Boy Slaves (1939)

• Director
  • P.J. Wolfson
• Writers
  • Albert Bein(screen play)
  • B. Harrison Orkow(screen play)
• Stars
  • Anne Shirley
  • Roger Daniel
  • James McCallion

  Boy Slaves is an effective indictment of the exploitation of reform school labor. Several troublesome boys are offered an opportunity to work on a turpentine farm run by the seemingly benign Charles Lane, with the promise that their good behavior will ensure their early release from the reformatory. But the kids soon learn that they're little more than slaves, toiling at a dangerous job for free while Lane grows rich on their labors. After numerous tragedies, the boys are finally able to relay the facts to the outside world, and Lane is brought to justice. Based on several true accounts of Southern work farms, Boy Slaves managed to overcome the lurid nature of its title with the sincerity of its storytelling.