This 1943 black and white staged documentary film examines the issue of juvenile delinquency in the context of the World War II effort, framing a shortage of mentally fit draftees as an issue rooted in childhood (TRT 18:30).

Opening titles (0:08). An “Editor’s Note” thanks the film’s participants (0:21). “Youth in Crisis” (0:34). A queue of young men file down a staircase, following a sign with an arrow, “Selectees” (0:46). The selectees stand before medical examiners in their underwear, paper tags hung around their necks. Doctors examine them using stethoscopes, otoscopes, head mirrors (0:56). A young man approaches an adult in a cubicle wearing a suit and tie, who asks, “have you ever had any obsessions?” He responds with a history of suicidal ideation (1:18). Men waiting for their psychological exams. A newspaper clipping, “Mental Rejections High” (2:00). A meeting of military personnel, led by Lewis B. Hershey, Director of the U.S. Selective Service System (2:13). An office door, “The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Dr. Lawson G. Lowrey, Editor.” Dr. Lowrey speaks on the subject of discharges for psychological neuroses (2:44). Teenage boys loitering. Young men sip from Coca-Cola bottles at a lunch counter with young women (3:28). Boys with helmets and toy rifles play “war.” A child pretends to die (3:39). A young boy listens to a radio broadcast dramatising gun violence. An air raid siren. A crying child is consoled (3:55). A National Guardsman on urban patrol. Two white police officers attempt to disperse a crowd of African American men from a street corner. Firefighters spray a flaming automobile with a fire hose. A headline: “State Troops Called In After 11 Die in Race Riots” (4:26). Teenage boys are unloaded from a paddywagon. Troops patrol a city street, carrying long rifles (4:44). An industrial factory clouded in smoke. A bustle of working people in various uniforms. A propeller-driven aircraft under construction. A woman factory worker assembles an engine. Women wear safety glasses while working at machines (4:56). A teenage girl arrives home to find a kitchen sink filled with dishes. A note reads: “I won’t be home after work till very late…” (5:21). Boys run through a park of mobile homes. Boys playing catch are narrowly missed by a passing automobile. A boy sets a piece of newspaper on fire as a girl looks on, smiling. Teenagers in an alleyway unbox a pair of marijuana joints (5:55). Adolescent boys at a newsstand magazine rack. A vendor wraps a bottom drawer item in a newspaper. Two boys review their contraband purchase with excitement (6:48). A woman with two children. A father and son argue at a family dinner table. Neon lights, sailors in “dixie cup” hats. Youths dancing, smoking, drinking in a cafe (7:10). Young women are “picked up” by passing sailors (8:13). A teenage girl arrives home late at night, calls her mother a “fuddy duddy” (8:56). Teenagers at a police station. “Municipal Building.” Elected officials discuss budget cuts (9:11). Magazines covering juvenile delinquency. Statistics show an 89% increase in “offenses against common decency” by girls under 21 (10:14). A doctor hands test results to a nurse, who makes an appointment with a young woman (10:45). Exterior “Federal Bureau of Investigation.” A woman in a feathered hat speaks (11:16). A residential street. A family plays with Tinkertoy Construction Set. A girl does dishes. A church (12:02). A police officer speaks with two boys. A sign: “Children’s Division of the Domestic Relations Court.” A young woman receives probation. A child guidance clinic (12:57). A “Day Nursery.” Youngsters organize a Victory Bond drive and discuss the war effort (14:08). An extracurricular model building class. An aircraft identification chart. Boys using machines. Exercising in a gym (15:06). A boxing match, a basketball game (16:18). A “dry nightclub” offers table tennis, soda (16:47). A rural 4-H club fair. Prize cows. Working in a victory garden (17:06). Marching troops. Delinquents. “The End” (17:52).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com