"Are These Our Children?" is an exploitation film from the early 1930's- be on the look-out for your good, little girls and boys turning into alcohol and sex besotted "flappers" and "sheiks." Titillating pre-code nonsense meant to draw in the kids to the box-office.
The plot: NYC high school student, Eddie Brand (Eric Linden), is seemingly a "swell" guy who lives with his elderly grandmother (Beryl Mercer) and kid brother. He has a nice, sweet girlfriend, "Mary" (Rochelle Hudson), and he's about to win a coveted position on his school debate/student council team. But then he doesn't win. Horror of horrors! So, Eddie falls apart. In the aftermath of his defeat, he immediately starts hanging with the "bad" crowd who hang-out at the local jazz-dance club. A loose flapper-girl within this group, "Flo"(Arline Judge), seduces Eddie into booze and sex. (We know Flo and her friends are "bad" girls because they drink and while sitting they cross their legs and hike-up their skirts to expose their knees.) Apparently, drinking and pre-marital sex can lure a nice boy into a life of crime as Eddie starts to supplement his income through unknown illicit ventures.
Eventually, a drunken Eddie and his "sheik" friends, "Nick" and "Bennie," murder a deli owner while searching for "hooch." For some reason, this two-bit crime dominates the NYC tabloid headlines for weeks while the cops search for the killers. They're caught and put on trial. And for some reason, the NYC tabloids are fascinated that the accused killers are young males!?!? Eddie and his pals become tabloid fodder. The fame goes to Eddie's head which leads him to take over his own defense. Needless to say, even pre-Code films wouldn't allow a smarmy, egoist killer like Eddie to get away with it.
Overall, this is low-budget exploitation fare that its studio hoped to make a quick buck-on. The plot is absurd- if only Eddie had performed better during that school event! The writing, acting, and directing are nothing special. The best one can about it is that Eric Linden does as well as he can with the material and the flapper girls, especially Ms. Judge, are very cute.
However, as seen as a time capsule into the teen world of the early 1930's it's actually pretty interesting. Teens drinking, partying, and having sex. Of course, it doesn't show Eddie and Flo actually doing the deed, but it's more than hinted that they're physically intimate with each other. The clothes and hairstyles are certainly different and musical tastes have changed, but human beings really don't change much. Teens acted like teens in 1931.
The plot: NYC high school student, Eddie Brand (Eric Linden), is seemingly a "swell" guy who lives with his elderly grandmother (Beryl Mercer) and kid brother. He has a nice, sweet girlfriend, "Mary" (Rochelle Hudson), and he's about to win a coveted position on his school debate/student council team. But then he doesn't win. Horror of horrors! So, Eddie falls apart. In the aftermath of his defeat, he immediately starts hanging with the "bad" crowd who hang-out at the local jazz-dance club. A loose flapper-girl within this group, "Flo"(Arline Judge), seduces Eddie into booze and sex. (We know Flo and her friends are "bad" girls because they drink and while sitting they cross their legs and hike-up their skirts to expose their knees.) Apparently, drinking and pre-marital sex can lure a nice boy into a life of crime as Eddie starts to supplement his income through unknown illicit ventures.
Eventually, a drunken Eddie and his "sheik" friends, "Nick" and "Bennie," murder a deli owner while searching for "hooch." For some reason, this two-bit crime dominates the NYC tabloid headlines for weeks while the cops search for the killers. They're caught and put on trial. And for some reason, the NYC tabloids are fascinated that the accused killers are young males!?!? Eddie and his pals become tabloid fodder. The fame goes to Eddie's head which leads him to take over his own defense. Needless to say, even pre-Code films wouldn't allow a smarmy, egoist killer like Eddie to get away with it.
Overall, this is low-budget exploitation fare that its studio hoped to make a quick buck-on. The plot is absurd- if only Eddie had performed better during that school event! The writing, acting, and directing are nothing special. The best one can about it is that Eric Linden does as well as he can with the material and the flapper girls, especially Ms. Judge, are very cute.
However, as seen as a time capsule into the teen world of the early 1930's it's actually pretty interesting. Teens drinking, partying, and having sex. Of course, it doesn't show Eddie and Flo actually doing the deed, but it's more than hinted that they're physically intimate with each other. The clothes and hairstyles are certainly different and musical tastes have changed, but human beings really don't change much. Teens acted like teens in 1931.