Film Review
In 1938, this mostly fictionalised account of the real-life
endeavours of Father Edward J. Flanagan was well received
by critics and cinema-goers. Today, it feels painfully
mawkish, so doused in piety and treacly sentimentality that it is hard
to sit through without a voluminous sick bag by your side.
It is contrived, superficial, mushy, and more manipulative than any
government that has ever tried to con the country (any country) into
re-electing them. If you get to the end of this dismal schmaltz
fest without choking on your own vomit you've done pretty well.
For your next impossible feat, you may want to consider tackling the
North Face of the Eiger in a Fozzie Bear costume with a fridge-freezer
strapped to your back.
Hard to believe that
Boys Town was once a highly acclaimed
production. MGM supremo Louis B. Mayer considered this his
favourite of all the films his studio made, in spite of his ambivalence
towards the Catholic Church. The film won two Oscars, the Best
Actor Award for Spencer Tracy and the award for the Best Original
Screenplay. The film undoubtedly had a positive impact, by
opening people's eyes to the issue of juvenile delinquency and child
homelessness. Yet, viewed today, it appears to wallow in its own
saccharine complacency like a herd of fat lazy hippos languorously
lolling about in a pool of malodorous fly-infested mud.
The sad thing is that
Boys Town
is, from a technical point of view, a supremely well-crafted piece of cinema. The visuals tell the
story so effectively that the dialogue is pretty well superfluous;
indeed it is the dialogue which destroys the film's credibility
and undermines the important social messages that it wishes to
convey. There are a few scenes which are genuinely moving - these
tend to be the ones that are underplayed, do not involve the actors
opening their mouths and are invested with real emotion, not the
synthetic alternative that dribbled from the pen of a well-meaning but
over-zealous screenwriter.
Spencer Tracy's Oscar win is ill-deserved, since the actor fails to
make his character anything other than a pious good-guy who is
expecting to receive his canonisation through the post at any
moment. Of the child actors, only Bobs Watson (as the
heartstring-tugging Pee Wee) gives a convincing performance; all of the
others appear horribly self-conscious and unsure of themselves.
Worst of this bad bunch is Mickey Rooney, who fails to inject anything
approaching real emotion into his portrayal; his gratuitous over-acting
and obvious inability to carry his demanding part soon become painfully
aggravating. Just why Rooney was ever so popular is one of the
unsolved mysteries of the universe.
The dubiously earned success of this film led to a sequel,
Men of Boys Town (1941), in which
Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney were reunited for another ghastly round
of sentimental moralising torture. The only real value of
Boys Town today is that it provides
an object lesson on how
not
to make a socially themed drama. If you want to see how the
issues of child delinquency and homelessness should be tackled, you
should see William A. Wellman's,
Wild Boys of the Road (1933), a
vastly superior work which still has a profound resonance.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Called to the cell of a condemned man, Father Edward Flanagan wonders
how the man would have turned out if he had been given a better deal
when he was a child. The streets of the town where Father
Flanagan lives are full of homeless boys who get into trouble and are
then lured into a life of crime. If only there was someone to
take care of them and offer them an alternative... With the help of a
philanthropic shopkeeper, Father Flanagan raises money to build a
private home for abandoned boys, which he names Boys Town. The
home is run on democratic lines, with its own elected mayor, its own
laws and its own system of punishment. Despite the scepticism of
Father Flanagan's detractors, the home proves to be a great success,
transforming hundreds of wild and unruly infants into responsible,
law-abiding young men. Just when Father Flanagan appears
vindicated, he faces his greatest challenge, Whitey Marsh, a young
tearaway who is determined to follow in the footsteps of his gangster
brother. Whitey's rebellious streak not only creates ructions in
the home, but will almost result in its closure...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.