Safe in Hell (1931) watch online HD

Although this film directed by the versatile William Wellman is not essentially different from many other fallen women pictures of the early talkie era, it has elements that lift it out of the ordinary. For contemporary viewers it's an opportunity to see Dorothy Mackaill in a starring role. She was a beautiful and self-possessed actress whose career came and went too quickly. At times she looks so much like Marion Davies that you could easily mistake them for twins. Here she plays a prostitute fleeing the law with a young fellow who loves her. He deposits her in a hotel on a steamy Caribbean island inhabited by escaped male criminals. There is the appealing shock of seeing two African-American actors actually speaking and behaving in a dignified and even admirable manner: Nina Mae MacKinney and Clarence Muse as a hotel proprietress and porter, respectively. Muse speaks the King's English better than the blonde leading lady and comports himself in a far more civilized manner than any of the white men. MacKinney is spectacular. She holds her own no matter who she is playing against and even sings a spirited round of "Sleepy Time Down South" as she pours wine for a large table of diners. Another case of wasted talent in the old Hollywood days.

I saw this for the first time a few years ago in a festival of pre-Code films, and it was a revelation--Dorothy Mackaill was new to me and she is excellent as the "loose woman" who finds a very strange salvation on a Caribbean island that is a stand-in for hell, if not in fact the real thing. The atmosphere is palpable--you can almost feel the heat and smell the sweat. This movie is uncanny in being both intensely grim and very funny. Sort of like a painting by the German Expressionist George Grosz come to life. Wonderful camera set-ups, such as the front-on shot of the row of seated disreputable lechers, legs spread and ogling Dorothy as she climbs the rickety stairs to her hotel room. Also unusual for a film of that time is the respectful treatment of Black characters--there is a very nice camaraderie between Dorothy and the woman who works at the hotel.

I caught this film on TCM in Dec. of 2007. It was being shown as part of their William Wellman festival. I had not heard of it before, and didn't recognize any of the cast names. The story is a bout a woman accused of a murder in New Orleans, who is helped by her sailor boyfriend to an island in the Caribbean. This is a refuge for scoundrels and criminals. Romantically, the sailor marries her in a very private ceremony, and then he leaves her behind while he sails away for work. Clearly, the focus is on her, since he has very little screen time. The bulk of the film is the long time she has to wait for his return, fending of the lecherous advances of the motley criminals and a corrupt lawman. The ending was dark and surprisingly odd for any Hollywood film. And I was so surprised that I need to see it again, just to make sure I didn't imagine it. It is a somewhat slow film, but it is also intriguing in ways that only pre- code features can be. It seemed even modern in it's dark sensibilities. Also, the lead role, portrayed by Dorothy MacKaill, is a fascinating mix of spunky and trashy, showing more depth and complexity than one might expect from a standard H'wood feature. I'll be looking for her in other films. Definitely a noir predecessor. The black major-domo and the woman running the bar are terrific, too.

"Safe in Hell" proved to be a stunning movie in many respects, a major precursor of film noir both thematically and stylistically. Wellman and cinematographer Sid Hickox stage many of the scenes in chiaroscuro darkness, and even the opening title — in which the words "SAFE IN HELL" appear as cutouts in a black field with fire billowing forth from behind the letters — is visually stunning and sets the mood for the film instead of merely announcing what it's called. (The title and the director's name — in small print on the same card — are the only credits we see at the outset; the other credits are relegated to the end, in the fashion that's now become standard but was highly unusual in 1931.) The script requires the actors, Mackaill and Cook in particular, to make some pretty abrupt hairpin turns in emotions and motivations, but it's a testament to their skill (especially Mackaill's — Cook's is a pretty straightforward good-guy lead and his only spectacular sequence is the early one in which his loathing suddenly turns into desperate protectiveness and love when she's about to be arrested) that all the emotional turns are quite credible and she's equally believable as a bad girl and a good one. Like Charles Vidor's "Sensation Hunters", made for Monogram two years later and the closest film I could think of to the mood of this one, "Safe in Hell" manages to convey the oppressiveness of the environment and the desperation with which the heroine is faced in trying to maintain (what's left of) her virtue in the face of the economic and sexual pressures on her.

