Angels Wash Their Faces (1939) User Reviews (15)

Surprisingly fun

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 30 August 2007]

The film begins with a bunch of kids in reform school and focuses on a kid named 'Gabe', who has apparently worked hard to earn his parole. Gabe and his sister move to a new neighborhood to make a fresh start and soon Gabe meets up with the Dead End Kids. The Kids in this film are little punks, but they are much less antisocial than they'd been in other previous films and down deep, they are well-meaning punks. However, in this neighborhood there are also some criminals who are perpetrating insurance fraud through arson and see Gabe as a convenient scapegoat--after all, he'd been to reform school and no one would believe he was innocent once he was framed. So, when Gabe is about ready to be sent back to "The Big House", it's up to the rest of the gang to save him and expose the real crooks.

The "Dead End Kids" appeared in several Warner Brothers films in the late 1930s and the films were generally very good (particularly ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES). However, after the boys' contracts expired, they went on to Monogram Studios and the films, to put it charitably, were very weak and formulaic--with Huntz Hall and Leo Gorcey being pretty much the whole show and the group being renamed "The Bowery Boys". Because ANGELS WASH THEIR FACES had the excellent writing and production values AND Hall and Gorcey were not constantly mugging for the camera, it's a pretty good film--and almost earns a score of 7 (it's REAL close). In fact, while this isn't a great film aesthetically, it's sure a lot of fun to watch, so I will give it a 7! Sure, it was a tad hokey-particularly towards the end when the kids take the law into their own hands and Reagan ignores the Bill of Rights--but it was also quite entertaining. The Dead End Kids are doing their best performances and Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan provided excellent support. Sure, this part of the film was illogical and impossible but somehow it was still funny and rather charming--so if you can suspend disbelief, it works well.

Some Arcane Laws Put To Good Use

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 26 August 2007]

Although Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan are the romantic leads here, the film really belongs to the Dead End Kids. Angels Wash Their Faces is NOT a sequel to Angels With Dirty Faces, it doesn't come close to that classic. Still it's an enjoyable film.

The Dead End Kids are joined by Frankie Thomas and Bonita Granville who Warner Brothers had been using in their Nancy Drew series. In those films Granville was the lead and poor Thomas was her earnest boyfriend who she got involved in all of her cases. Here Thomas is the lead and Granville his romantic interest and would you believe, Leo Gorcey's sister. That's nothing, in one of the Bowery Boy features Gorcey got a young Ava Gardner as his sister.

There's been a rash of fires in the neighborhood, somebody's got a nice little arson racket going. The crooks try to pin this on Frankie Thomas who's a new kid moved into the neighborhood with his sister Ann Sheridan. Ronald Reagan as the Assistant District Attorney reluctantly prosecutes.

What happens then is Dead End Kid leader Billy Halop gets himself elected boy mayor of the city and uses the power of office quite creatively to help Thomas and find the arsonists. Some arcane laws which are still on the books turn out to be of real value.

Best in the cast is Frankie Thomas who's quite appealing as the kid in trouble and Bernard Nedell as the slick crook who gets quite a comeuppance from the Dead End Kids.

Fans of the Kids will like this one.

Inferior sequel puts Sheridan and Reagan in the background...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 24 August 2007]

ANGELS WASH THEIR FACES is an obvious attempt to capitalize on the popularity of the previous ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES, but emerges as a vehicle for the Dead End Kids rather than giving ANN SHERIDAN or RONALD REAGAN a chance to demonstrate their chemistry.

If you happen to be a fan of The Kids, this film is up your alley. They seem more like delinquents than real gangsters (by today's standards), while Sheridan and Reagan try to resolve the problems they create involving a wrongly accused case of arson.

Ray Enright keeps it all moving rather briskly, but the script--with its focus on the kids rather than the stars--is a disappointment for fans of Sheridan and Reagan.

The cast includes the usual Warner stock company of contract players, including Bonita Granville, Henry O'Neill, Eduardo Ciannelli, Frankie Thomas and Margaret Hamilton.

Summing up: Routine crime drama interesting only for a glimpse of Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan at an early stage of their careers.

Arson in the slums

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 5 April 2005]

This 1939 film tried to capitalize on the much better Michael Curtiz's film "Angels with Dirty Faces". As directed by Ray Enright, the only interesting thing is how tamed these kids were in comparison with what's going on with the youth in America's inner cities today.

