It's awfully hard to tell a story of archetypal characters without descending into stock cliches, but this movie does it deftly. In fact, it isn't just the characters that embody symbols deeply embedded in our psyches, but the surroundings too: the tenement, the church, the pool hall, the speakeasy, the jail, the electric chair. In this case, the starkness of the symbols actually heightens the power of the story. This is definitely in my all-time top ten.
Review of Angels with Dirty Faces
