Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

LeonLouisRicci It's hard to see how this early Talkie about life Inside could have been much better. In the brief running time (under 90 minutes) it contains Social Commentary on the Prison System, fantastic settings evoking the claustrophobic, debilitating, and mechanized environment. Some of these look frightening and foreboding even today.There are three Lead Performances that are fine and the last third containing the Prison Break is Action Packed. The Film contains some striking visuals and employs its new found voice quite well with interesting Sound Effects (containing virtually no Music). The Dialog evokes effectiveness (the Script won an Oscar and surprisingly was Written by a Woman who did Her Research) and is taught and tough but playfully believable.This is quite a remarkably interesting beginning of a Genre that is still quite popular today. The Prison film is still with us and unfortunately so is the controversy surrounding our exploitation of the incarceration institutions and its reluctant residents.

whpratt1 It was hard for me to believe that this film story was written by a female named Francis Marion who had studied prison life at San Quentin. Chester Morris plays the role as a con named John Morgan and is good friends with Butch Schmidt, (Wallace Berry) who is a hard nose prisoner with lots of power and connections among the other prison mates. Robert Montgomery, (Kent Marlowe) is a man who comes from a rich family, however, Kent is a weak minded guy or you could also call him a stool pigeon. There is a big prison break scene with all kinds of bullets flying all over the place and machine guns blasting away. Even the National Guard is call to action in one of the worst prison breaks I have ever seen. This is a great film with great actors and an outstanding Classic Film from 1930.

Neil Doyle So many high quality prison melodramas have been on the screen in the last few decades that this one--made in 1930--has to be reviewed in the context of its time. As such, it's a well-written, powerful study of men behind bars, none of whom observes a code of conduct likely to make them good material for rehabilitation.CHESTER MORRIS is a forger, WALLACE BEERY is a thick-necked bullying murderer and ROBERT MONTGOMERY is a comparative "innocent" with a drunken manslaughter charge against him. They share the same cell and are soon involved in bickering and double-crosses that make up most of the plot contrivances that lead to a prison break where all hell breaks loose. Within the conventions of crime melodramas, this one maintains passable interest today although it lacks the taut tension of more modern prison dramas.Filmed when sound in film was only two years old, there is virtually no background music at all--a factor which dates the film's style and gives it a static quality during moments where music would have raised the drama to a higher pitch.CHESTER MORRIS, an interesting actor, is likable and energetic as the man who walks out of prison a free man after helping to contain the riot. ROBERT MONTGOMERY does a fine job as the coward who breaks under the stress of having betrayed another prisoner and LEWIS STONE does a good turn as the warden.Overall, it's better than average for this sort of thing--well paced despite the lack of background music to emphasize the drama--and worth watching for the performances. Beery is especially good and deserved his Best Actor nomination. Chester Morris is equally impressive in the top-billed assignment, forceful and convincing all the way in a showy role.But I have to conclude that Warner Bros. seemed to have a better handle than MGM on this sort of tough, stark material. Raoul Walsh's WHITE HEAT ('49)with James Cagney is the best example.

Ron Oliver THE BIG HOUSE - prison of no hope - the last terminal for lost souls. Only the strong survive; the weak crack or are corrupted. As the warden shrewdly tells a new arrival, the place won't make you go yellow, but it you already are yellow it'll bring it out.MGM was the only studio in Hollywood which would have let a female write the script for such a strong story. But in Frances Marion they not only had the most celebrated screenwriter in the industry, but also a person uniquely qualified to write about any situation. She headed off to California's notorious San Quentin Prison to observe the conditions & learn the lingo. Cheerfully deflecting the jibes & taunts of guards & prisoners alike, she reminded them that after being a frontline correspondent in the Great War there were few situations she couldn't handle.The result is a wonderful film, tough, hard-bitten & stark. MGM did itself proud by supplying a terrific cast and production values. The scene where belligerent Wallace Beery refuses to eat the commissary slop remains a classic.Chester Morris does a fine job as a resourceful crook who is actually helped by his time in prison, reformed against his will. This excellent actor is too often ignored when the histories of 1930's cinema are written. Wallace Beery, as murderous Butch, is absolutely unforgettable. Marion wrote the part with him in mind & it is difficult to imagine anyone else playing it. Lovable & dangerous in equal measure, he steals every scene he's in. THE BIG HOUSE would set Beery firmly on the road to major talkie stardom.Robert Montgomery, on the cusp of his own salad days as a sophisticated, romantic leading man, here plays quite a different role. As a weak, cowardly stool pigeon, he's cast very much against type. It would be 1937's NIGHT MUST FALL before he received another such finely-nuanced role.Lewis Stone is very effective in the small role as the tough-as-nails warden. Beautiful Leila Hyams is well-cast as Mongomery's spunky sister. George F. Marion & DeWitt Jennings are both memorable as elderly security guards. Champion stutterer Roscoe Ates provides a few moments of much needed comic relief.Karl Dane is easily spotted as a hulking convict in several scenes, but he is curiously mute. Doubtless, his thick Danish accent was already giving the Studio trouble. Even though he had been an important comic star in silent pictures, he was quickly relegated to talkie bit parts. He was eventually further reduced to selling hot dogs from a cart outside the MGM front gates. This was the final indignity. He committed suicide in 1934.Preview audiences were curiously cool to THE BIG HOUSE, until MGM executive Irving Thalberg figured out that female viewers didn't like con Chester Morris romancing another prisoner's wife. Thalberg instructed Marion to rewrite a few scenes and refilming made it clear that Leila Hyams was Robert Montgomery's sister, not his spouse. This pleased the patrons and the movie was a big hit.