Dead End Kids go straight? This cop's either a saint or a sucker.
Acting
Billy Halop's simmering rage vs. Huntz Hall's scene-stealing clowning.
Writing
Wisecracks flying faster than the plot can catch them.
Production
Poverty Row budget, major studio energy—Warner Bros. magic on a dime.
Director
William Nigh
Dick Foran
Frank Conroy
Anne Gwynne
Marion Barker
Billy Halop
Tom Barker
Huntz Hall
Pig
Gabriel Dell
Butch "String" Malone
Bernard Punsly
Ape
Darryl Hickman
Butch "Shrimp" Malone
Samuel S. Hinds
Luther Bryson
Victor Kilian
Lon Barker
Truman Bradley
Officer Cutler
John Sheehan
Mr. Loomis
Beatrice Roberts
Tenement Girl (uncredited)
Will Wright
Pawnbroker (uncredited)
Duke York
Burly Man (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was the last 'Dead End Kids' film before they morphed into the 'East Side Kids' and eventually 'The Bowery Boys'—a franchise that outlived most of its original cast.
The 'slum kid' genre exploded after Dead End (1937) made Cagney a star; by 1941, these reform narratives were comfort-food cinema for Depression-weary audiences craving stories where poverty had solutions.
US
