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5.9/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.9/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Are These Our Children remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Alright, so you're thinking about digging up an old flick like Are These Our Children? 🤔 If you're into those classic black-and-white dramas, the ones that really try to make a point about society, then yeah, this one's probably worth a look. It's not a fast-paced thriller, not by a long shot. But if you appreciate a film that stares hard at a social problem from almost a hundred years ago, you might just find something here. People who need constant action or super-complex characters, though? Probably give this a pass.
The core of it is a kid, Eddie. He's played by Eric Linden. The film tells us he’s supposed to be a good kid. No trouble, nothing on his record.
Then, bam. He's involved in a robbery, an old man gets killed, and Eddie's on death row. The film, it really wants to know why.
You see all these grown-ups, these stern judges and well-meaning but confused adults, trying to piece together what went wrong. It's like they're looking at him, this young guy, and just can't connect the dots. The movie spends a lot of time on this investigative angle. Not like a detective story, more like a social worker's report brought to life.
There's this moment when Eddie, just looks so lost. Like even *he* doesn't fully grasp how he ended up there. It's not a big, dramatic breakdown. Just a quiet, vacant stare. That really sticks with you. It feels genuine, not staged for the camera.
The film keeps flashing back. We see Eddie with his friends. They're just kids, goofing off. Nothing too sinister, really. Just some youthful recklessness that, the movie implies, kinda spun out of control.
It tries to show this slippery slope, a few bad choices here, a few peer pressures there. One scene, they're all hanging out in this kinda run-down pool hall. The air just feels heavy with something unspoken. You get the sense these kids are just bored. And that boredom, it feels like a big piece of the puzzle the film is trying to lay out.
The adults, bless their hearts, they are trying so hard to understand. They interview people, they retrace steps. But it's almost like they're speaking a different language than the kids. There's this disconnect. A real gap.
And the way it handles the 'old man' victim. It's not overly gruesome. It's more about the consequence. The finality of it. The life that's just gone. And how Eddie's life is gone too, in a different way.
The dialogue sometimes feels a bit… preachy. Like the movie itself is a school lesson. But then, you get these flashes of real emotion. Like when one of the other kids, Robert Quirk's character, gets really agitated. You see the fear in his eyes. It’s a good little performance there, even if it's brief.
I kept thinking about the clothes they wore. So neat, even when they're supposed to be poor. A very '30s movie thing, I guess. The hair is always perfectly slicked back, too. Even in moments of real tension, it’s just… perfect. Makes you wonder. 😅
The pacing is definitely slow by today's standards. It takes its sweet time getting to any real revelations. But that slowness also kinda forces you to think alongside the characters. You feel that frustration.
It's interesting how the film tries to assign blame. Is it the parents? The neighborhood? Just fate? It doesn't give a super clean answer, which is actually pretty refreshing. It leaves you wondering. You're left to kinda make up your own mind about the 'why.'
The ending isn’t exactly a surprise, but it lands with a certain weight. It’s a somber note, for sure.
So, Are These Our Children isn't a film you put on for a casual night. It's more of a historical document, really, reflecting anxieties of its time. It asks big questions, even if its answers feel a bit simple now. But for a peek into early 20th-century filmmaking trying to tackle social issues, it's got its moments. Especially those quiet ones with Eddie. 😔
IMDb —
1927
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