User Reviews

Billy Halop led the Dead End Kids in three other films that paired them up with Humphrey Bogart - "Dead End" which gave the gang their name, "Crime School", and the memorable "Angels With Dirty Faces". Here, Halop co-stars as the conflicted Johnny Stone, a nineteen year old impressionable young man who looks up to petty hood Frank Wilson (Bogey). It's a fairly typical Warner Brothers era film, taking a dim view of crime and poverty, and makes you stay till the very end to find out whether Johnny can win out over his conscience.

Bogart's character is a vile sort, though he takes Johnny under his wing he's really all for himself. When a botched pawn shop robbery results in the murder of the owner, Wilson plants Johnny's gun at the scene. But Johnny's gun was "borrowed" from his sister's boyfriend, cop Fred Burke (Harvey Stephens), so now Burke is framed for the robbery and the murder. Winding up in Sing Sing prison for an unrelated caper, Johnny spends his entire time agonizing over whether to rat out Wilson or do the right thing.

There's a great cast of Warner's B stock players on hand to move the story along. Henry Travers is "Pop" the prison librarian who tries to help Johnny see things straight. Pop's in for life though we don't get to know what his crime was. When introduced to Johnny, the P.K. can't even remember his real name - "Pop will do, I'll never need another name" - one of the first serious hints to Johnny that maybe a life of crime isn't such a good thing.

Joe Sawyer, George E. Stone and Harold Huber are all on hand as prison inmates, with Toad (Stone) regularly making book on whether death row inmates will be executed. Huber's Scappa is totally unrecognizable compared to his roles in the Charlie Chan films of the same era. The one big surprise in the movie, and you'll recognize his voice before you even see him, is Eddie "Rochester" Anderson in an uncredited role as inmate Sam. He provides a touch of comic relief every time he visits Pop in the library for a new dessert recipe.

I always get a kick out of these early films for the perspective they give on the value of money. Wilson gets five gallons of gas for ninety cents, while Fred Burke plans on buying a house in Boston with his promotion that carries three hundred dollars a month - Oh for the good old days!

Though "You Can't Get Away With Murder" winds up being fairly formulaic, it's still a decent film with a lot of screen time for Halop, and Bogie building up a head of steam for his gangster sizzler "High Sierra". With only a couple of viewer comments to it's credit in this forum, the movie deserves a wider audience, especially if you're a fan of the principal players.

For me, this movie falls into the category of 'must see. After all, it stars Humphrey Bogart AND he plays a typically tough and cool gangster. For old movie buffs like me who adore Warner Brothers gangster films, these sort of films are terrific entertainment--even if they area tad predictable. The tough-guy dialog, great acting and break-neck pace make these highly satisfying.

The film begins with Bogart pulling a penny ante heist---assisted by a teen (Billy Halop) who idolizes him and is sort of like an apprentice gangster. A bit later, when they are pulling another job, Bogart kills a man using a gun that belongs to Halop's future brother-in-law (Harvey Stephens)! Halop wants to tell, as the boyfriend is a nice guy but basically Halop's a gutless jerk and keeps his mouth shut--thanks to threats from his 'friend' Bogart. On the other hand, Henry Travers plays an older prisoner who tries to guide Halop in the right direction. Will Halop do the right thing or remain a sniveling little weasel forever? Well, what do you think?! But the journey to the eventual conclusion is most enjoyable and it's a very good prison film.

While there is nothing particularly different or noteworthy, this is yet another good Bogart gangster film. Interestingly, Halop and other young Warner stars also went on to make similar films with Cagney and John Garfield as well--so apparently the public loved this style of movie.

Oh, and in an uncredited bit role, frequent Jack Benny co-star Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson plays one of the inmates. I've seen him in several movies without Benny, but never one like this one!

Humphrey Bogart (Frank Wilson), Billy Halop (Johnnie Stone), Gale Page (Madge Stone), John Litel (Attorney Carey), Henry Travers (Pop), Harvey Stephens (Fred Burke), Harold Huber (Scappa), Joseph Sawyer (Red), Joseph Downing (Smitty), George E. Stone (Toad), Joseph King (keeper), Joseph Crehan (warden), John Ridgely (gas attendant), Herbert Rawlinson (D.A.), "Rochester" (convict), Louis- Jean Heydt (motorcycle cop), Frank Faylen (announcer), Mantan Moreland (Sam), Tom Dugan.

Directed by LEWIS SEILER. Screenplay by Robert Buckner, Don Ryan, and Kenneth Gamet. Based on the play Chalked Out by Warden Lewis E. Lawes and Jonathan Finn. Director of photography: Sol Polito. Music by Heinz Roemheld. Film editor: James Gibbon. Dialogue director: Jo Graham. Assistant director: William Kissel. Art director: Hugh Reticker. Gowns by Milo Anderson. Associate producer: Samuel Bischoff.