It also features two remarkable characters, the Black proprietess of the hotel on Tortuga where most of the action takes place (Nina Mae McKinney, the femme fatale of "Hallelujah!" here cast as a positive character) and her assistant, Newcastle (Clarence Muse). The screenwriters wrote the lines for McKinney and Muse in phony dialect but they actually delivered them in normal English. (Score one for William Wellman for allowing them to get away with that!) McKinney also gets to warble the song "When It's Sleepy Time Down South," ostensibly to a recording — no doubt the song got in the film because her Black co-star Muse co-wrote it with Leon and Otis René! Originally released with an advisory that the film was "Not for Children" (anticipating the Hollywood rating system that would ultimately displace the Production Code), "Safe in Hell" is a great movie, a forgotten gem that deserves to be better known than it is and an example of the Hollywood studio system working on all cylinders and producing something that acknowledged the clichés and yet also defied them quite movingly. Why Warner Home Video didn't include this on the boxed set of Wellman's pre-Code films for Warners — when it's a better movie than any of the ones they DID include — is beyond me.

A case can be made that director William Wellman did his best work at Warner Bros-First National from 1931-1933. "Safe in Hell" is a prime example. There isn't much plot in this saga of a "bad" woman (Mackaill) redeemed by love, but the atmosphere of sin, desperation , and hope is efficiently evoked. The compositions are continually inventive, and the camera movements are as energizing as Wellman pulled off the same year in "The Public Enemy". He also coaxed fine work from the beautiful Mackaill; it's telling that this tough guy director seemed to work so well with actresses. In his Warner Bros. tenure, Wellman did great films with Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, and Ruth Chatterton, too. Look up his resume, and check out the films.

"Safe in hell" what a title! When you watch it,you will agree that the title was thoroughly justified.

It was hard to be a hero (or a heroine ) in Wellman's brilliant movies of the thirties:from the wild boys of the street to Lilly Turner ,they all got a raw deal.

Gilda leaves a macho world to wind up in another macho world even more awful than the one she left behind.

The movie is short (about 70 minutes) and there are only two "happy" scenes in the whole story: the "wedding" ,a peak of romanticism and restrained emotion,and the short moment when the lovers meet again ,a scene very Borzagesque (there's a similar scene in "street angel" when Janet Gaynor asks the cop for one hour to say goodbye to the one she loves).

As for the rest ,it's a ruthless depiction of hateful males who only know one rule:theirs.The arrival of Gilda in this seedy place could only be filmed in the pre -code Hayes days: those men salivate like Pavlov's dogs ,getting an eyeful as Gilda comes up the stairs.

Like Tom in "heroes for sale" ,Gilda wants to keep her promise ;like him she gave everything;Tom hits the road and becomes a tramp ;Gilda's fate will be more terrible than his.

Another unusual melodrama by one of the past masters of the American cinema of the thirties/forties.

Safe In Hell is is a cross between Sadie Thompson and The Getaway, with Dorothy Mackaill in stunning form as the 'bad girl' who runs away to a remote Caribbean island to escape her past. Director William Wellman delivers another quality picture, and we get to see Nina Mae McKinney's star power on display (including one hot jazz number!). The story is silly but fans of early thirties cinema need to see this.

DOROTHY MACKAILL is a name unknown by today's moviegoers but she was a pretty good actress judging by her work as a prostitute on the lam in SAFE IN HELL. It's the kind of tough gal role that would have suited someone like Barbara Stanwyck, but Mackaill is a pretty blonde who nails her character completely.

