The Mayor of Hell is a 1933 crime drama film directed by Archie Mayo.
Jimmy Smith (Frankie Darro) is a teenaged delinquent and the leader of a gang of teenaged delinquents. When an attempt at a snatch-and-grab robbery of a candy shop gets Jimmy and his gang arrested, most of them get sent to reform school. The judge seems to be under the idea that reform school is a place where troubled youth can get turned around, but Peaktown State Reformatory is a brutal, vicious place. The warden, Thompson (Dudley Digges), is a cruel martinet who whips misbehaving kids and feeds them gruel while embezzling the funds for their food.
Enter Patsy Gargan (James Cagney), a gangster who doubles as a ward heeler (a turn-out-the-vote guy) for a corrupt political machine. Patsy is named deputy commissioner of the reformatory, in what is meant to be a no-show job. But when Patsy pays what was supposed to be his only visit to the reformatory, he is both startled by the brutal conditions, and attracted to the lovely Dorothy Griffith (Madge Evans), the reformatory nurse. Partly out of a sincere desire to improve the reformatory and partly to impress the reform-minded Dorothy, Patsy institutes a whole raft of changes that greatly improve life at the reformatory. But when Patsy accidentally shoots another gangster during a fight, it seems as if his reforms might gets swept away.
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Tommy's father shows up drunk when Tommy and the other kids have their trial. He falls asleep in court.
- All Jews Are Cheapskates: Some bigoted humor when Isidore's father agrees that the boy can go to reform school once he's told that it's free. (This is undercut when Mr. Horowitz tells his son in Yiddish that he loves him and gives him a kiss.)
- Cut Phone Lines: The boys do this towards the end when they riot and take control of the prison; Warden Thompson can't make a call to the outside.
- Delinquents: Jimmy and all his gang members, although the film demonstrates how most of them come from difficult backgrounds. Jimmy's own father doesn't give a rat's ass about him.
- Easily Forgiven: The judge says that "It's clear this tragedy was Thompson's own fault." So that's how the audience knows that the boys will face no punishment for rioting and murdering the warden.
- Gun Struggle: Patsy comes back to the city after his time at the reformatory, only to find that another hoodlum named Joe has attempted to replace him as leader of the gang. A brawl ensues which winds up with Joe getting accidentally shot and Patsy going on the lam.
- I Choose to Stay: The ending has Patsy putting ward heeling and gangsterism behind him, and deciding to stay and run the reformatory full-time.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Johnny Stone, one of Jimmy's boys, has a persistent hacking cough. It's hinted to be TB, but under the care of Nurse Dorothy during Patsy's more enlightened regime, Johnny improves. When Thompson comes back and locks Johnny in a Punishment Box, he dies.
- I Want My Mommy!: Played for Drama. Poor Johnny calls "Ma...Ma...Ma," right before he dies after spending a night in the Punishment Box.
- Match Cut: There's a cut from Thompson, with his arm around Charlie's shoulders as he encourages Charlie to lure Jimmy into a fake escape attempt, to Charlie with his arm around Jimmy's shoulders as he's doing the same.
- Prison: The judge makes the reformatory sound ok, but it's a terrible place filled with brutality. This film is basically The Big House with teenagers.
- Protection Racket: Jimmy and his fellow delinquents run such a scam. When people park their cars in Jimmy's neighborhood, the gang offers to watch their cars. If they refuse, the kids vandalize the cars, puncturing tires and stealing radiator caps.
- Punishment Box: Solitary confinement in the reformatory is a drafty outdoor cabin that affords almost no protection against the cold. Jimmy survives, but when sickly and possibly tubercular Johnny is put in the box overnight, he dies.
- Sizable Semitic Nose: Jimmy's gang includes a Jewish kid names Isidore whose dad talks Yiddish to him in court. The other kids call Isidore "Schnoz", and the actor does in fact have a prominent nose.
- Stealing from the Till: Thompson the scumbag feeds the kids swill while stealing from the money meant to pay for food.
- The Stool Pigeon: One of the boys, Charlie, is an informant for Thompson. Thompson gets him to encourage Jimmy into an escape attempt, but Jimmy doesn't take the bait.
- Torches and Pitchforks: The boys in the reformatory are carrying torches as they grab Thompson and put him on trial for murder, and they're still carrying torches as they chase Thompson to the roof of the barn, where he falls to his death.
- Uncle Tomfoolery: Jimmy's gang has one black kid, Joliet. There's some horribly racist humor when Joliet's father shows up in court and engages in stereotypical uneducated speech, like addressing one of the judges with "Who is you?"
- Video Credits: Of all the main players at the start of the film, as was Warner Brothers house style in this era.
- Wardens Are Evil: Thompson regards his prisoners as subhuman. He feeds them swill while stealing from prison funds, and he inflicts brutal punishments, including whipping. When he locks sickly Johnny outside in solitary confinement, Johnny dies.
- The X of Y: The Mayor of Hell
