A Criminal Is Born

A Criminal Is Born

A Criminal Is Born

Share

A Criminal Is Born

1938

0h 21m

7.8(4 votes)

Crime

Drama

Overview

An entry in MGM's Crime Does Not Pay series, this short tells the true story of how a young man, ignored by his parents, gets into a gang and starts a crime spree which leads to murder.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Cast & Crew

12 members

Acting

George P. Breakston

Henry

George P. Breakston

Acting

David Durand

Rodney 'Rod'

David Durand

Acting

Norman Phillips Jr.

Tom

No Image

Acting

Warren McCollum

Jimmy Wheeler

No Image

Acting

Joseph Crehan

Frank Wheeler

Joseph Crehan

Acting

Dorothy Vaughan

Martha Wheeler

Dorothy Vaughan

Acting

Eddy Waller

Cafe Owner Joe

Eddy Waller

Acting

Ben Taggart

First Shooting Victim

Ben Taggart

Acting

Harry Strang

Cop

Harry Strang

Acting

Harry C. Bradley

Druggist (uncredited)

Harry C. Bradley

Acting

Eddy Chandler

Rod's Father (uncredited)

Eddy Chandler

Acting

William Stack

Judge Charles Edwin Marshall (uncredited)

William Stack

Similar Movies

Think First

Think First

Episode 24 of the Crime Does Not Pay series. Margie Smith (Laraine Day) works as a waitress at a drive in restaurant. She likes to date and look nice but on her salary, she can't keep up with everyone else. However, a friend shows her that stealing is easy, cool and lets you dress like success. At first, it works out just fine, but remember--this is a Crime Does Not Pay film and you KNOW she'll soon get caught and prosecuted.

Pound Foolish

Pound Foolish

An expose of attempts by wealthy people to avoid payment of customs duties. Part of the MGM "Crime Does Not Pay" series.

Buyer Beware

Buyer Beware

This entry in MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series deals with shady companies selling fake merchandise.

Keep 'Em Sailing

Keep 'Em Sailing

An FBI agent goes undercover to investigate the sabotage of American cargo ships.

November

November

Sophie Jacobs is going through the most difficult time of her life. Now, she just has to find out if it's real.

Coffins on Wheels

Coffins on Wheels

Unscrupulous car dealers foist faulty and dangerous cars on an unsuspecting public.

Sucker List

Sucker List

In this MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short, a man and his racketeer buddies devise a scheme to bilk those already seemingly desperate for money of what little they have.

Patrolling the Ether

Patrolling the Ether

1940. Sixteen year old Phillip is one of a number of amateur radio operators across the US, doing it purely as a fun hobby. He is informed by Bill Beck of the Radio and Intelligence Division (RID) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that amateur international radio communication is now banned due to spying a result of the war in Europe. Beck, on behalf of the RID, asks Phillip, however, to continue to monitor the airwaves for suspicious activity.

Easy Life

Easy Life

In this entry in the MGM "Crime Does Not Pay" series young Frank Davis, dropping out of school and joining a small-time hoodlum gang, finds out that leading a life of crime is not all he thought it would be.

The Thomas Crown Affair

The Thomas Crown Affair

A debonair, adventuresome bank executive believes that he has pulled off the perfect multi-million dollar heist--until he must match wits with an insurance investigator who will do anything to get her man.

7 Seconds

7 Seconds

When an experienced thief accidentally makes off with a Van Gogh, his partner is kidnapped by gangsters in pursuit of the painting, forcing the criminal to hatch a rescue plan.

Bound by Honor

Bound by Honor

Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three are members of an East L.A. gang known as the "Vatos Locos", and the story focuses on how a violent crime and the influence of narcotics alter their lives. Miklo is incarcerated and sent to San Quentin, where he makes a "home" for himself. Cruz becomes an exceptional artist, but a heroin addiction overcomes him with tragic results. Paco becomes a cop and an enemy to his "carnal", Miklo.

To Live and Die in L.A.

To Live and Die in L.A.