After giving her ex-lover rough treatment and thinking he's dead after his apartment catches fire, she's advised to flee to a tropical island where there's no extradition to the United States for criminals. What she discovers is that the island is a living hell and all of its inhabitants are fugitives from the law.

There's such a ring of familiarity about the whole story that I can swear it must have been remade years later, perhaps for an Ann Sheridan movie or a vehicle for Jean Harlow. I'll have to check it out, but I'm sure I've seen this whole story before in a later version.

For pre-code fans, this is a "must see." All of the situations are racy enough to send the censors reeling and some of the dialog is crisp and believable in a way that most films of the '30s never achieve.

About as downbeat as any film about sinners, it's directed in forthright fashion by William A. Wellman, with some decidedly unpleasant looking men cast in supporting roles as island outcasts. Worth a watch for the performances of Dorothy Mackaill and Nina Mae McKinney in the only femme roles.

Only other recognizable cast member for me was IVAN SIMPSON, who had a brief scene in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD where he played the proprietor of Kent Road Tavern who admits Maid Marian so that she can inform Robin's men about his capture.

Robert Osborne talked about this being one of Wild Bill Wellman's pre-code classics, so naturally, it immediately got my attention. But I wasn't prepared for this. An amazing story of a hooker played by Dorothy Mackaill who is sucked into "the life" by one of the most vicious, but underrated movie villains ever on screen. The quirky, psycho, delicious Ralf Harolde.

The story is unusual. Gilda the hooker falls in love with a sailor. He accepts her warts and all. She gets into confrontation with Ralf Rotten and thinks she killed him. Her sailor boyfriend helps her lam out to an island to hide out. They marry in a private ceremony and he ships out. Meanwhile, she is left to fend for herself on this island, surrounded by a half dozen lecherous criminals. She holds her own until Ralf suddenly shows up by accident. It seems he didn't die after all, but had to lam out himself after pulling off a scam. In an ironic twist, he tries for a rematch and she actually does kill him. Up till now, the story was almost poetic, but the last twenty minutes had my head spinning. She is about to be found innocent when she finds the Jefe de Policia is going to frame her for another crime and ravish her in his prison. In order to be true to her "husband" she convinces the court that she, in fact, is guilty of murder so she can be hanged. Her line to El Jefe is something like: "The only time you will touch me is when you put the noose around my neck." I've seen lots of pre-code movies. Mostly WB, and they can be pretty raunchy, but this one leads the pack. Dorothy Mackaill puts in an "A" performance in a decidedly "B" movie. It has the feel of the movie "Rain", but it seems less stylized and more authentic. I recommend it for a lot of reasons, but keep your eyes open for Ralf Harolde. Once you've seen him, I think you are going to want more.

William Wellman makes the most of pre code freedom in the dark and cynical Safe in Hell. With an on the run hooker in the lead hiding out on a rogues island with a disreputable bunch of sex starved thieves and wheeler dealers Wellman serves up ample helpings of society's underbelly with some effective and subversive pokes at society in general.

New Orleans "escort" Gilda has to blow town fast after possibly committing murder and burning down an apartment building. Her seaman lover spirits her away to an island until things cool off where she shares a fleabag hotel with some male dregs of humanity. Her lover plans to return and marry her but the local law and the hangman who also has designs on her confiscates his letters giving her the feeling she's been deserted. Keeping the boys at arms length most of the picture she is forced to shoot and kill one of the miscreants. Found innocent of murder she must nevertheless do some time on the weapons charge thus delivering her into the grimy paws of the hangman.

Nearly all the white male characters in Safe in Hell are low lifes of the first order. Criminals without conscience, lusting voyeurs they all want a piece of the action and when Gilda feels she's gotten the brush off she lowers her guard. With a telling sense of irony Wellman provocatively juxtaposes their loutishness with the films only refined respectful well spoken character, a black porter (Clarence Muse) as well as infer miscegenation with the inn keeper (Nina Mae McKinney) who dazzles the boys with a touch of Bessie Smith.

