Air and freedom, want notwithstanding, give way triumphantly (I mean in terms of superb control in creating terrible and inevitable tragedy) to darkness and death, the boys, leads and supports, are gritty and attractive, the circumstances leading to imprisonment, stupid and unopposable, leave us feeling trapped as well, the reformatory becomes a character through fluid camera work, the gradual corruptions are expertly sketched, convincing, every one has his reasons, making the social critiques–exploiting Americans, gangsters, soul destroying penal systems, unprepared lawyers–all the more affecting, as abuses emerge from real lives and render trite solutions useless, the score’s heavily and unobjectionably manipulative, the ending’s as shattering as Vertigo’s, and maybe with better reason, as maybe obsessed perverts deserve these things a little more