Capital Celluloid 2014 - Day 145: Mon May 26

Wild Boys of the Road (Wellman, 1933): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 2.50pm

This is part of the Hollywood Babylon: Early Talkies before the Censor of pre-Code films at the BFI. The pre-Code movies included in the blog are recommended by the London Film Festival programmer Clyde Jeavons. The film also screens on May 28th. Details here.

Here is the BFI introduction:
The pre-Code period coincided with some of the hardest times in America’s history, and the bitter realities were reflected in films like Wellman’s very tough road movie. Here we follow the country’s unemployed youth, who are forced to cross the country in search of work. Almost neo-realist in its vivid, street-level portrait of a failing America, Wellman’s film tested the Code with its angry cynicism at the inability of the government, and its seemingly corrupt institutions, to deal with the unprecedented crisis.

Here (and above) is the trailer.