real crooks.

The "Dead End Kids" appeared in several Warner Brothers films in the late 1930s and the films were generally very good (particularly ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES). However, after the boys' contracts expired, they went on to Monogram Studios and the films, to put it charitably, were very weak and formulaic--with Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey being pretty much the whole show and the group being renamed "The Bowery Boys". Because ANGELS WASH THEIR FACES had the excellent writing and production values AND Hall and Gorcey were not constantly mugging for the camera, it's a pretty good film--and almost earns a score of 7 (it's REAL close). In fact, while this isn't a great film aesthetically, it's sure a lot of fun to watch, so I will give it a 7! Sure, it was a tad hokey-particularly towards the end when the kids take the law into their own hands and Reagan ignores the Bill of Rights--but it was also quite entertaining. The Dead End Kids are doing their best performances and Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan provided excellent support. Sure, this part of the film was illogical and impossible but somehow it was still funny and rather charming--so if you can suspend disbelief, it works well.