James Kevin McGuinness and vet Norman Taurog directed this popular sequel to the 1938 Boys Town, for which Spencer Tracy won his second (c0nsecutive) Best Actor Oscar.
Grade: B
The film also stars Mickey Rooney, Bobs Watson, Larry Nunn, Darryl Hickman and Henry O’Neil.
Mr. and Mrs. Maitland (Henry O’Neill and Mary Nash), who have no children, invite Whitey to their home on a trial basis. Whitey visits a friend in reform school and inmate Flip is hiding in a car as Whitey leaves. Flip steals money and both boys go to reform school, where they suffer physical abuse.
This motivates Father Flanagan to expose the conditions in the school, resulting in the boys getting released.
In the end, the Maitlands work to pay off the debts that threaten Boys Town.
A commercial hit, Men of Boys Town became the ninth most popular film of 1941, earning $2,009,000 in the U.S. and $1,157,000 elsewhere.
Cast
Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan
Mickey Rooney as Whitey Marsh
Bobs Watson as Pee Wee
Larry Nunn as Ted Martley
Darryl Hickman as Flip
Henry O’Neill as Mr. Maitland
Mary Nash as Mrs. Maitland
Lee J. Cobb as Dave Morris
Sidney Miller as Mo Kahn
Addison Richards as The Judge
Lloyd Corrigan as Roger Gorton
George Lessey as Bradford Stone
Robert Emmett Keane as Burton
Arthur Hohl as Guard
Ben Welden as Superintendent
Anne Revere as Mrs. Fenely
