''Are These Our Children?'' is a 1931 American pre-Code
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Wesley Ruggles
Wesley Ruggles (June 11, 1889 – January 8, 1972) was an American film director.
Life and work
He was born in Los Angeles, California, younger brother of actor Charlie Ruggles. He began his career in 1915 as an actor, appearing in a doz ...
Arline Judge
Margaret Arline Judge (February 21, 1912 – February 7, 1974) was an American actress singer who worked mostly in low-budget B movies, but gained some fame for habitually marrying.
Early years
Arline Judge was born in Bridgeport, Connecti ...
, and
Rochelle Hudson
Rochelle Hudson (born Rachael Elizabeth Hudson; March 6, 1916 – January 17, 1972) was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s.RKO Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
Plot
Eddie Brand ( Eric Linden) is a high school student in New York City. After he loses an oratory contest about the U.S. Constitution, he becomes depressed and leaves his girl friend Mary (
Rochelle Hudson
Rochelle Hudson (born Rachael Elizabeth Hudson; March 6, 1916 – January 17, 1972) was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s.Arline Judge
Margaret Arline Judge (February 21, 1912 – February 7, 1974) was an American actress singer who worked mostly in low-budget B movies, but gained some fame for habitually marrying.
Early years
Arline Judge was born in Bridgeport, Connecti ...
) and her hardcore friends, Maybelle (Roberta Gale), Agnes ( Mary Kornman), Nick Crosby ( Ben Alexander) and Bennie Gray (Bobby Quirk), in spite of his grandmother's warnings. He and his new crowd of friends get drunk on gin in jazz clubs and dance halls, and start robbing strangers for cash. Eddie drops out of school and become more and more dependent on liquor.
One night, Eddie, needing a drink, shoots an old family friend, Heinrich "Heinie" Krantz ( William Orlamond), who has refused to sell him a bottle of booze. When Eddie, Nick and Bennie are arrested for the murder, Nick blurts out the truth on the witness stand, and Eddie is given the death penalty, with Nick and Bennie given life sentences.
Arline Judge
Margaret Arline Judge (February 21, 1912 – February 7, 1974) was an American actress singer who worked mostly in low-budget B movies, but gained some fame for habitually marrying.
Early years
Arline Judge was born in Bridgeport, Connecti ...
as Florence "Flo" Carnes
*
Roberta Gale
Roberta Gale (October 18, 1914 – January 29, 2008) was an American actress. She is known for her roles as a leading lady in a number of Poverty Row western films made during the 1930s.
The daughter of J.M. Gale and Blanche Harris Gale, she wa ...
as Maybelle "Giggles"
*
Rochelle Hudson
Rochelle Hudson (born Rachael Elizabeth Hudson; March 6, 1916 – January 17, 1972) was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s.William Orlamond as Heinrich "Heinie" Krantz
*Bobby Quirk as Bennie Gray
*
Ralf Harolde
Ralf Harolde (born Ralph Harold Wigger, May 17, 1899 – November 11, 1974) was an American character actor who often played gangsters. Between 1920 and 1963, he appeared in 99 films, including '' Smart Money'' with Edward G. Robinson and ...
as Prosecutor
*James Wang as Sam Kong
* Robert McKenzie as Oscar Cook
*Earl Pingree as Charlie
* Russell Powell as Sam
*Harry Shutan as Defense attorney