Copyright 29 April 1939 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. New York opening (Strand): 24 March 1939. U.S. release: 20 May. 78 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Johnnie Stone embarks on a career of crime under the tutelage of Frank Wilson, a petty crook. (A 10/10 Warner DVD).

NOTES: "Chalked Out" opened at the Morosco on 25 March 1937, but fizzed out after only 12 performances. Antoinette Perry directed Tom Tully and Frank Lovejoy.

COMMENT: You don't have to be a genius or even a confirmed cinema buff to accurately predict the ending of this implausible and contrived prison melodrama.

Still, it must be admitted that the film is quite suspenseful in its working out. In part this is due to the power of the original stage play (which takes over after about 20 or 30 minutes of commendable "opening up") and in part to the finely communicated nervous agitation Billy Halop works up in his role.

Bogart gives his usual gangster impersonation speaking such lines as "This is not crime, kid, it's a business!" with his usual relish.

Gale Page is okay as the heroine, as is Harvey Stephens as the unhappy hero.

Despite his prominence in the cast list, Litel has only one scene, but Travers as usual chews up the scenery for what seems like hours.

Other roles are small and not particularly important, but are competently played. And what's a lot more important, director Lewis Seiler makes effective use of fluid camera-work.

FOR SOME STRANGE reason, the Prison Movie seems to have been a particularly popular one in the Depression Era 1930's. No studio provided us with more fodder from this genre than did the Brothers Warner. One need only peruse the list of their productions in order to verify our assertion. Titles such as: I WAS A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAINGANG (with Paul Muni), EACH DAWN I DIE (James Cagney & George Raft) and 20,000 YEARS IN SING-SING (Spencer Tracy & Bette Davis) are all prime examples.

WITH THE PRODUCTION of today' honored reviewed movie, we find that it to be situated at the very cusp of multiple epochs in Movie History. First of all, it was a road mark on Humphrey Bogart's slow yet steady rise on the Hollywood value scale. The very persistent Bogey had not yet gotten to star status, but solid performances in DEAD END (1937), ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1038)THE ROARING TWENTIES & this YOU CAN'T GET AWAY WITH MURDER (both 1939), all were solid evidence of his progression.

IT WOULD BRING to the very threshold of Stardom with HIGH SIERRA (1941), THE MALTESE FALCON (also '41) and ultimately CASABLANCA (1942). From that point on any Bogart movie was a big, major motion picture.

THE SECOND CAREER that was chronicled by this movie was that of Billy Halop's. After having come to Hollywood following his successful Broadway portrayal of one of the kids from the Sydney Kingsley Pulitzer Award winning DEAD END, his was considered to be a bright future.*

HIS CASTING AS the leader of the gang in the original stage version translated to his being installed intact after the move to celluloid. Participation in many titles featuring "the Dead End Kids" at both Warner Brothers and Universal followed in productions that varied a great deal from studio to studio.**

THE POWERS THAT be at the Warners' lot were determined to jettison young Halop's association with the Kids and launch a solo career. Films such as: DUST BE MY DESTINY (1939), TOM BOWN'S SCHOOL DAYS (1940) and DANGEROUS YEARS (1947) are examples of less than sensational successes critically and at the Box Office ($$$$!).

REGARDING THE STORY of today's movie honoree (thought we'd never get there), we have what we can only classify as a sort of "typical" troubled kid story. Johnnie Stone (Halop), is the full time reason for worry of his older sister, Madge(Gale Page); who apparently is his sole support and guardian Young Johnnie is caught between the good influence of her fiancé, Fred Burke (Harvey Stephens) and Frank Wilson (Bogey).

FOLLOWING SOME TWO jobs as stick-up men, they wind up in Sing-Sing; but are soon joined by Fred; who was there because he was framed by Frank. (Frank frames Fred = tongue twister, right Schultz?)

IN THE COURSE of some other incredible plot twists: Johnnie is befriended by "Pop" the prison librarian (Henry Travers), is questioned by both Fred's lawyer and the District Attorney in a special deposition, Fred is about to meet "Old Sparky", gets involved in an attempt to break-out, leaves both a written note and oral admission pf how Fred was framed and dies on the surgical table while clearing Fred in a Dying Declaration.***

THAT IS A lot to handle, report on and comprehend. It is obvious that this one is a sort of least favoured film in our vast library. But that is not to say that it doesn't have merit. It has some fine performances by a typically crafted Warner Brothers cast featuring people like: John Litel, Joe Sawyer, Henry Travers, George E. Stone, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Robert Emmett O'Connor, Lane Chandler and Juvenile Cagney look-alike, Frankie Burke.