Dorothy Mackaill plays Gilda with a glamor less tragic resignation as well as most of the hard boiled molls permeating early sound poverty row films. Morgan Wallace's lascivious Mr. Bruno the hangman is convincing enough to makes Gilda's rash action that determines her fate certainly understandable as Wellman's uncompromising take leaves her little alternative.

Enjoyed this great 1930's film and enjoyed the down to earth language and a true to life story with a very realistic ending! Dorothy MacKaill(Gilda Carlson),"Bulldog Drummond at Bay",'37, played a great role and was very sexy and teased all her gentlemen admires in her hotel on a island with horny old men! Gilda was down and out and had many lovers, but fell in love with Donald Cook(Carl Bergen),"Bowery to Broadway",'44, who was a naval officer who was always leaving her alone and at the mercy of lusting men. Gilda and Carl decided to take their marriage vows in a church by themselves because there was no minister to marry them. Gilda remained faithful to Carl, however, you will have to view this film in order to find out what happened to these Two Lover Birds!

Safe in Hell (1931)

You might think this would be routine Hollywood, directed by the mainstream director William Wellman. But it starts with a lurid title card in flames, shifts to a scene on the docks of New Orleans, then to a shot of a woman's legs as she answers the phone (the legs more important than the phone). It's sassy and pert up and down.

This isn't a lost masterpiece, not a work of genius. But it's really fun to watch, and has enough modern elements in filming and writing to keep it alive. Like this early line: "Hey, that costs ten a quart." That's like a hundred bucks for a fifth (of whiskey) in our money. Then the flames really come to mean something, and the movie takes off.

The leading woman here is alive and attractive in an honest way, and she holds up her end of the movie beautifully. Her name: Dorothy Mackaill. No, I never heard of her either. This is a strangely intriguing movie filled with disconnected moments. It moves from the city to a boat to an island where MacKaill, playing Gilda, has to sweat it out. It's not clear what island this is (except that it's south of New Orleans, and called Tortuga, but there are no significant islands south of New Orleans, appropriately enough for hell). The characters become increasingly caricatured, with a variety of expatriates and natives, played by bit actors and Caribbean types.

When Gilda says, "Give me a big kiss Carl. It's got to last a long long time," the boat whistle blows at night and she's left alone on the dock. You know she will be fighting for her dignity. There is one church on the island...important for getting married...and after a quick but arduous journey, they find the only minister has died. Things go downhill from there. (Read the movie's title again.)

The cinematography (by Sid Hickox) is remarkably fresh, the opposite of deep focus, with characters isolated by shallow depth of field in a world with shadows and light that play in front of and behind Gilda and the surrounding characters. The whole film is shot on the studio set except the establishing shot on the New Orleans dock (probably done by a secondary crew). But the careful framing, and the even more careful focus pulling (following the moving subject with the focal point) is really remarkable. Almost worth studying just for that. (Follow from 42 to 44 minute for simple examples.)

Maybe equally important as an actress is Nina Mae McKinney, a Southern actress with a big blues singing voice and a confident presence as the hotel manager. And she sings with real feeling, if also a bit out of place (breaking into brief song to call the porter, for example). But it shows her talent, and the missed opportunity to use it better.

The movie is fast and if the characters are bit caricatured, it does have a "pre-code" feel and a worthwhile zip. Recommended!

***SPOILERS*** No holds barred and uncompromising, in not resorting to a phony feel good ending, movie about an ex-hooker on the run from the law ending up in a place far worse then any US prison: The Caribbean island of Tortuga knows as "Hell Island" that has no extradition treaty with the United States. Since being there is like being in hell itself!

