This film is one of the earliest incarnations of The Dead End Kids--a group of lovable tough teens who were first introduced in the play "Dead End" and who appeared in several films for Warner Brothers AND Universal. The Warner films were more popular (as well as better) and included "Dead End" (the movie version of the play) and "Crime School". As for Universal, they hired some of these boys away from Warner for a few films and serials. Not only the composition of the Dead End Kids changed over the years but so did their name--being renamed 'The Little Toughguys' (for Universal), then The East Side Kids and ultimately The Bowery Boys. Lovers of these films will no doubt recognize Huntz Hall, Billy Halop and even David Gorcey (Leo's brother) in "Little Tough Guys" but many of the other regulars of the era are missing (Bobby Jordan and Leo Gorcey were not signed by Universal and would return later after the Little Toughguy films ended). In total, they'd make 89 films and three serials for four different studios! Confusing? A bit...but is "Little Toughguys" any good? That IS the important thing as far as this review goes.Johnny Boyland (Billy Halop) is mad. His father was convicted of murder. The family is evicted and Johnny's sister is fired because of her father...even though she'd done nothing wrong. The family is clearly in crisis. Not surprisingly, Johnny vows to be bad and lead a life of crime. So, he assembles a gang which turns out to be financed by the teenage son of the District Attorney who convicted Johnny's father! What gives? What's really going on here?!This is pretty typical of these earlier films featuring the boys--with a strong emphasis on crime and rehabilitation. In other words, they have a strong social conscience. Later the boys would be less criminal...more just knuckleheads! All in all, entertaining and very similar to other early films from these boys.

Little Tough Guy has Billy Halop and most of the rest of the Dead End Kids operating as a gang pulling off a number of petty crimes and led by a snotty young rich kid played by Jackie Searl. Halop doesn't start out that way though.He and the rest of his family get a real lousy break when his father Edward Pawley out of work and desperate goes to work as a scab and gets involved in a labor riot. Pawley gets blamed for the death of another worker and gets the death penalty with first degree murder.That was part of the story I couldn't buy. Granted the family didn't have a good defense lawyer, but the circumstances in no way indicate first degree murder. Everything happens then as they're forced to move to a bad neighborhood and Halop falls in with some tough slum kids who become Searl's gang.Not the best of films Little Tough Guy doesn't compare with what the Dead End Kids did over at Warner Brothers. This feature for Universal just doesn't have the same production values. Still it's better than what was to come at Monogram.Marjorie Main plays Halop's mother and she's miles from the hard working Ma Kettle. Here she's a slum version of Peg Bundy.Huntz Hall was a revelation. This will be one of the few times you see Hall play it serious and he was effective. Not a bad urban drama though Warner Brothers did them better.

The first entry for the Dead End Kids & Little Tough Guys series for Universal from 1938. Made between "Crime School" & "Angels With Dirty Faces". This series also overlapped the popular East Side Kids series for Monogram. Their last entry for Universal was "Keep 'Em Slugging" in 1943 with Bobby Jordan replacing Billy Halop as the gang leader. "Little Tough Guy" stands out in seeing Huntz Hall as a real tough guy & gang leader instead of playing his usual dumbbell clown role. I just wish he would've done it more often because he was good at it & it also worked better with a more serious Huntz Hall matched against Billy Halop but in the subsequent entries he's back to being goofy again & it doesn't work as well with Halop as it does with Leo Gorcey. Although he was a bit serious & dramatic in the 3 serials.I have the entire Universal Little Tough Guys DVD box set from "Little Tough Guys In Society" (1938) & "Call A Messenger" (1939) to "Mob Town" (1941). I've watched all these films & it's probably their rarest & least known series but it's still good & entertaining. Some of the films like "Give Us Wings" (1941) feature all the original Dead End Kids, all except Leo Gorcey. Too bad Leo Gorcey wasn't in any of these films because it might've worked better than it did & maybe the films would've been more memorable. In the original Dead End Kids I always enjoyed the confrontations between Leo Gorcey & Billy Halop. Too bad they couldn't work together anymore after Warner Bros dropped them.

**SPOILERS** The year is 1938. The Great Depression has waned, but prosperity is not yet in America, and certainly not New York's Lower East Side. A man breaks a picket line in order to feed his family. A fight ensues and the man kills another. What follows is Johnny, the young son's (Billy Halop, in the melodramatic role of a lifetime), believable descent from fiery kid to fiery thug. Huntz Hall plays the leader of a group of toughs (Dead End Kids) until Johnny comes along and slugs a few new thoughts into everyone's head. The 1930's jargon doesn't take anything away from realism, mainly because it IS real. There are some plot vehicles which seem improbable: the Long Island rich boy plotting a petty-crime ring, for example. But as the film races along, it all fits well. Plenty of pathos, and a finale that will tug your heart. I liked this as well as or better than "Little Caesar."