Bud's Recruit

Interesting remnant from Vidor's budget beginnings. For "Judge" Willis Brown, a colorful lecture circuit regular who parlayed his brief unqualified stint as a juvenile court judge into founding (and promoting) orphanages on the latest progressive model—and producing a few films starring the wards. It's cute and well-made and wholesome (as sunny family-friendly recruitment propaganda can be) as promised, though you do have to wonder how Vidor thought back making The Big Parade.