Week Thirty-Seven
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| "Reformatory" Tommy as Fibber, 1938 |
MOVIE NAME: REFORMATORY
STUDIO: COLUMBIA PICTURES
PRODUCER: LARRY DARMOUR
DIRECTOR: LOUISE D. COLLINS
DATE: 1938
TYPE: YOUTH, CRIME, DRAMA
CAST:
JACK HOLT as Robert Deane, CHARLOTTE WYNTERS as Dr. Adele Webster, GRANT MITCHELL as Arnold Frayne, BOBBY JORDAN as Pinkey Leonard , FRANKIE DARRO , as Louie Miller, TOMMY BUPP, as Fibber Regan, WARD BOND as Mac Grady , SHEILA BROMLEY as Mrs.Regan, VERNON DENT as Cook Howard, GRETA GRANSTEDT as Millie, PAUL EVERTON as Governor Spaulding, LLOYD INGRAHAM as Dr. Homer Blakely
SOURCE:A F I, Catalog of Feature Films 1931-1940
STORY: Juvenile Court Judge Griffin sentences young boys William Kohlman, a repeat offender, and Fibber Regan, a pathological liar, to the Garfield State School, which is managed by Arnold Frayne, a sadistic superintendent. Frayne is opposed by Dr. Homer Blakely, the school physician, and Dr. Adele Webster, a psychiatrist, who are unhappy with his record and his most recent decision to send Pinkey Leonard to the "Cooler." When a boy is killed trying to escape the school, newspapers print the story, prompting Governor Spaulding to dismiss Frayne and appoint Robert Deane, assistant warden of the State Penitentiary, to his post. Deane proves to be a hard-boiled but effective superintendent, handling a prison riot in a proper manner, and punishing Mac Gragy, a cruel guard, for forcing Fibber to eat soap. While Deane begins to earn the respect of the boys, Grady takes a job at the Juvenile Court, intent on taking revenge on Deane. He begins by sentencing tough boy Louie Miller, who is meant to go to an institution for incorrigibles, to Garfield, where he tries to involve Pinkey in an escape. Pinkey refuses to join him, and when he sees Fibber and Louie trying to flee, he decides to stop them. Pinkey is knocked out in the struggle, and when he regains consciousness, he accidentally stumbles into a patch of quicksand. Pinkey is rescued by Deane and other school officials and taken back to Garfield, where he is unfairly accused of attempting to escape. When the govenor reads a newspaper story claiming that the school's honor system has failed, He calls Deane to his office and they listen to Fibber and Fibber's mother tell lies about the conditions at Garfield. After questioning Fibber, the governor learns that Grady was responsible for the escape, and has him arrested on charges of doctoring Louie's commitment papers. With the governor's faith in him restored, Deane returns to his post at the school and apologizes to Pinkey for accusing him unjustly.
NOTE: Working titles for this film were Orphans of the Law, Reform School and Prison Without Walls. My Dad had been in several movies with Ward Bond. Evidently Bond thought it was quite funny when he switched the candy soap for the scene with real soap. Dad didn't think it was funny.
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