{"id":40522,"date":"2018-05-22T09:39:02","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T16:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=40522"},"modified":"2021-01-24T17:51:50","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T00:51:50","slug":"they-made-me-a-criminal-1939","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=40522","title":{"rendered":"They Made Me a Criminal (1939)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;From now on, you&#8217;ve got to be afraid!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Poster-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-40576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Poster-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Poster-86x128.jpg 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA prizewinning boxer (John Garfield) whose shady manager (Robert Gleckler) accidentally kills a snoopy reporter (John Ridgely) and is then killed in a fiery car crash while making off with Garfield&#8217;s girlfriend (Ann Sheridan) is falsely accused of murder and presumed dead. Garfield goes undercover and finds refuge in a farm owned by a woman (May Robson) overseeing a group of juvenile delinquents, where he soon falls for the older sister (Gloria Dickson) of one of the boys (Billy Halop) &#8212; but will a detective (Claude Rains) hot on his trail sleuth him out?\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ann Sheridan Films<\/li>\n<li>Boxing<\/li>\n<li>Busby Berkeley Films<\/li>\n<li>Claude Rains Films<\/li>\n<li>Detectives and Private Eyes<\/li>\n<li>Falsely Accused<\/li>\n<li>John Garfield Films<\/li>\n<li>Juvenile Delinquents<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken or Hidden Identities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nBusby Berkeley directed this Depression-era saga of hard luck, mistaken identities, redemptive love, and the chance for new beginnings. Garfield stars in a role seemingly tailor-made for him: an innocent man caught up in events beyond his control that send him spiraling into a life on the run. He&#8217;s fine in the role, but the script (other than intermittent doses of harsh cynicism) is primarily hokum. Thankfully, James Wong Howe&#8217;s cinematography makes the entire film gorgeous to look at. The best scenes are those involving boxing, which naturally becomes Garfield&#8217;s downfall once again (or is it his saving grace?). See also the similarly themed <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=39790\"><em>Dust Be My Destiny<\/em> (1939)<\/a>, which I was equally disappointed by.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>James Wong Howe&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-40578\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe2-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-40579\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe2-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe2-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe2-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe2-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe3-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-40577\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe3-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe3-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe3-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/They-Made-Me-a-Criminal-Howe3-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; feel free to skip this one. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0032022\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/1399\/they-made-me-a-criminal#articles-reviews?articleId=17907\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/they-made-me-a-criminal\/review\/120338\/\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;From now on, you&#8217;ve got to be afraid!&#8221; Synopsis: A prizewinning boxer (John Garfield) whose shady manager (Robert Gleckler) accidentally kills a snoopy reporter (John Ridgely) and is then killed in a fiery car crash while making off with Garfield&#8217;s girlfriend (Ann Sheridan) is falsely accused of murder and presumed dead. Garfield goes undercover and finds refuge in a farm owned by a woman (May Robson) overseeing a group of juvenile delinquents, where he soon falls for the older sister&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=40522\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40522"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65694,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40522\/revisions\/65694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}