27 SEPTEMBER 1946, Page 11

". Children on Trial "—At the Academy.

Children on Trial is an admirably sincere and worthy study of life' in our approved schools as depicted by the experiences of three inmates—two boys and a girl. Possibly the picture is over-sentimental, and it is difficult not to feel that the episodic treatment allows the director, Jack Lee, to present the plums without having to give too much of the rest of the pudding, which is a pity. For while sym- pathy is completely won over by the extreme humanity and tolerance of the authorities, who are shown as doing a difficult job as well as it can be done, there is reason to doubt whether the complete picture has been presented. This feeling is aggravated by the choice of the players—both juvenile and adult—who are a little too neatly divided into the extremes of white and black. The introduction of a school authority who lacked the prevalent humanity and kindness of the others would have increased the realism without distorting the moral. So, too, would some scenes which showed that life in a reformatory is not perhaps as entirely desirable as it is made to appear. But these are minor criticisms. This full-length documentary. is a social study of importance. Not only does it say something useful about the methods—most excellent ones—adopted in the schools, but there is, implicit, the underlying criticism of a society which permits the continuance of conditions which are the national breeding-grounds of juvenile delinquency. Fortunately the film now goes to the