6/10
Billy Halop's Back in Trouble
27 January 2013
Raised on the "Crime School" (1938) streets of New York City's "Hell's Kitchen" (1939), tough teenager Billy Halop (as John "Johnnie" Stone) worries sister Gale Page (as Madge) by hanging out with small-time gangster Humphrey Bogart (as Frank Wilson). Sucked into joining Mr. Bogart in a gas station robbery, young Halop gets to join his nasty mentor in "Sing Sing" security prison. There, Halop learns his sister's nice fiancé Harvey Stephens (as Fred Burke) will face the electric chair for murder. Halop knows what really happened, but it would mean more trouble for himself and pal Bogart...

"You Can't Get Away with Murder" isn't considered part of the "Dead End" series of films, but follows similar story situations and could easily be considered one of the early, more dramatic entries from Warner Bros. Much of the personnel are the same, although it stars only one "Dead End Kid" (Halop). Before becoming a major star, Halop's "boyfriend" Bogart was a regular. Some of these were excellent, and some were poor; repetitive but enjoyable, this one is somewhere in the middle. There are some familiar faces among the studio stock players, with an especially nice role for Henry Travers (as Pop).

****** You Can't Get Away with Murder (3/24/39) Lewis Seiler ~ Billy Halop, Humphrey Bogart, Gale Page, Henry Travers
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