Going to a New Orleans hotel room to entertain a customer, or John, Gilda Carlson, Dorothy Mackaill,is shocked to find out that the person she's to entertain is her former boyfriend Piet Van Sall, Ralf Harolde, who forced by, getting Gilda fired from her job, her into the white slavery, prostitution, business in the first place! Trying to have his way with her Gilda bops Piet over the head with a liquor bottle that sets the place on fire with an unconscious Piet in it! It's just then that Gilda's sailor boyfriend Carl Erickson, Donald Cook, shows up at her pad proposing marriage to her since he was just promoted with a higher pay status in the US Navy.

Realizing just what kind of a the fix that Gilda is in Carl sneaks her onto his ship that's headed for Tortuga where he feels she'll be safe and plans to marry her there before he embarks back out to sea. It soon comes to the attentions of some of the fugitives from justice on Tortuga that Gilda, single white female, is available and they all try to make a play for her. It's in fact the island's "Minister of Justice" as well as the local hangman Bruno, Morgan Wallace, who really gets turned on to Gilda and unlike the local male inhabitants of Tortuga he has both the means and the ways to make his dream, in making Gilda his woman, come true!

***SPOILERS*** Things soon turn in Gilda' favor when she runs into another fugitive from justice Piet Van Saal no less whom she thorough she killed in that hotel fire back in New Orleans! With Carl soon to show up on shore leave Gilda plans to go back with him to the states a free woman but the scheming Bruno has other plans for her. Setting Gilda up to kill, for a second time, Piet Bruno provides her with a firearm that's illegal for anyone but law enforcement personnel on the island. With Piet getting good and drunk on island rum, 159% proof, he tries to finish the job, attack and rape Gilda, that he started back in New Orleans only to get blown away by her in self-defense.

On trial for the murder of Piet Van Saal Gilda is a shoo-in to be fond innocent in her lawyer Jones', Charles Middleton,brilliant defense of her. But it's the weapon charge that Jones can''t get Gilda off on and it's that what Bruno is counting on to put her in his prison and keep her all for himself as his personal sex slave for the time, six months, she's to serve there!

****MAJOR SPOILER****Making the ultimate sacrifice in not hurting the man that she loves and is married to, Carl Erickson, Gilda does the unthinkable in giving up her life so she won't betray Carl in having Bruno have his way with her the way he wants not the way he's soon forced, by the law he sworn to uphold, to do.

"Safe in Hell" is by far the darkest, most risqué film of its time period that I have yet seen. Even by today's standards it is far from tame. The atmosphere of sexual predators is overwhelming.

There is a great ensemble performance in this film. Gilda (Mackaill), the hotel manager (McKinney), and the general (Varconi), are all highlights. The best performance though is Morgan Wallace as Mr. Bruno. A good case could be made that he is one of the most evil villains in the history of cinema. The movie is worth watching if only for him.

The overall story and drama is the only part of the movie I would call less than spectacular. The main plot point is how in love Gilda (Mackaill) and Carl (Cook) are, and how far she is willing to go to stay with him. Yet we never see them together for more than a few minutes. Had the romance angle been a little better it would have made the drama part of the picture much stronger.

The best reason to watch this movie is the atmosphere. One beautiful white girl on an island of criminals. One by one trying their moves on her, while the others sit in a row of wicker chairs watching to see how the other one does. The thin shred of civilization being the only thing stopping pure lust from taking over.

This is a movie that simply wouldn't exist if it hadn't been pre-code. If that's something that intrigues you, then Safe in Hell is exactly what you are looking for.

Safe in Hell (1931)

*** (out of 4)

Warner Pre-Code from director William A. Wellman about a prostitute (Dorothy Mackaill) who kills a former lover and then takes off with her current lover (Donald Cook). The sailor/lover takes her to an island where she can live without fear of being arrested since the local sheriff gives shelter to criminals. This sounds good but it isn't because she's the only white woman on an island full of criminals and all of them have ideas for her. What really stands out about this film is all the sexuality that Wellman throws out the screen and this film is certainly one of the dirtier films of the era. As expected, there's a scene with Mackaill undressing for the camera and a see through night gown. We also get a scene where the men spread their legs out as they watch the woman with a high sexual tone. Not to mention another scene where the men look up her dress as she walks up some steps. Mackaill is very, very good in her role as she blends sex and a toughness, which makes these films so memorable. The supporting cast is also very good but the story is pretty standard and lacking. There's not too much drama as the screenplay seems a tad bit lazy but this is still worth watching due to all the sexuality.