The film is only worth seeing because of the presence of Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan, who showed they were well paired together. The Dead End kids have larger parts as the plot concentrates on them rather than in the older folks.

In a way it's curious how arson was used in the same way some scrupulous landlords did in later years right here in New York. It was the quickest way to turn a property around never considering the social problems it created. In today's climate with so many guns around there is a new reality. The young kids of the story seemed mere pranksters rather than criminals. How times change!

Worth it for any Warner's fan

[WarnersBrother · 7/10 · 4 September 2007]

I don't have much to add to what has been said before, but it's very much a film of it's time, and the first (and likely only) time that the studio hung the film totally on the Dead End Kids.

The Warner's gave the boys plenty of help, from director Ray Enright and an 'A' budget, to an almost magical cast of supporting actors. At every turn, we get one of those gem performances from real pros. They are too many to list, but it seems like just about everybody on the Warner's lot (Sans the very biggest stars) walk through this picture. (See if you can spot John Ridgely)

The only over the top performance is from the always reliable Eduardo Cianelli as a mob boss with a messianistic complex. He plays this character almost exactly like that of the Thuggie leader in "Gunga Din". He's something to watch! And Marjorie Main is excellent and gets her best role since "Dead End".

My bid for this one is a second feature on a double bill with something like "City for Conquest".

Hooray for Warners!

Fun Film

[Michael_Elliott · 28 February 2008]

Angels Wash Their Faces, The (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The Dead End Kids star in this Warner crime drama, which has the boys trying to clear one of their pals of arson and murder charges. If you've seen one of these dramas then you've pretty much seen them all but this one here has a rather strange, stupid yet original twist at the end. The first half of the film is pretty boring as we sit through the typical story of a troubled kid trying to do good but getting into more trouble. Most of this is deadly dull and boring because we have seen it in previous films but then the twist takes place. In the middle of the movie one of the boys is elected Mayor and of course he appoints his pals into other positions throughout the city. This is how they go about getting their friend cleared but the screenplay is so far fetched that I couldn't help but break down laughing. All of this laughter made the second half of the film fast paced, loose and fun. The Dead End Kids are their typical self but Ronald Reagan and Ann Sheridan add nice support. Bonita Granville, from Warner's Nancy Drew series, also joins the boys and is an added touch. I'm not sure what it is about her but I've found her very charming and sweet in the five films of her's I've seen.

"Heaven defend you against the grownups!"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 21 January 2012]

"Angels With Dirty Faces" is one of my favorite films going all the way back to when I was a kid, but today was the first time I ever saw "Angels Wash Their Faces". I've been waiting a long time, so kudos once again to Turner Classics. The picture's title borrows from it's precursor pretty much in name only; it's not a sequel per se, much like "The Curse of the Cat People" capitalized on "Cat People" to draw in movie goers who liked the original. The connecting link here is the presence of The Dead End Kids, the first and most serious portrayal of the street gang that evolved into The East Side Kids, and later the goofy and slapstick Bowery Boys. Funny, but I don't feel compelled to favor one portrayal over another, I like watching them all.

The other returnee from "Angels With Dirty Faces" is Ann Sheridan, a completely different character here, moving into a new neighborhood with brother Gabe (Frankie Thomas) who was recently pardoned from reform school. I preferred her Laury Ferguson character in the prior film, where she showed more sass and parried her relationship with Cagney's Rocky Sullivan. Still, she lends good support here, which is kind of ironic because she's actually top billed above the Dead Enders, and romantically cast opposite Ronald Reagan as Assistant District Attorney Pat Remson.

There's quite a lot of hi-jinks involved in the picture, particularly in the latter half when Billy Shafter (Billy Halop) wins a Boys Week Contest to become mayor of the city for a week. Swearing in his pals, the gang goes on a tear with a goal of getting their new buddy Gabe out of State's Prison, framed for an arson fire after circumstantial evidence and tainted witnesses produced a guilty verdict. Before the picture gets there however, there's a real grim sequence in which one of the boys (Bernard Punsley as Sleepy) dies in an apartment fire as the rest of the gang watches helplessly. The following scene comes as close to a tear jerker moment as you'll find, with his mother (Marjorie Main) delivering one of the most poignant lines I've ever heard. Trying to console her after the loss of her son, Joy Ryan (Sheridan) tells Mrs. Arkelian that she ought to cry for a measure of release. Her response - "It hurts too much for tears. Crying is for little things". That one put a lump in my throat.