When his longtime partner on the force is killed, reckless U.S. Secret Service agent Richard Chance vows revenge, setting out to nab dangerous counterfeit artist Eric Masters.

Gang Boy

Gang Boy

Danny ponders a way for rival gangs to avoid violence at an upcoming dance.

Bad Boy

Bad Boy

A lawman tries to find the source of a juvenile delinquent's bad behavior.

The Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery

After the train station clerk is assaulted and left bound and gagged, then the departing train and its passengers robbed, a posse goes in hot pursuit of the fleeing bandits.

Soak the Old

Soak the Old

Part of MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series, this short film focuses on crimes revolving around pension scams.

The Principal

The Principal

Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.

Bad Girls

Bad Girls

After robbing a strip club, three desperate teenage girls lead a misogynistic Federal Agent on a lysergic cross-country chase, scoring a duffle bag full of money, drugs, and a crew of willing kidnapees along the way.

City of Men

City of Men

Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.

Recommended Movies

Belly

Belly

Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?

Ill Manors

Ill Manors

Ensemble film revolving around characters living in Forest Gate, London. Over the course of a few days, six inter-linking stories explore issues of drug use, prostitution and urban poverty.

Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema

Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema

This South African movie tracks the rise of a once-petty criminal to the heights of the criminal underworld. After cutting his teeth on hijacking, before moving onto bigger game, an ambitious man hits a setback when most of his gang are shot.

The Outsiders

The Outsiders

In 1960s Tulsa, class divisions ignite a violent rivalry between the working-class Greasers and the privileged Socs. When a deadly encounter forces two Greasers, Ponyboy and Johnny, to flee, their struggle for survival and redemption exposes the fragile innocence and enduring bonds of youth on the wrong side of town.

The Place Beyond the Pines

The Place Beyond the Pines

A motorcycle stunt rider considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician.

Siberian Education

Siberian Education

The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against this backdrop two best friends, Kolyma and Gagarin, gradually become fierce enemies as they find themselves on opposite sides of the strict code of honour of the ‘honest criminal’ brotherhood.

The Newton Boys

The Newton Boys

The story of the Newton gang, the most successful bank robbers in history, owing to their good planning and minimal violence.

Lost in the Sun

Lost in the Sun

A small time crook and a newly-orphaned teenage boy team up to perform a string of robberies.

The Asphalt Jungle

The Asphalt Jungle

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.

Heist 88

Heist 88

A criminal mastermind recruits a group of young bank employees to steal 80 million dollars in one of the largest bank heist in US history.

The Usual Suspects

The Usual Suspects

Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. Verbal lures his interrogators with an incredible story of the crime lord's almost supernatural prowess.

Dead End

Dead End

The lives of a young man and woman, an infamous gangster and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.

South Central

South Central

During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.

Down Terrace

Down Terrace

After serving jail time for a mysterious crime, Bill and Karl get out of jail and become preoccupied with figuring out who turned them in to the police. On top of that, the "family business" is on the rocks, and the motley crew of criminals who operate out of Down Terrace aren't feeling terribly trusting of one another. It might look like an ordinary house, but at Down Terrace, the walls are closing in..

Criminal Activities

Criminal Activities

Four young men make a risky investment together that gets them into trouble with the mob.

The Rise

The Rise

After being released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, Harvey Miller has revenge on his mind. He recruits his three best friends to help him rob the local drug kingpin whose betrayal put him away in the first place.

Little Caesar

Little Caesar

A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?

Sleepless

Sleepless

Undercover Las Vegas police officer Vincent Downs, who has a lot of enemies, is caught in a high stakes web of corrupt cops and the mob-controlled casino underground. When a heist goes wrong, a crew of homicidal gangsters kidnap Downs’ teenage son T. In one sleepless night, Downs will have to rescue his son, evade an internal affairs investigation, and bring the kidnappers to justice.

True Believer

True Believer

Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet. With Roger's idealistic prodding, Eddie reluctantly takes on a case of a young Korean man who, according to his mother, has been in jail for eight years for a murder he didn't commit.

Juice

Juice

Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.