Boy Slaves is a 1939 drama film starring Roger Daniel and Anne Shirley. The film was directed by P.J. Wolfson and based upon an Albert Bein story. Boy Slaves is an exposé of child labor.
Plot
Runaway boy Jesse Thompson, hoping to earn enough money to support his mother, follows a gang of other boys. After an infraction gets them all in trouble, they are forced to work in a fenced and guarded turpentine camp, climbing and tapping trees. They are free to leave only if they can first pay off bills they ran up at the company store (peonage). Trapped in a state of de facto slavery, they decide to strike for better food after one boy gets dizzy from hunger and falls from a tree, resulting in the amputation of his arm. When their protest fails, the boys decide to write a letter about the conditions of their detention to the U.S. President's wife, but it is intercepted. The boys believe one of their number is a "snitch", but later discover differently.
Cast Anne Shirley - Annie Roger Daniel - Jesse Thompson James McCallion - Tim Walter Ward - Miser Charles Powers - Lollie Johnny Fitzgerald - Knuckles Frank Malo - Tommy Paul White - Atlas Walter Tetley - Pee Wee Charles Lane - Albee Arthur Hohl - Sheriff Adrian Morris - State Policeman
See also List of films featuring slavery
External links