Memorable for one of Bogart's best early gangster portrayals, as well as for the introduction of the Dead End Kids, Dead End is a highly stylized “symphony of slum life. Richard Day's remarkable set might romanticise the severity, but its design is that of a labyrinthine trap that confirms the divisions between rich and poor and the difficulty of escaping from or rising above one's surroundings. The Dead End Kids now look relatively genteel juveniles, but Humphrey Bogart's disillusioned gangster is an enduringly anguished creation, whose fate is sealed in an exciting shoot-out on Day's magnificent roof.” --National Film Theatre