Considering that they were known as The Dead End Kids, I was a little surprised to hear the boys call themselves the Termites. The little buggers consisted of Halop, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, and Gabriel Dell, with an assist from Bonita Granville as Gorcey's sister. 'Sleepy' was made an honorary member after his death in the fire, adding another somber note to the story.

In their own way, Warner Brothers did an effective job in presenting the character of an era to the big screen. Here they take on city government corruption using the Dead End Kids as foils using laws on the books against spitting in public and bowling on Sunday to bring bad guys to justice. What really got my attention however was the way a particular scene managed to highlight post-Depression poverty in an effective way. The boys were off on another escapade, and Bobby Jordan's character asks permission to opt out. It turns out his father just got back to work at a warehouse job, and having been paid, the family was going to have meat for supper. Think about that one for a while.

Angels Wash Their Faces(1939)

[robfollower · 7/10 · 1 July 2020]

A club of boys gets a mayor elected during boys week in order to free their new member, who has been framed for arson by corrupt men.

At the state reformatory Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) is paroled to his sister Joy Ryan (Ann Sheridan). In their new neighborhood Gabe fights Leo Finnegan (Leo Gorcey), wins, and is initiated with tests into the Termite club. They put out a fire in a basement. Owner Kroner (Bernard Nedell) lets them go, but his boss Martino (Eduardo Ciannelli) tells him to cast suspicion on Gabe. Deputy D. A. Pat Remson (Ronald Reagan) questions Gabe and gets coffee from Joy. Kroner tells kids to leave his lot, and Sleepy Arkelian (Bernard Punsly) is hurt in the street. Joy knows it is corrupt politics and appeals to Martino and his civic league. Martino tells Haines (Cy Kendall) and Kroner to burn a building and blame Gabe by getting him to hate Kroner. Peggy Finnegan (Bonita Granville) urges Gabe to run for boys mayor. Pat kisses Joy. Sleepy is trapped in a burning building and is killed. Pat blames fire commissioner Haines. Sleepy's mother (Marjorie Main) is devastated, and Pat has Gabe arrested.

Witnesses including Miss Hannaberry (Margaret Hamilton) and Haines testify against Gabe, who says they are lying. District Attorney Remson (Henry O'Neill) persuades the jury, and Gabe is sentenced to ten years. Termite leader Billy Shafter (Billy Halop) runs for mayor. Termites discourage other candidates with rough tactics as Billy studies. Mayor Dooley (Berton Churchill) announces that Billy won the contest to be mayor for one week. Billy appoints as officers Termites Leo, Huntz, Luigi (Gabriel Dell), and Bernie Smith (Bobby Jordan) along with Peggy for street cleaning. Pat proposes to Joy that they marry, but she declines. Mayor Dooley leaves Gildersleeve (Grady Sutton) to watch Billy, who has his cabinet lock up Gildersleeve. They go to get Gabe from jail but have to go to a judge, who has them thrown out. They attack Gildersleeve, and the police chief calls Pat, who says they must find those who framed Gabe. Termites go after the records of Haines. Bernie's father hints of an impending fire for insurance. Pat takes Haines' account book to his father, the D. A. Then Pat, an attorney (Minor Watson), and the Termites find evidence along with Kroner and Shuffle (Dick Rich), who are arrested; but their lawyer gets them released.

Peggy says that Shuffle can be arrested for spitting on the sidewalk. The attorney and Leo have Kroner and Shuffle arrested and put in stocks. Billy accuses them of killing Sleepy. News reports Boys Week terror, and Mayor Dooley heads back. The lawyer can't free them and goes to Martino, who flees. Pat gets Kroner to talk. When Dooley arrives, Termites grab Haines. Pat shows Dooley Kroner's confession and congratulates him. In the final scene the city is cleaned up and has playgrounds as Pat invites kids to his wedding.

The young spirit of this drama has juveniles reforming corruption by democratic and legal methods with occasional strong-arm tactics.