Basically "Safe in Hell" is a movie about a woman whose life has gone wrong and keeps going from bad to worse. Dorothy Mackaill plays a prostitute who kills the man responsible for her troubles. With the help of her boyfriend she flees to an island where there are no extradition treaties but does have a a sadistic constable and a group of lecherous men. Perhaps it seems "silly" but you have to put yourself in the mind set of that time. Let me clarify the nuances, first of all she didn't go into the business because she wanted to. It seems it was her only recourse. Keep in mind how limited choices were for women at that time.Then her boyfriend isn't even aware of her trade and when he finds out he threatens to leave her. Later on the island she tries to protect what remains of her "virtue" from the band of sex starved men. These three points show the mind set of the time when women were chastised for having premarital sex and punished emotionally and socially for their loose morals.That's why this precode film depicts how Dorothy Mackaill's character is stuck between a hard rock and a sword as she tries to keep a low profile while she waits for her sailor and hopes for a better future. It was a jaw dropping film. I highly recommend it, I should know, I am a die hard movie classics fan.

Safe in Hell uses inventive camera movement to convey character and mood, interesting subtle detail from the supporting actors and a quickly moving, intricate story with a few surprise twists -- Dorothy Mackail does a superb job at portraying Gilda, and doesn't fall into a lot of melodrama

I know it's pre-code, but it's one of the frankest pre-codes I can think of... there's really no doubt about Gilda's past...

It clips along quite nicely - yeah.. there are a couple of holes in the plot, but so what?

If you don't mind an intricate story that unfolds at a deliberate pace, and the B&W and popping-sound track isn't a problem, you could do a lot worse than Safe in Hell.

My only reason for seeing this movie is because of Nina Mae McKinney starring in it, after her success at MGM, Even though she was on contract with MGM for 5 years, they didn't know what to do with her. They could use her talent, but her skin color was the reason why. But, they wouldn't loan her out to Fox or Warner Bros. But I guess they let her do this movie, this was made at Vitaphone and she did various Vitaphone shorts. Nina Mae's character Leonie as the clerk at the Hotel brightens the movie and Dorothy MacKail's character. Nina Mae adds a little humor and sings a song a popular songs, among the Blacks back then called "When Its Sleepy Time Down South", Nina sings it in her own way, its very stylish. She also sings the name NewCastle(the servant at the Hotel, played by Clarence Muse) when she wants him, its very funny and cute. Dorothy MacKail is a good actress, I wonder why she didn't become a big movie star in Hollywood, I could picture her in bad-girl pictures, she's a bad girl in this movie. She keeps the movie interesting when Nina isn't in it. There's a scene when Dorothy MacKail hugs Nina, I think that's the first time in movie history a black and white person embrace. Nina Mae embraces quit a bit with the white stars...only in pre code era could that be done. Dorothy is good in scenes with Nina Mae and out. Its worth a watch.

"Safe In Hell" is a very strange picture, a whimsical story fashioned out of whole cloth by a long-forgotten playwright with a fertile imagination. A round-heeled tart kills a john and flees with her boyfriend to a Caribbean island with no extradition law. There she rents a room at a hotel populated by several gargoyle-type fugitives who are horny as toads. Everyone is in heat in the heat, especially the local constable. The story gets stranger and stranger leading up to a completely unexpected Hollywood ending.

