rdoyle29 This is really a strange film. John Garfield is a champion boxer who thinks he killed a reporter in a drunken brawl, and is then mistakenly thought to be dead himself. He goes on the run and ends up in Arizona working on a ranch for delinquents ... where he meets the Dead End Kids. Claude Rains, doing a really weird American accent, is a disgraced NYC cop, who's the only one who believes that Garfield is still alive and tries to track him down. Not a bad film ... but a really strange bag of incompatible tones, all directed by Busby Berkeley of all people.

jarrodmcdonald-1 I'm probably rating the film higher than I should, but I had fun watching it and it works for me. John Garfield played these kinds of characters, men on the wrong side of the law, so well...and he seems to represent the down-on-his-luck hero better than most actors of his generation. In this picture, he goes on the lam thinking himself responsible for a murder he didn't actually commit. He winds up in Arizona at a ranch owned and operated by May Robson and her granddaughter (Gloria Dickson), which also happens to serve as a place to rehabilitate delinquent teens (played by the Dead End Kids). This gives Garfield a chance to mentor the kids, teaching them about how to be a wiseacre hero and providing them with a few boxing lessons. Sometimes it's hard to figure out in their scenes together if Garfield is the central character, or if the kids are...but their interactions are always entertaining.While Garfield's character is on this journey down in Arizona, he finds greater purpose in life. He also finds love with Dickson, though their romance is not without problems. She doesn't seem to believe in him, especially when he's taken the boys swimming and one of them almost drowns but doesn't thanks to his quick thinking. Of course, Dickson and her grandmother eventually learn what really happened, and he is soon back in their good graces. Probably Garfield's own reformation succeeds because it's defined by his relationship with the kids and the women, and in a way, he's rehabilitating all of them. There are no real surprises in the film, and the story seems to go in a predictable direction. But that's a good thing. All of the characters (and the actors that portray them) are tough and brutally honest with each other, which is refreshing. THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL is a reworking of an earlier Warner Brothers picture called THE LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN that starred Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Loretta Young. The earlier version had Aline MacMahon in Robson's role and younger kids, and it had a certain charm-- but it didn't have what this version has...and that's grit.

John T. Ryan FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of the Screen Version of DEAD END (1937), the contracts of 'the Dead End Kids' were sold by Samuel Goldwyn to Warner Brothers. Hence Billy Hallop, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bobby Jordan and Bernard Punsly all were working alongside the likes of Cagney, Garfield and Reagan.TO BE SURE, Jack Warner and company would keep them busy. Titles such as CRIME SCHOOL, ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACRS and HELL'S KITCHEN followed. Sandwiched in between was THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL.THE FILM IS a prime example of one of the many remakes that were (and actually still are)such a large portion of the studios' yearly output. In this case, 1933's THE LIFE OF JIMMY DOLAN, which boasted of a cast featuring Douglas Fairbanks, Loretta Young, Edward Arnold and a young Mickey Rooney. Although we have never seen this film, we do know that the storyline is the same as the screenplays are both from original play by Bertram Milhauser and Beulah Marie Dix.LEADING THE CAST in this 1939 version is John Garfield; along with Gloria Dickson, Claude Rains (in a classic case of miscasting), Anne Sheridan and the Dead End Kids. It is interesting that the Kids all have retained their names that were used in that original names from the progenitor of all the Kids' movies, DEAD END.AS FOR THE story, a whirlwind of events move Jack Dorney (Garfield) from the paragon of sophistication, New York, out to the semi-arid, West's agricultural crossroads; which could be in California, New Mexico or Arizona (take your pick). Prizefighting, Loose Women, greed, excessive drinking and arrogance all conspire to knock the boxer off his summit to the depths of being a fugitive from the law.THE CHARACTER OF Detective Phelan (Mr. Claude Rains) has an obsession with catching the suspected murderer, Dorney, that would make him a literary ancestor to Lt. Gerrard (Barry Morse) in 1960's TV THE FUGITIVE.THE FILM ALSO boasts of being Directed by Busby Berkley, in a rare non-musical assignment.

jjnxn-1 A compact drama about redemption. John Garfield, always a powerful screen presence, makes a strong impression in the lead as an initially corrupt boxer who sees the error of his ways. The Dead End Kids are well used and the sassy May Robson brightens any movie in which she appeared. Be aware that Ann Sheridan, although prominently billed, is in and out of the movie in about 5 minutes, however Gloria Dickson makes a fine showing. At this point she was considered an actress on the way up but ended up spending most of her brief career in low budget films before her death in a fire at 28. The one small problem is the casting of Claude Rains as a dogged detective. He was always a fantastic actor and gives a professional performance but the part doesn't play to his strengths of urbanity and wit. Berkeley, taking a break from musicals, maintains a brisk pace in the direction making this one of the better programmers to come out of the Warners factory.