Frankie Thomas joins The Dead End Kids

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 7 March 2009]

After a stint in reform school, fresh-faced Frankie Thomas (as Gabe Ryan) is ready to go straight. Upon release, he moves to "Beale St.", with pretty big sister Ann Sheridan (as Joy Ryan). The siblings don't know it, but the neighborhood is populated by young hoodlums and organized crime. Young Thomas quickly joins "The Dead End Kids" (as "The Termites") lineup of Billy Halop (as William R. "Billy" Shafter), Bernard Punsly (as Luke "Sleepy" Arkelian), Leo Gorcey (as Leo "Mousy" Finnegan), Huntz Hall (as Huntz Garman), Gabriel Dell (as Luigi Petaren), and Bobby Jordan (as Bernie Smith).

While Thomas scuffles with his "Dead End" pals, sister Sheridan is courted by handsome lawyer Ronald Reagan (as Patrick "Pat" Remson). This irks crime lord Eduardo Ciannelli (as Alfred Martino), whose romantic advances are reproached by Sheridan. While Sheridan organizes efforts to clean up the neighborhood, mobster Ciannelli counters with a horrific plan to frame brother Thomas for an arson incident, which may cause the death of a "Dead End" comrade...

In the sixth series film (depending on how you count them), the law of diminishing returns is clearly catching up with the "Dead End Kids". There are too many characters and situations rotating on screen, although most of them are enjoyable. The first part of the film involves (mostly) Frankie Thomas, a good addition to the group. Then, Billy Halop (mostly) takes center stage, becoming "Boys' Week Honorary Mayor", to help clear Thomas of arson.

Sheridan and Reagan make a great pair, as the likable, and level-headed adults; note, this is one of future President Reagan's most appealing early roles. The many other stand-outs include: James Cagney's young look-alike Frankie Burke welding a knife, wicked schoolteacher Margaret Hamilton, and grief-stricken mother Marjorie Main - each of these characters is "bigger" than the movie, which makes it all seem even more cluttered. But, it is a fun picture.

***** The Angels Wash Their Faces (8/26/39) Ray Enright ~ Frankie Thomas, Billy Halop, Ann Sheridan

silly boy mayor turn

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 10 June 2020]

Gabe Ryan gets released from the reformatory and moves to a new neighborhood with his sister Joy. He joins the local Beale Street Termites (The Dead End Kids). They accidentally set a small fire and local gangster William Kroner catches them. Deputy district attorney Patrick Remson (Ronald Reagan) investigates Gabe whose name was given by the gangsters. He's also taken with Joy. Joy becomes a thorn in the side of the gangsters as they continue their corruption and arson.

Reagan is a stiff actor with a limited acting range. The kids are fine although the story takes a weird turn with them going into politics. It's curious that they're talking about the Bill of Rights right after beating up one of their opponents. I don't think the black eye is that funny either. It's a silly premise anyways and that brings this movie down.

Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan

[Randy_D · 8/10 · 3 November 2002]

A sequel to Angels With Dirty Faces in name only, The Angels Wash Their Faces suffers somewhat from the usual shenanigans of the Dead End Kids. As a matter of fact, with the presence of the Dead End Kids and Ann Sheridan this should have been treated as an actual sequel to Angels With Dirty Faces, at least for continuity's sake.

Speaking of Ann Sheridan, she is the one true shining light of this movie. To paraphrase a cliché, Ann Sheridan could read from a phone book for two hours and I would buy the DVD!

Another virtue of this movie is the chemistry between Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan. Unfortunately , this aspect of the film is kept too far in the background. For a better example of the Sheridan-Reagan duo I would recommend Juke Girl or Kings Row.

They may not be Hell's Angels, but Manhattan had better watch out!

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 14 August 2013]

Making the Dead End Kids mayor of New York for a week is a fatal mistake they may not recover from. In 2013, the race for mayor truly is a circus, so one of the mayoral candidates could be as intelligent as this mayor and his cabinet. The story originally focuses on reform school kid Gabriel Dell who moves to a new neighborhood with sister Ann Sheridan, finding he can't escape his past, even though he's quickly adopted by the Beale Street gang which consists of Dead End Kid veterans Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall. When a nasty criminal element takes over, Dell is framed for starting a tenement fire which kills a crippled young boy and results in Dell's being sentenced to ten years in adult prison. This leads to the rest of the gang to use their week in city government to prove Gabe innocent.

