The Devil On Wheels

American-International did not invent the juvenile delinquents-jalopies-reckless driving-hot rodders-build it at home-chicken playing genre of movies. PRC and Monogram started churning them out in the mid-forties as part of their let-this-be-a-lesson-to-you genre, preceded by the zoot-suiter and jitter-buggers films, which was better than the social guidance films teen-agers were being overdosed on at school. PRC did at least use card-carrying members of SAG. This one is a sermon against speeding, and Darryl Hickman has it brought straight home to him when he side-swipes a car and causes a collision in which his best friend is killed—the fate of all best friends in juvenile-theme movies including “Rebel Without a Cause”— and his mother is injured. Lots of lecturing precedes and follows.