Gangster Humphrey Bogart seeks out family and friends in the old neighborhood, an East River slum, only to further poison the waters. This Best Picture Oscar nominee, based on a smash play, marked the first screen appearance of the Bowery Boys youth troupe, then known as the Dead End Kids. Wyler maximized production resources to vividly convey compromised lives and squalid settings, and elicited electric performances from his ensemble.