Wild Boys of the Road on TCM...

[tflight9]

I was very favorably impressed by WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD ('33) on TCM recently. Anyone who wants a look at how things were for kids during the Great Depression-era 1930s will find WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD a vivid and moving experience. As buddies who take to the rails when their parents suffer from Depression blues, Frankie Darro and Edwin Phillips are superb in the juvenile leads. The incident involving Phillips' train accident is powerfully depicted. In fact, all of the train sequences are expertly photographed and edited.

 

Speaking of "edited", the film runs barely little more than an hour and yet tells its story in a very satisfactory manner. I only found fault with the tacked on happy ending which seemed a little forced, but other than that, quite an achievement for director William Wellman. Anybody else see it? Any comments???