A High School Civics Lesson reveals the limits of the Rule of Law, so the students decide to suspend a gangster's habeas corpus...over a pit full of hungry rats! Holy shit, this isn’t the first Pre-Code film that suggests that the Criminal Justice System is impotent to protect citizens; after all, Criminal comes before Justice in this System. Ochlocracy, as long as it’s directed at the “bad guys” is upheld as the strident answer and cure-all. Here in DeMille’s film, the “bad guys” are obvious in both manner and actions, so we should embrace the politically surreal outcome because of a written confession by the murderer. It doesn’t matter if it was coerced by torture, he signed it! What is most disturbing of all is that the magisterial Judge allows these shenanigans as long as the mob doesn’t disrespect his courtroom. Here in this day and age of 1933, hindsight highlights the State sanctioned shades of Nazi Germany that would foretell a dire future. The jackboots on the steps may come for you next.
Three High School seniors are assigned the roles of District Attorney, Chief of Police, and Judge then must tag along with the real professionals, kinda like a “bring your kid to work” program. There is an inconsequential puppy-love triangle between faux DA Steve (Richard Cromwell), his nemesis and fellow senior Morry (Ben Alexander), and the adorable Gay (Judith Allen). When Steve witnesses a local businessman murdered by Garret (Charles Bickford), the seedy owner of a local speakeasy, Steve vows to bring him to Justice. But he learns a hard lesson that the Truth is difficult to sustain a prima facie burden, and after being humiliated at the preliminary hearing, watches Garret walk free. Three of his buddies break into the nightclub to get evidence (match a broken cuff link from the crime scene), and one is shot dead by Garret and the other framed for the murder! The boys vow revenge and Mob Rule becomes Law.
DeMille’s grandiose third act of chanting, screaming teenagers is frantic, utilizing crane shots and extreme angles. Filmed in medium long shots, the compositions allow the action to become larger than life and fill up the screen with hundreds of extras. As he builds towards this climax, there are some nice match-cuts: one involves the three boys crawling through the bombed-out wreckage of the Tailor’s shop looking for clues that the police may have missed, and this dissolves to three pretty girls crawling on stage at Garret’s nightclub singing Three Blind Mice. The other is even more obvious as we see a rat in a cage dissolve into Garret himself! It’s both simile and foreshadow! Interesting that the High School seems integrated, as there are both black and white students marching towards the final act, as all of the local Districts come together for a singular purpose. A black student even plays an important role in the capture of Garret, though he’s relegated to polishing his shoes. The henchman Toledo likes his olives green, so Gay is the fruit that must fend off his sweaty impulses.
The students sing patriotic anthems while carrying their burden towards the courthouse, all witness to Garret’s confession to murder and mayhem. No million-dollar mouthpiece can save Garret now. Here, the ends justify the means and Garret, one mean sonofabitch, will get his ends. But it’s Justice that suffers.
Final Grade: (B-)