The cast is good. Dorothy Mackaill is the 'tomato' in question and she is excellent. Donald Cook is OK as her boyfriend and Ralf Harolde is appropriately sleazy as an old flame. The plot is actually kind of flimsy but Director Wellman brings it off well, aided by some fine acting performances. Black actress Nina Mae McKinney has a plum role for a black actress in an era when there were precious few to be had.

This is a Pre-Code curiosity which is somewhat tame by today's standards but still worth a watch, since it is a one-of-a-kind sort of tabloid story, surreal and sensational. It was on TCM the other morning and is not available, so wait for it to come on again.

This movie, in many aspects WAY ahead of its time, and yet seemingly almost forgotten today, isn't only one of the most daring ones of the era - it's also one of the most unusual, and touching ones. Once again a 'bad' girl, who isn't really bad, but was made so by the circumstances, wants to go straight, leave her past behind her, and begin a new life with her sailor boyfriend - but fate turns against her: the guy who'd made her 'bad' (i.e. a prostitute) in the first place turns up, pestering her again (pre-Code movie experts will recognize his 'mug' immediately: Ralf Harolde, who played 'Slick Wiley' in "I'm No Angel"), and she strikes him down and runs away from his hotel, unintentionally setting the place on fire, and the guy burns to death, and Gilda is searched for manslaughter...

When her boyfriend Carl comes home, she admits everything to him, and he forgives her, and takes her to a remote Caribbean island which is outside the reach of Amerian jurisdiction; but there he's got to leave her on her own again - amidst a whole 'pack of wolves', all refugees from US justice as well, and they all start going after her at once. But since she's made a promise to Carl, she resists them all; and, strangely enough, by that gains the respect and sympathy of all of them - except for the cruel and lustful 'Chief Judge', who makes his OWN laws on 'his' island...

Dorothy MacKaill delivers an absolutely FANTASTIC performance as the immensely courageous 'good bad girl' (and one REALLY wonders why she didn't become a major star, considering her talent and her looks!) - one which can perhaps only be compared to Susan Hayward's in "I Want to Live!". The tone and the plot of the movie are typical for William Wellman, that great director of 30s' gangster movies and dramas - this is REALLY a film to remember, and a film which a LOT more people should get to know!

Dorothy Mackaill was very good in this. Charles Middleton also gave a good effort. To think that a woman could be so abused by the attitudes of her time is hard to truly appreciate. Here she was stopped from working by a rotten man and forced into life as a call girl. Then she encounters a "trick" who happens to be that man and accidentally (and erroneously, as it turns out) kills him defending herself. She flees with her boyfriend, who at 1st rejects her for her wanton ways, to Tobago , an island ruled by a sheriff of vile intent. She is housed as the only white woman on the island, in a dive filled with real scum of the earth men.

After she goes crazy with boredom, awaiting the return of her boyfriend, the "murdered" man shows up and puts moves on her and she really kills him with a gun planted on her by the sheriff. Just as she is about to be acquitted, the sheriff informs her he plans to keeps her as his object in his private jail for 6 months on the gun rap. She then falsely confesses to the new killing in order to avoid that fate and, after leaving a love message to her boyfriend, marches off to be hanged.

That Wellman believed that his audience would find such a story and plight acceptable is real indictment of the audience and the times.

Plot-- A prostitute thinks she killed her cunning corrupter and flees to a Caribbean island to escape extradition, but not before marrying her departing sailor true love. Trouble is the island's full of lecherous men bent on nailing her, the island's only white woman. So should she risk staying or risk leaving.

That opening scene's a grabber that fairly shouts 'prostitute'. If it didn't help bring down Production Code censorship (1934), I don't know what would. Except for the goofy antics of the unshaven oglers, this 1931 cheapo almost amounts to a sleeper. Actress Mackail delivers the tough gal with soul, in spades. Too bad she's so obscure, her acting career mainly in silents. Here, she fends off the many lecherous men in convincing Joan Blondell style. And catch Charles Middleton in a surprisingly nuanced role; that is, a few years before his Ming The Merciless menaced Flash Gordon's serial universe. The movie's also distinguished by a surprise ending. But keep in mind that the subtext is about crime and redemption, along with true love. These themes are interwoven in subtle fashion such that the conclusion may prompt some thought.

