Dust Be My Destiny (1939)

Waste of time

Load of rubbish!!

Great Film overall

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The first 15-minutes is good gritty Depression era drama, as Joe (Garfield) and other footloose unemployed try to hitch a train ride to nowhere. Caught by county cops, they're sent to a harsh work camp where there's at least work, a bed, and something to eat, but nothing else. Garfield and company make this segment tough and realistic, a real taste of life at Depression's bottom.But then the romantic side takes over as Joe and Mabel (Lane) get into an off-and-on again relationship, complicated by Joe's accidental killing of Mabel's cruel stepfather. Thus the storyline swings over to the familiar young-lovers-on-the-run narrative. That might be okay, except Lane plays her part like she's swallowed a load of sweet-faced sugar, while making soft and nice is not Garfield's special appeal. There's also a ton of likable common folk that demonstrate America's fundamental decency; while, writer Rossen makes a timely populist appeal in the courtroom for the value of every person. Given the nastiness of the times, the idea, at least, was a good one. I just wish Warner's had assigned one of their top directors to the project. A Walsh or Curtiz might have blended the disparate elements more effectively than the workman-like Seiler. As things stand, it's a second-rate Garfield flick.

The film begins with John Garfield in prison. It turns out, however, after serving a year and a half, the REAL culprit confesses and Garfield is released. Considering everything, it's very understandable that he's bitter.Oddly, the authorities appeared to have done NOTHING to help Garfield after his release. Now he's a hobo riding the rails. And, when he and a couple teens (Billy Halop and Bobby Jordan) are picked up for vagrancy, they are sent to a work farm! Talk about adding insult to injury! The farm has a sadistic drunk as a foreman and he makes life tough for Garfield. Along the way, he meets up with the drunk's step-daughter (Priscilla Lane) and they fall in love. Later, when her drunk father attacks Garfield, John defends himself and strikes the old guy--and the man dies. In desperation, the pair fun from the farm and eventually get married. Along the way, they meet up with a lot of people who inexplicably like the couple and treat them with kindness. And, in the end, when Garfield is caught and tried for the killing, these people come from all over the country to speak on his behalf.Although I'll admit that the film is preachy (especially during the defense's closing arguments), it is highly effective and entertaining. There are also a lot of excellent performances that all make it well worth seeing. An excellent film--the sort of Depression-era crime drama and social commentary that Warner Brothers did best.

A routine John Garfield film that Garfield really didn't even want to do. It starts out with Garfield serving thirteen months in jail for a crime he didn't commit and as soon as he's back on the streets, he gets on a train with two of the dead end kids and winds up getting in a fight with Ward Bond, who is hiding out from the cops. The cops arrest all of them and Bond says Garfield helped him when he committed the crime and he's sent up again for a crime he didn't commit. He's given 90 days on a work farm and he and warden take a disliking for each other immediately. That's when he meets the warden's daughter and there is a lot more plot to the movie but you can find that out for yourself.

Down on his luck John Garfield finally sees his fortunes improve, and I do mean improve, when he teams up with Priscilla Lane. But the bad luck returns and the two end up on the lam for what turns out to be a pretty good movie. A few scenes shot on location spice things up a bit and there are some very nice supporting performances as well. The lead actors, John Garfield and the beautiful Priscilla Lane, work well together, as evidenced in their previous work on Four Daughters and Daughters Courageous.