Boys Town

Father Flanagan listens to a condemned man's last words; the man says that nobody looked after him when he was a boy. Flanagan then opens a place for homeless boys. The rule is simple: the door is not locked, there is no punishment, and the boys elect their own council. The place grows into a town. Then Whitey Marsh arrives; his brother is in prison, he is a bully and he listens to nobody's rules. Flanagan takes him in too and tests the whole arrangement on this boy. Norman Taurog directs. Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull and Leslie Fenton are in the cast. It is an American production. The film rests on a real person and a real home for boys founded in Nebraska. Spencer Tracy won the Oscar for best actor for the part. The matter it treats is trust in place of punishment; the film argues that keeping children under lock does not work. It also shows the institution as an experiment in community; the elections, the mayor and the court belong to the boys. The narrative is optimistic and solves its difficulties quickly. Mickey Rooney plays his character in constant motion and carries the film. The narrative does not push the religious side forward. The ending closes with a rescue. Its limit is optimism; the narrative is too straight, the conflicts resolve easily, and some passages are instructive. Who it is for: viewers who like classic Hollywood drama. Who it is not for: it is dated, didactic, and the ending too hopeful.