NOTE: * It has been said that Halop had a greater salary than the other Dead Enders ever since the days on the Broadway stage.

NOTE: ** Whereas the Warner productions were such as ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACRS, THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL, CRIME SCHOOL and ON DRESS PARADE; those at Universal included "B" pictures such as LITTLE TOUGH GUY and Serials like JUNIOR G-MEN and SEA RAIDERS.

NOTE *** This "Dying Declaration" term is just what it sounds like, a legal term. In judicial proceedings it is considered to always be truthful, being that the speaker is about to "Meet his Maker.

Don't let that title mislead you. When I say Bogey at his worst I mean that I personally have never Humphrey Bogart a bigger rat on the screen than in You Can't Get Away With Murder. This is far from Bogey's worst film though it hardly ranks up there with Casablanca.

The source of this film was a flop Broadway play that only ran 12 performances by Jonathan Finn and Warden Lewis Lawes of Sing Sing who back in the day doubled as author as well as reforming penologist. He also wrote 20,000 Years in Sing Sing and Invisible Stripes both filmed successfully by Warner Brothers. He also did this god awful film Over the Wall for Warner Brothers also a prison based drama. You Can't Get Away With Murder falls in between these extremes.

This was a B film and Bogart and Gale Page received top billing. But the real star here is Dead End gang leader Billy Halop. He plays her younger brother, the same role essentially as the one he did in Dead End as Sylvia Sidney's brother, the kid who might have a future if he got out of the corrupting influences in his neighborhood. Particularly Humphrey Bogart who's essentially a two bit hood.

They do a filling station stick up in New Jersey and later rob a pawn shop. While Halop is lookout, Bogey kills the owner with a gun that Page's boyfriend Harvey Stephens has for his job that Halop stole. When Stephens is picked up for the crime because Bogart left Stephen's weapon at the scene deliberately, Halop doesn't say a word, even after both of them are picked up for the filling station heist.

As it is in these Warner Brothers melodramas all the dramatis personae meet in the climax as a prison break is timed with Harvey Stephens date with old sparky as the chair at Sing Sing used to be called. Now how two guys picked up on a New Jersey crime would be in Sing Sing I still haven't figured out.

The film was essentially way to melodramatic and contrived for my tastes, nevertheless Bogart did a fine job as a hood who really shows what a rat he is all the way through and at the end. Henry Travers has a good part as the lifer who tries to get Halop to come clean of whatever is bothering him. Harvey Stephens is a bland hero, but in fairness he's written as a blithering idiot who's going to go to the chair to shield Page and her brother. As that other Warner Brothers icon would say, "What a Maroon".

Best job in the film without a doubt is Billy Halop. His death scene in the finale is very moving and he does a fine job as a kid who just fell in with bad company.

I've not seen all of Humphrey Bogart's films, but most of them and I haven't seen him lower and meaner than in You Can't Get Away With Murder.

In New York, security patrolman Fred Burke has a promotion in Boston and wants to take his girlfriend Madge Stone with him. She is worried about her younger brother Johnnie who has fallen under the influence of criminal Frank Wilson (Humphrey Bogart). Frank sticks up a gas station. Johnnie steals Fred's gun. Frank uses it to kill a pawn shop owner. He steals the pawn shop owner's gun and deliberately drops Fred's gun. When Frank is caught for the gas station, he pulls Johnnie in with him. Fred is convicted for the pawn shop murder. Frank threatens conflicted Johnnie about confessing to stealing the gun. Pop is a kindly prisoner.

This is a couple of years before Bogie got real big. He is well within his early villain roles in this one. He's great although there is some over-acting. A lot is asked of the kid and he's trying way too hard. There is a bit of yadayada with the story. It's unlikely that a kid with no record would get hard time along with Frank. It's needed for the sake of the story but it would be better if Johnnie went into the gas station with Frank. He has to get his hands dirty. I really like the kid's inner conflict but that acting is bad. It's obvious that Fred would know that Johnnie had something to do with the stolen gun. It's unlikely that Fred wouldn't use it in a death penalty case. Madge should be a little suspicious if not Johnnie, at least Frank. Her guess should be Johnnie telling Frank and then Frank goes to steal the gun. One needs to ignore the yadayada and accept the drama. It's also a little far beyond belief that one confession can change everything completely.

Over and over and over again, Warner Brothers turned out gangster films. Very few were memorable, although WB certainly had the formula down pat.

If there's a real reason to watch this film, it's simply that there are some interesting things about the film...though not about the story.

Humphrey Bogart plays the same old gangster character here that he always played before he hit it big. I always enjoyed Bogart in his more serious later period, but in this early period he was just another Warner Brothers stereotype. I have to admit, in his own way, when young, Bogart was quite handsome.

