| We Who Are Young | |
| Director: | Harold S. Bucquet |
| Producer: | Seymour Nebenzal |
| Screenplay: | Dalton Trumbo |
| Editing: | Howard O'Neill |
| Distributor: | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Runtime: | 80 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $362,000[1] |
| Gross: | $433,000 |
We Who Are Young is a 1940 American drama film directed by Harold S. Bucquet, written by Dalton Trumbo and starring Lana Turner, John Shelton and Gene Lockhart.
Co-workers Bill (Shelton) and Margie (Turner) fall in love and marry against company policy. They furnish their new apartment on an easy payment plan and Bill is working on a reorganization plan for his boss Mr. Beamis (Lockhart) who he hopes will give him a large raise after he accepts the plan. In the office, another co-worker flirts with Margie and Bill blurts out that he and Margie are married. Beamis fires Margie due to company policy and when Bill submits his reorg plan Beamis barely looks at it. When he does he tells Bill its not what he wants, but does give him a $14 a month raise. Margie discovers she is expecting a baby.
Despite the raise, the newlyweds are having financial difficulties and Bill is fired for salary attachment (wage garnishment). Bill passes his CPA exam and begins looking for work as an accountant, but has no luck. Unable to find work, they have to go on relief. Desperate to do anything, Bill goes onto a construction site and asks for a job. When he's turned down, he sees men shoveling dirt and he grabs a shovel and joins them. He ends up being arrested for trespassing and destruction of private property. When the foreman meets with the building site owners, he is moved by Bill's story and goes to the jail. He offers Bill a job.
Bill goes to Mr. Beamis to get a copy of his reorganization plan and also to tell Beamis exactly what he thinks of him and the way he treats people. After Bill leaves, Mr. Beamis calls his secretary in and asks her why a former employee (who had left two weeks before) had left for another job paying $2 less a week. The secretary fidgets and shyly replies she doesn't know, and when Beamis persists, the secretary keeps insisting that she doesn't know. Mr. Beamis looks away slowly and sadly as the secretary walks out.
Margie is having their baby and Bill rushes home, but cannot get an ambulance to come. He steals a car, but the police escort them to the hospital. Mr. Beamis has a change of heart and offers Bill a new job. Bill has a decision to make.
According to MGM records, the film earned $297,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $136,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $103,000.[1]