''Hell's Island'' is a 1930 American
pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Edward Sloman
Edward Sloman (19 July 1886, London - 29 September 1972, Woodland Hills, California) was an English silent film director, actor, screenwriter and radio broadcaster. He directed over 100 films and starred in over 30 films as an actor between ...
and starring
Jack Holt,
Ralph Graves
Ralph Graves (born Ralph Horsburgh; January 23, 1900 – February 18, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and actor who appeared in more than 90 films between 1918 and 1949.
Biography
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Graves had alre ...
and
Dorothy Sebastian
Dorothy Sebastian (born Stella Dorothy Sabiston; April 26, 1903The book ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'' gives Sebastian's date of birth as April 26, 1907. – April 8, 1957) was an American film and stage actress.
Ear ...
.
[Munden p.339]
The film's sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
Harrison Wiley
Harrison may refer to:
People
* Harrison (name)
* Harrison family of Virginia, United States
Places
In Australia:
* Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin
In Canada:
* Inukjuak, Quebec, or "Po ...
.
Plot
The story focuses on two Americans serving in the
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...
in
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
. One of whom is sentenced to serve nine years on
Devil's Island
The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953 in the Salvation Islands ...
.
Cast
*
Jack Holt as Mac
*
Ralph Graves
Ralph Graves (born Ralph Horsburgh; January 23, 1900 – February 18, 1977) was an American screenwriter, film director and actor who appeared in more than 90 films between 1918 and 1949.
Biography
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Graves had alre ...
as Griff
*
Dorothy Sebastian
Dorothy Sebastian (born Stella Dorothy Sabiston; April 26, 1903The book ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'' gives Sebastian's date of birth as April 26, 1907. – April 8, 1957) was an American film and stage actress.
Ear ...
as Marie
*
Richard Cramer
Richard Earl Cramer (July 3, 1889 – August 9, 1960) was an American actor in films from the late 1920s to the early 1950s.
Burly, menacing and gravel-voiced, Cramer specialized in villainous roles in many low-budget westerns, but is today ...
as Sgt. Klotz
*
Harry Allen as Bert, the Cockney
*
Lionel Belmore
Lionel Belmore (12 May 1867 – 30 January 1953) was an English character actor and director on stage for more than a quarter of a century.
Life and career
Onstage, Belmore appeared with Wilson Barrett, Sir Henry Irving, William Faversham, Lil ...
as Monsieur Dupont
*
Otto Lang
:''see also Otto Lang (film producer) and Otto Lang (actor)''
Otto Emil Lang, (born May 14, 1932) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician.
Life and career
Lang was born in Handel, Saskatchewan. In 1961, he was appointed Dean of Law at the U ...
as German Legionnaire
*
Carl Stockdale
Carl Stockdale also known as Carlton Stockdale (February 19, 1874 – March 15, 1953) was one of the longest-working Hollywood veteran actors, with a career dating from the early 1910s. He also made the difficult transition from silent fi ...
as Colonel
References
Bibliography
* Munden, Kenneth White. ''The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States, Part 1''. University of California Press, 1997.
External links
*
1930 films
1930 drama films
1930s English-language films
American drama films
Films directed by Edward Sloman
Columbia Pictures films
Films set in Algeria
Films about the French Foreign Legion
1930s American films
{{1930s-drama-film-stub