The Angels Wash Their Faces

Director: Ray Enright Ray Enright

Overview

Though not a sequel to Angels with Dirty Faces, this Warner Bros. programmer does star the Dead End Kids-or, more specifically, Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, and Bernard Punsley. Fresh out of reform school, Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) promises his sister Joy (Ann Sheridan) that he'll go straight, and promptly joins the Beale Street Termites (the Dead Enders), a tough but basically good-hearted street gang. Local mobster William Kroner (Bernard Nedell), seeking out a fall guy for a series of arsons, frames Gabe for a fire in which helpless invalid Sleepy (Punsly) dies. With the help of the other Termites, crusading DA Pat Remson (Ronald Reagan) tries to prove Gabe's innocence, using surprisingly high-handed tactics to get results: arresting Kroner on a misdemeanor, he turns the crook over to the kids, who force a confession out of the terrified crook. In this and several other instances in the film, the gang's rowdy behavior is "purified" because the end justifies the means.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/03/2010
UPC:	0883316269459
Original Release:	1939
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:26:00
Sales rank:	36,890

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ann Sheridan	Joy Ryan
Ronald Reagan	Pat Remson
Bonita Granville	Peggy Finnegan
Billy Halop	Billy Shafter
Frankie Thomas	Gabe Ryan
Bobby Jordan	Bernie
Bernard Punsley	Sleepy Arkelian
Leo Gorcey	Lee Finegan
Huntz Hall	Huntz
Gabriel Dell	Luigi
Henry O'Neill	Mr. Remson
Eduardo Ciannelli	Martino
Berton Churchill	Mayor Dooley
Minor Watson	Maloney
Margaret Hamilton	Miss Hannaberry
Jackie Searl	Alfred Goonplatz
Bernard Nedell	Kroner
Cy Kendall	Hynos
Dick Rich	Shuffle
Grady Sutton	Gildersleeve
Aldrich Bowker	Turnkey
Marjorie Main	Mrs. Arkelian
Robert Strange	Simpkins
Egon Brecher	Mr. Smith
Sibyl Harris	Mrs. Smith
Dead End Kids	Actor
Frank Coughlan Jr.	Boy
Claude Wisberg	Al
Nat Carr	Driver
Garry Owen	Driver
Harry Strang	Assistant Turnkey
John Ridgely	Reporter
Frank Coghlan Jr.	Boy
John Harron	Reporter
Max Hoffman Jr.	Reporter
Jack Clifford	Cop
William Hopper	Photographer
Edward Keane	Defense Attorney
Tom Wilson	Cop
Eddy Chandler	Cop
Jack Wagner	Marsh
Charles Trowbridge	Superintendent

Technical Credits

Ray Enright	Director
Max Siegel	Producer

Editorial Reviews

The Angels Wash Their Faces, a middling "Dead End Kids" flic, is a slightly above-average movie, though decidedly a lesser film than Angels with Dirty Faces. (Despite the title -- an obvious attempt to cash in on that earlier, much better film -- Faces is not a sequel.) The plot is a bunch of hooey, providing for plenty of melodrama spread over with big dollops of low comedy, and the last portion is particularly unbelievable. It also teaches a strange moral lesson, namely that it's perfectly okay to use illegal means as long as you're on the side of the angels. Of course, no once watches something like Faces for the moral lesson. They watch it to see what Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall and the boys are up to this time. Being an early one of their films, Gorcey and Hall don't dominate the way they will in later films. As a matter of fact, the real protagonist isn't one of the "Kids" at all. It's Frankie Thomas, turning in a very nicely etched performance as the basically good kid with some bad breaks. But once Thomas gets blamed for the fires, the Kids get to come into their own, and they don't disappoint. All of this leaves Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan with little to do, although Sheridan still makes the most of every moment she has. Ray Enright directs with an eye on pacing and speed, and also makes the fire scene extremely effective. Faces is no great film, but fans of the Dead End Kids will definitely want to seek it out.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler