Film Snail

7.0

Dead End

NR·1937·93m

Crime

Drama

Crime

Drama

Summary

Mobster "Baby Face" Martin returns home to visit the New York neighborhood where he grew up, dropping in on his mother, who rejects him because of his gangster lifestyle, and his old girlfriend, Francey, now a syphilitic prostitute. Martin also crosses paths with Dave, a childhood friend struggling to make it as an architect, and the Dead End Kids, a gang of young boys roaming the streets of the city's East Side slums.

Cast

Sylvia Sidney

Drina Gordon

Joel McCrea

Dave

Humphrey Bogart

'Baby Face' Martin

Wendy Barrie

Kay

Claire Trevor

Francey

Allen Jenkins

Hunk

Marjorie Main

Mrs. Martin

Billy Halop

Tommy Gordon

Huntz Hall

Dippy

Bobby Jordan

Angel

Leo Gorcey

Spit

Gabriel Dell

T.B.

Bernard Punsly

Milty

Charles Peck

Philip

Minor Watson

Mr. Griswald

James Burke

Police Officer Mulligan

Elisabeth Risdon

Mrs. Connell

Esther Dale

Mrs. Fenner

George Humbert

Pascagli

Marcelle Corday

Governess

Ward Bond

Doorman

Don 'Red' Barry

Dr. Flynn, Intern (Uncredited)

Wade Boteler

Policeman at Killing (Uncredited)

Al Bridge

Policeman in Drina's Apartment (Uncredited)

G. Pat Collins

Detective at Killing (Uncredited)

Thomas E. Jackson

Police Lieutenant at Killing (Uncredited)

Tom Ricketts

Old Man (Uncredited)

Walter Soderling

Coroner at Killing (Uncredited)

Earl Askam

Griswald's Chauffeur (Uncredited)

Gilbert Clayton

Man with Weak Voice (Uncredited)

Jerry Cooper

Baby (Uncredited)

Bill Dagwell

Drunk (Uncredited)

Bud Geary

Kay's Chauffeur (Uncredited)

Charles Halton

Whitey (Uncredited)

Robert Homans

Policeman on Morning Beat (Uncredited)

Esther Howard

Neighbor with Coarse Voice (Uncredited)

Kathryn Ann Lujan

Milty's Sister (Uncredited)

Mona Monet

Nurse (Uncredited)

Gertrude Valerie

Old Lady with Old Man (Uncredited)

Charlotte Treadway

Woman with Poodle (Uncredited)

Maude Lambert

Woman with Poodle (Uncredited)

Lucile Browne

Well-Dressed Woman (Uncredited)

Frank Shields

Well-Dressed Man (Uncredited)

Wesley Giraud

Tough Boy Looking for Fight (Uncredited)

Mickey Martin

Tough Boy Looking for Fight (Uncredited)

Payne B. Johnson

Boy on Dock (Uncredited)

Sidney Kibrick

Boy (Uncredited)

Larry Harris

Boy (Uncredited)

Norman Salling

Boy (Uncredited)

Hugh Sheridan

Boy (Uncredited)

Audrey Carol

Girl (Uncredited)

Paula Hariette Levy

Girl (Uncredited)

Tom Randall

Boy (Uncredited)

Crew

Director

William Wyler

Dialogue

Frank P. Goodnow

Screenplay

Lillian Hellman

Theatre Play

Sidney Kingsley

Reviews

Geronimo1967

June 20, 2022

OK, so this is definitely not the cheeriest of stories but Bogart and Joel McCrea are on good form throughout this gritty drama of hardship and depravity on the East Side of New York. "Baby Face Martin" - who, to be fair, maybe benefits a bit optimistically from the moniker - returns to his childhood home to reunite with his mother and childhood sweetheart. His mother wants nothing to do with him and his ex "Francie" (Claire Trevor) turned to prostitution and hasn't long to go before syphilis does for her. Meantime his friend, aspiring/struggling architect "Dave" (McCrae) is juggling his romantic interests between sweet but rather dreary "Drina" and "Kay" (Wendy Barrie) who already has a rich boyfriend. All of this misery is made all the more poignant by the fact that this ghetto is overlooked by the apartments of the wealthy that have relocated to new properties that overlook the adjacent East river. When Bogart decides that he wants to re-assert himself in the community by organising a high-profile kidnapping, he and his erstwhile friend find themselves on opposite sides of the plot! The crime drama is there, but it is comparatively weak compared with the pretty blatant social commentary from Lillian Hellman's screenplay that draws attention, unashamedly, to the stark contrast between the standards of living (and dying) of those just yards apart.