Mobster “Baby Face” Martin returns home to visit the New York neighborhood where he grew up, dropping in on his mother, who rejects him because of his gangster lifestyle, and his old girlfriend, Francey, now a syphilitic prostitute. Martin also crosses paths with Dave, a childhood friend struggling to make it as an architect, and the Dead End Kids, a gang of young boys roaming the streets of the city’s East Side slums.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Drina Gordon: Sylvia Sidney
• Dave: Joel McCrea
• ‘Baby Face’ Martin: Humphrey Bogart
• Kay: Wendy Barrie
• Francey: Claire Trevor
• Hunk: Allen Jenkins
• Mrs. Martin: Marjorie Main
• Tommy Gordon: Billy Halop
• Dippy: Huntz Hall
• Angel: Bobby Jordan
• Spit: Leo Gorcey
• T.B.: Gabriel Dell
• Milty: Bernard Punsly
• Philip: Charles Peck
• Mr. Griswald: Minor Watson
• Police Officer Mulligan: James Burke
• Mrs. Connell: Elisabeth Risdon
• Mrs. Fenner: Esther Dale
• Pascagli: George Humbert
• Governess: Marcelle Corday
• Doorman: Ward Bond
• Dr. Flynn, Intern (Uncredited): Don ‘Red’ Barry
• Policeman at Killing (Uncredited): Wade Boteler
• Policeman in Drina’s Apartment (Uncredited): Al Bridge
• Detective at Killing (Uncredited): G. Pat Collins
• Police Lieutenant at Killing (Uncredited): Thomas E. Jackson
• Old Man (Uncredited): Tom Ricketts
• Coroner at Killing (Uncredited): Walter Soderling
• Griswald’s Chauffeur (Uncredited): Earl Askam
• Man with Weak Voice (Uncredited): Gilbert Clayton
• Baby (Uncredited): Jerry Cooper
• Drunk (Uncredited): Bill Dagwell
• Kay’s Chauffeur (Uncredited): Bud Geary
• Whitey (Uncredited): Charles Halton
• Policeman on Morning Beat (Uncredited): Robert Homans
• Neighbor with Coarse Voice (Uncredited): Esther Howard
• Milty’s Sister (Uncredited): Kathryn Ann Lujan
• Nurse (Uncredited): Mona Monet
• Old Lady with Old Man (Uncredited): Gertrude Valerie
• Woman with Poodle (Uncredited): Charlotte Treadway
• Woman with Poodle (Uncredited): Maude Lambert
• Well-Dressed Woman (Uncredited): Lucile Browne
• Well-Dressed Man (Uncredited): Frank Shields
• Tough Boy Looking for Fight (Uncredited): Wesley Giraud
• Tough Boy Looking for Fight (Uncredited): Mickey Martin
• Boy on Dock (Uncredited): Payne B. Johnson
• Boy (Uncredited): Sidney Kibrick
• Boy (Uncredited): Larry Harris
• Boy (Uncredited): Norman Salling
• Boy (Uncredited): Hugh Sheridan
• Girl (Uncredited): Audrey Carol
• Girl (Uncredited): Paula Hariette Levy
• Boy (Uncredited): Tom Randall

Film Crew:

• Director: William Wyler
• Screenplay: Lillian Hellman
• Theatre Play: Sidney Kingsley
• Set Decoration: Julia Heron
• Editor: Daniel Mandell
• Art Direction: Richard Day
• Costume Design: Omar Kiam
• Presenter: Samuel Goldwyn
• Special Effects: James Basevi
• Director of Photography: Gregg Toland
• Music Director: Alfred Newman
• Assistant Director: Edmond F. Bernoudy
• Associate Producer: Merritt Hulburd
• Orchestrator: Edward B. Powell
• Sound Recordist: Frank Maher
• Stunts: Fred Graham
• Dialogue: Frank P. Goodnow

Movie Reviews:

• CinemaSerf: OK, so this is definitely not the cheeriest of stories but Bogart and Joel McCrea are on good form throughout this gritty drama of hardship and depravity on the East Side of New York. “Baby Face Martin” – who, to be fair, maybe benefits a bit optimistically from the moniker – returns to his childhood home to reunite with his mother and childhood sweetheart. His mother wants nothing to do with him and his ex “Francie” (Claire Trevor) turned to prostitution and hasn’t long to go before syphilis does for her. Meantime his friend, aspiring/struggling architect “Dave” (McCrae) is juggling his romantic interests between sweet but rather dreary “Drina” and “Kay” (Wendy Barrie) who already has a rich boyfriend. All of this misery is made all the more poignant by the fact that this ghetto is overlooked by the apartments of the wealthy that have relocated to new properties that overlook the adjacent East river. When Bogart decides that he wants to re-assert himself in the community by organising a high-profile kidnapping, he and his erstwhile friend find themselves on opposite sides of the plot! The crime drama is there, but it is comparatively weak compared with the pretty blatant social commentary from Lillian Hellman’s screenplay that draws attention, unashamedly, to the stark contrast between the standards of living (and dying) of those just yards apart.