Gale Page is good here as the sister of Billy Halop.

Billy Halop was another WB stereotype, here with a bit of an acne problem.

John Litel is quite good as an attorney.

One of the most interesting roles here is beloved Henry Travers as "Pop" -- a prisoner...albeit assigned to the prison library! Another surprise here -- another much beloved actor -- Eddie "Rochester" Anderson plays a convict.

The one place this drama rises above the typical gangster/prison drama is in the conversations between Billy Halop and Henry Travers. To a large extent, those conversations are what turn this into more of a morality play. Unfortunately that little bit of class quickly disappears at the end of the film when the writer/directors try to redeem the Halop character through his death confession when he is trying to escape from prison...followed by overly dramatic (and very loud) music.

This is a tough gritty intense crime film that stars Humphrey Bogart & Billy Halop both getting top billing even though Halop has more screen time & is the real star & main focus. This time he's without the Dead End Kids. The Dead End Kids appeared in 3 other films with Bogart in "Dead End" (1937), "Crime School" & "Angels With Dirty Faces" both in 1938. Halop plays Johnny Stone who admires & looks up to small time gangster Frank Wilson (Bogart), Frank shows Johnny the ropes on how to be a criminal.

First they steal a car & then they stick up & rob a gas station & then Johnny steals his sister Madge's (Gale Page) boyfriend's Fred Burke's (Harvey Stephens) gun from his apartment while they go out on the town. Johnny teams up again with Frank to rob a pawnshop but Frank takes the gun away from Johnny & sticks up the pawnshop owner while Johnny plays watchdog outside. Frank tells him to open the safe but the pawnshop owner sets the alarm off & attacks Frank. Bogart shoots the pawnshop owner dead with the gun Johnny stole from Burke.

Frank leaves the gun on the floor & subsequently their fingerprints leads the police right to their doorstep & Frank & Johnny are arrested & sentenced to Sing Sing prison. Circumstantial evidence incriminates Fred Burke as he doesn't have a strong enough alibi to clear himself of the murder & prove his innocence. Burke lands on death-row awaiting the electric chair.

Most of the film takes place in the big house as Johnny gets torn between the good & evil forces. He's given a job in the prison library working with Pop ( Henry Travers) who senses that Johnny's conscience is bothering him & tries to convince him to do the right thing by telling the truth as Burke's fate lies in Johnny's hands. Will he keep silent to protect Frank Wilson or will he talk & spill to save Burke from the hot seat ??

It's quite suspenseful wondering what Johnny Stone will do & I will not reveal what his decision is & what eventually happens. There is an exciting prison break with Bogart, Halop, Joseph Sawyer, Harold Huber & Joe Downing which ends in disaster & a violent shootout with the prison guards eventually trapping Frank & Johnny in a freight car. George E. Stone is also one of the inmates. Bogart is typically cast in his familiar tough guy role he so often played in the 1930's. This is Bogart at his meanest & nastiest with no redeeming qualities he's all bad in this movie. Billy Halop gives a great solo performance in this movie & it should've skyrocketed him to solo stardom. Too bad it didn't because after the Dead End Kids series ended in the early 40's he descended to a bit player.

Bogart as we all know went on to become a major star 2 years later with "High Sierra" & "The Maltese Falcon" cementing & solidifying his new status in 1941. Before this he was a supporting actor & a minor star. But this film " You Can't Get Away With Murder" really has a lot going for it & is really worth seeing & needs a DVD release. In the meantime there is a site you can download rare obscure Bogart movies including this one. I love watching these old Warner Bros. gangster prison crime films of the 30's. They're timeless classics.

. . . the notorious, soon-to-be incipient rump cushion crime syndicate for the always eponymous Warner Bros. during his Tour of Duty in YOU CAN'T GET AWAY WITH MURDER. Spawned in the aptly named "Hell's Kitchen" sector of New York City, "Sam Spade's" character here--"Frank Wilson"--is, of course, not shown to be as callously cannibalistic as the truly frightening rump cushions, because America lacked the necessary "NC-17" rating in 1939. Nevertheless, Warner Bros.' unrivaled prognosticators depict Frank as the sort of warped, back-stabbing, vicious, sniveling weasel weakling whom it is easy to picture chowing down on a steaming serving of Saudi meatballs. Certainly Frank's successful plot to pin his own murderous crimes on a member of the U.S. Law Enforcement Community foretells the Traitorous Fellow-Traveling rump cushions during their current Acts of High Treason in siding with the monsters of the Red Commie KGB against America's FBI Finest. As the Bible says, "New York City is the Root of All Evil," and Warner's YOU CAN'T GET AWAY WITH MURDER should alert the rump cushions and their barbaric Saudi henchmen that their Day of Reckoning is at hand.