Wild Boys of the Road (1933)

In William Wellman's neglected, but representative social-issue film/morality tale of its time from Warner Bros:

• the startling docu-style sight of multitudes of wandering (not wild) young boys (and one disguised girl Sally (Dorothy Coonan Wellman, the director's young wife)) forced to 'hit the road' (by freight train) during the Depression to look for work
• the constant threat of railroad dicks policing the freight yards and tracks and sending some of the transients to juvenile hall
• the excruciating scene of homeless Tommy (Edwin Phillips) losing his leg to an oncoming train