Guilty Parents (1934)

Guilty Parents: Directed by Jack Townley. With Jean Lacy, Glen Boles, Donald Keith, John St. Polis. A young girl is being tried for murder. Her defense attorney attempts to show how her descent into a life of crime, prostitution and degradation was caused by her puritanical, religious fanatic mother.

“Guilty Parents (1934) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e** 1/2 (out of 4) u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHelen Mason (Jean Lacy) is on trial for murder but her Defense Attorney says that she isnu0026#39;t to blame even though she did kill the man. We then flashback to a time when she was a sweet little girl whose mother simply wouldnu0026#39;t educate her on the facts of life. This led to Helen getting involved with the wrong crowd and before long she was working as a prostitute and connected to a really bad man.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eGUILTY PARENTS is another one of those u0026quot;warningu0026quot; exploitation pictures that were so popular back in the day. If youu0026#39;re looking for a work of art then this here really isnu0026#39;t that but if youu0026#39;re a fan of the genre then thereu0026#39;s plenty to like here, although this falls well short of exploitation pictures like MANIAC or REEFER MADNESS. In fact, the subject is to educate parents about being open and honest with your kids but in terms of u0026quot;naughtyu0026quot; stuff thereu0026#39;s really not too much.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe biggest thing here is when Helen gets undressed and her image is seen via a silhouette. Outside of that this is pretty much a straight drama and I was surprised to see how well made it actually was. The story itself is pretty routine for the director but director Jack Townley managed to at least keep you entertained by everything that was going on. I also thought the performances were a little bit better than what we were used to seeing. Jean Lacy was at least cute and interesting enough to keep the viewer interested in the film and the character.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt is funny watching this movie and seeing how everyone was blamed except the guilty party. I mean, we talk today about parents being too soft on kids and the kids never having to face responsibility yet here we are with a 1934 film that pretty much says thatu0026#39;s how things should be!”