Dell reforms thanks to an adult, here played by that master of screen art, Ronald Reagen. The boys are supported by Sheridan who is romanced by Reagen, and by Bonita Granville, with Margaret Hamilton as their judgmental teacher and Berton Churchill as the rolly-poly mayor who looks nothing like Fiorello La Guardia. Marjorie Main is particularly haunting as the mother of the dead boy who gets support by the entire neighborhood in a touching scene. Hamilton is initially seen chastising Dell for his past in front of the other boys, then discourages the gang's mayoral candidate, and is noticeably upset when he wins. She represents the type of teacher who discourages as opposed to encourages, a genuine problem in public school education.

Some tough action sequences, particularly a fight between Dell and the gang when they first meet, the blazing fire which is blamed on the new kid on the block (resulting in a climactic trial which reveals the corruption in some parts of city government), add much needed excitement to the initially comic structure. The simple message of the film is to never under- estimate the young. They start fighting for their future the minute they see what's at stake and how past generations have screwed it up. Warner Brothers did their own version of MGM's "Babes in Arms", released the same year, which ironically featured Hamilton as a city busybody fighting to get kids off the street and into a reform school.

Dead End Kids Clean Up

[Maleejandra · 8/10 · 8 June 2009]

Gabe Ryan (Frankie Thomas) gets out of reform school and goes back to the slums. His sister (Ann Sheridan) does her best to keep him out of trouble, but it just seems to follow him. Aside from his associations with the Termite gang, Gabe is followed by real-life gangsters who have a scheme to set fire to random buildings to collect the insurance. They need someone to blame for the arson, and Gabe is it. It is up to the Termites to work the law in their favor and give the gangsters their just desserts.

The the scene that introduces the Dead End Kids is really quite good. The boys wander on over to the new resident's furniture on the street, and proceed to make it their own. They talk to each other in phoney posh accents and talk about drinking tea together; Bernard Punsley takes a nap in a chair. The boys then proceed to start a fight with the new boy, but after he proves himself a good fighter, they ask him to join their club.

The initiation scene is rather good too, filled with mischief that seems dangerous at first, but is really rather clever and innocent.

Later, when Billy Halop studies to become the boy mayor, he has a dream about schoolwork. This is wonderfully staged, with tiny holograms of the kids walking on his face and firing questions at him.

Angels Wash Their Faces is a great title because it plays off of the success of Angels With Dirty Faces, and really tells what the kids are doing. Notorious for bad behavior on and off the set, these boys make nice in this film. But rather than seem disingenuous, it makes for some great laughs. This is a preview of what many of the boys would become in The Bowery Boys series. We even get a few garbled words from Leo Gorcey.

Has it's moments

[flynn1909 · 18 July 2004]

Angels Wash Their Faces, is basically a sequel to the 1938 hit Angels with Dirty Faces. The film is rather enjoying during the scenes with the "muggs" the Dead End Kids. They're a rather rambunctious group. What I don't like about the film is the drama that occurs between one of the group members death. It takes away from the comedy and it becomes a bit to serious for a film that was generally aimed at teens of the late 1930's. Ann Sheridan returns from Dirty Faces in a small and pointless role. She plays the role straight faced, and definitely from the looks of her is itchy to dig into a more serious role. Ronald Reagan also stars as another card board character. The films main stars are the "dead end kids", their the ones with the great lines and their the ones who shine throughout the picture. The adult characters of the film are left in the background, with not much to do. Still check it out if your a fan of the "dead end kids". ** out of ****

Police, teachers, mayors, judges and lawyers are all working in cahoots . . .

[oscaralbert · 8/10 · 18 June 2020]

. . . to burn the Youth of America alive, the always eponymous Warner Bros. warn the USA with ANGELS WASH THEIR FACES. Corrupt Capitalist Communist Pachyderm Party Perjurers such as "Kroner & Haines &Simpkins & Martino" set serial arson fires to make a quick buck, well aware that only We Progressive Patriot "Little People"--such as "Sleepy"--will get burned. Aided and abetted by perfidious teachers, mayors, cops, judges and lawyers, Evil triumphs--at first. But the prophetic Warner prognosticators predict that we 99 per centers will prevail, because THE TRUTH MUST OUT!