This 1936 black and white film film sponsored by Time, Inc. for their “The March of Time” theatrical shorts series (distributed by RKO Pictures) makes a case against probation and reform programs in favor of addressing the issue of juvenile delinquency with welfare initiatives, using the dramatized case of “Joseph Krutz” to illustrate a path to criminality for impoverished 10-year-olds (TRT: 10:26).
Title card: “Organizations from coast to coast have commented favorably on a film recently issued by The March of Time, dealing with the prevention of juvenile delinquency. The National Probation Association has asked… to make this film available for educational purposes…” (0:08). The RKO Pictures logo. Opening titles “The Editors of Time, the Newsmagazine, Present, A New Kind of Pictorial Journalism, The March of Time, Second Issue of 1936” (1:02). “U.S.A!” over a prison cell block. Boys and young men are marched into prison cells and placed behind bars (1:25). Urban tenement buildings. Children among blight and refuse. Clotheslines (1:57). Women welfare workers ride wicker carriages pushed by people of color on the Atlantic City boardwalk. A sign: “National Probation Association Luncheon Discussion, Co-Ordination to Combat Juvenile Crime, Hotel Chelsea” (2:09). Men and women “Crime experts” share a meal, gathered around dining tables. Director of U.S. Prisons, Sanford Bates. Buffalo’s juvenile judge Cecil B. Weiner. California’s Kenyan Scudder speaks. New York’s Dr. Frederick Thrasher speaks against parole and reform suggesting other options are “more economical” (2:21). Title: “Typical boy from “across the tracks” ten years ago was Joseph Krutz…” A 10-year-old boy sits on a stoop, playing catch with himself. At a family meal, the father slaps the hand of a reaching child. Young Joe hits the streets with his pals (3:04). A crude sign: “Alley Club.” Young boys pass a cigarette (3:38). A trio robs a fruit stand, then a sundry shop (3:47). Joe appears in court with his parents. A sympathetic judge offers probation (4:16). Boys leap from the car of a freight train with stolen parcels. A police officer blows a whistle and a chase ensues. Youths run across the train tracks at night. Joe dodges a steam locomotive engine. Joe is caught. His friends stand in the rain (4:30). Joe arrives at a carceral “reform school.” Joe’s mugshot and criminal record at ages 10 and 18 (5:16). Joe, now a young man, arrives at a social club dressed up in “gangster” attire. A rival arrives and a fight breaks out (5:40). Joe is enlisted by gangsters to sell dance tickets as part of a racket. He pressures a laundromat owner for protection money. The owner refuses. The laundry’s windows are smashed (6:16). A stolen car is delivered (6:59). Joe visits “the boss,” a cigar-chomping man behind a desk, who passes him a pistol (7:46). Sirens. Feet stand around a crumpled body. A blur of police officer’s faces. Joe confesses to murder. “The case history of Joseph Krutz is closed” (8:30). A welfare and social workers meeting in an assembly hall. YMCA posters. Exterior: “The Boys Club.” Montage: Young boys enjoying billiards, swimming, a library, a doctor’s visit, baseball, volleyball, swings, bunk beds (9:13).
The March of Time newsreel series was exhibited theatrically from 1935 to 1951, distributed by RKO and 20th Century Fox. Shorts were narrated by Westbrook Van Voorhis, and were Produced and written by Louis de Rochemont with his brother Richard de Rochemont.