Anyway, it's one of legendary director Wellman's early talkies, which in characteristic fashion he doesn't sentimentalize. And, oh yes, maybe my favorite scene is when the true lovers conduct their spooning through a fortunate crack in a shipping crate. Good thing she could get out before the cranes came. Note too, that the lovers' marriage is conducted without benefit of presiding cleric or official marriage certificate. Yet the couple treat their enduring love as all the ceremony they need. Thus church and government are bypassed as unnecessary despite long tradition and heavy legalisms. No wonder the screenplay is pre-Code. All in all, the 70-minutes is definitely meaningful and worth thinking about. So catch up with it despite the long ago era.

Dorothy Mackaill and Donald Cook are Gilda and Carl. Starts out as a sordid affair... Gilda is hiding after accidentally killing an attacker. they run off and make it respectable. The african americans are portrayed as quite well educated and well spoken, which was rare for a film of this time! some fun scenes where the "locals" of the hotel sit around and chew the fat, sing, and spout out aphorisms, all of which have nothing to do with the story, except to show us how awful the place is. The story is pretty tight... Gilda has her ups and downs, and it all comes down to a trial near the end. Good stuff. A good example of the "south sea exotic films", which were all clearly filmed on the back lot, but have the appearance and feeling of life far away on an island. My only complaint is her motivation for the very ending, but I won't give away spoilers. Watch it for yourself. maybe i missed something. John Fay is in here, he died pretty young at 53, but just about everyone did back then. Mackaill had started films in the early 1920s, made a bunch of talkies, then stopped suddenly around 1937. Mackaill looks and sounds just like Joan Blondell, but of course, Mackaill came first! Director Wellman had started with silent films, and very successfully moved on to talkies. Oscar for 1937 version of Star is Born.

Not even sure why I recorded this but one of the greatest strokes of luck I have ever had. This is a dark movie. Somehow I always find that films before 1932 are quite a bit more rugged looking than what followed. A lot of that might be technology but the script here is downright mean at times. The scene where the group of convicts on the lam compare their erections is even pretty raw by today's standards. And what a gross group of men they are. That makes the whole scene even sleazier. Donald Cook was such a handsome guy. His character doesn't have a lot of depth here but he is always very sweet and so very kind. Dorothy Mackaill is the star and it is a shame that her career never went far in talkies. She had a stunning look and she could really act. What she brought to this role that wasn't in the script showed what an remarkable talent she was. And she had to be on her toes because every time Nina Mae McKinney is on screen as the hotel clerk she nearly steals the movie. McKinney is another one who should have had a major career, but there the circumstances were different. When she sings her song to the men she is serving dinner, I dare you to look away. This has a great degree of Miss Sadie Thompson in it but with not nearly the amount of morality. The main character here is a very good person who sometimes has to compromise for her survival. This movie was WAY AHEAD of its time. I don't think that any movie today could deal with a subject like this was such frankness and compassion.

A prostitute (Dorothy Mackaill) accidentally kills a man. With help from her sailor boyfriend, she escapes to a Caribbean island with no extradition. He leaves her but promises to return for her later. Because there's no place safer to leave the woman you love than an island full of criminals. Anyway, she vows to stay chaste for him and not fool around with any of the men. Oh, brother. Here's where the movie gets really weird and leads to an ending that defies belief.

Seamy Pre-Coder from William Wellman is certainly interesting, I'll give it that. Even though it's nowhere near as graphic as movies today, you still might feel the need to bathe after watching it. The performances are all good and the bleak script is solid. Possibly the coolest opening title shot of any early '30s movie I've seen. If you enjoy Pre-Code films you'll definitely want to check this one out.