Young America

“In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Frank Borzage was one of Fox’s most acclaimed directors, winning Oscars for Seventh Heaven (1927) and Bad Girl (1931) and prestigious assignments such as Song o’ My Heart. The typical Borzage film of the period was characterized by pictorial lyricism and a tender portrayal of young lovers who found poetry and beauty in the midst of poverty. In Young America, Borzage’s usual pair of lovers was replaced by two male school chums in their early teens, Art Simpson (Tommy Conlon) and Edward “Nutty” Beamish (Raymond Borzage, the director’s nephew). Most of the adult characters in the film consider Art ‘the worst boy in town,’ although he seems just mischievous and impulsive — qualities outweighed by his fundamental decency and loyalty to Nutty. Borzage invests their friendship with chaste ardour and transformative power. The young actors easily outshine stars Spencer Tracy and Doris Kenyon as a married couple who take responsibility for Art after a scrape with the law” (Charles Hopkins). “They really don’t make them like this anymore . . . Borzage fearlessly pushed the envelope in terms of unabashed sentiment, the way today’s young directors push it in terms of violence and gore” (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times). B&W, 35mm. 71 mins.