''Hell's House'' is a 1932 American

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

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. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

starring

Junior Durkin Trent "Junior" Durkin (July 2, 1915 – May 4, 1935) was an American stage and film actor. Career Trent Bernard Durkin was born in New York City in 1915. He began his acting career in theater as a child. Durkin first appeared in films in 1930, p ...

, featuring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

and directed by

Howard Higgin Howard Higgin (February 15, 1891 – December 16, 1938) was an American writer and director of motion pictures in the 1920s and 1930s. Biography After graduating from the Pratt Institute, Higgin began working at the architectural firm McKim, Mead ...

. The screenplay by Paul Gangelin and B. Harrison Orkow, set during the waning days of the

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

era, is based on a story by Higgin.

Plot

When

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

ed Jimmy Mason is taken in by his Aunt Emma and Uncle Henry, he meets their boarder, Matt Kelly, who impresses the young man with his boastful swagger and alleged political connections, although in reality he's a bootlegger. The boy's life is disrupted when, as one of Kelly's hired hands, he refuses to identify his boss during a police raid and is sentenced to three years of hard labor in

reform school A reform school was a Prison, penal institution, generally for teenagers, mainly operating between 1830 and 1900. In the United Kingdom and its colonies, reformatory, reformatories (commonly called reform schools) were set up from 1854 onward f ...

, where he befriends a sickly boy named Shorty, who in helping Jimmy, eventually is sent to

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

. When Jimmy realizes his new pal is seriously ill and desperately needs medical attention, he escapes and goes to Kelly and Kelly's girl friend, Peggy Gardner, for help. Peggy contacts

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

Frank Gebhardt, who is anxious to expose the conditions at the state industrial school. The authorities find Jimmy at Gebhardt's office, but before they can apprehend him Kelly admits his involvement in the bootlegging operation and the boy is set free. He discovers Shorty has died, victimized by a corrupt system.

Cast

as Peggy Gardner * Pat O'Brien as Matt Kelly *

as Jimmy Mason * Frank Coghlan Jr. as Shorty *

Emma Dunn Emma Dunn (26 February 1875 – 14 December 1966) was an English actress. After starting her acting career on stage in London, she became known for her works in numerous films and Broadway productions. Career Emma Dunn appeared onstage in ...

as Emma Clark *

Charley Grapewin Charles Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956) was an American vaudeville and circus performer, writer, and stage and film actor. He worked in over 100 motion pictures during the silent and sound eras, most notably portrayin ...

as Henry Clark *

Morgan Wallace Morgan Wallace (born Maier Weill, July 26, 1881 – December 12, 1953) was an American actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1914 and 1946, including W.C. Fields' ''It's a Gift'' (1934) Introduction by Arthur Knight where he p ...

as Frank Gebhardt *

Hooper Atchley Lemuel Hooper Atchley (April 30, 1887 – November 17, 1943) was an American film actor. Atchley was the son of Mr. and Mrs. P. S. Atchley. He was a 1908 graduate of the Knoxville, Tennessee, school system. Atchley's first professional ac ...

as Captain Of The Guard *

Wallis Clark Wallis Hensman Clark (2 March 1882 – 14 February 1961) was an English stage and film actor. Biography Clark was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, the son of William Wallis Clark (1854 - 1930), an engineer. Prior to acting, Clark was an en ...

as Judge Robinson * James A. Marcus as Superintendent Charles Thompson

Production

The film, shot in thirteen days, originally was entitled ''Juvenile Court''.

was loaned to B. F. Zeidman Productions Ltd. by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

, and following her completion of this film studio head Carl Laemmle, Jr. allowed her option to drop. She was preparing to return to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

when

George Arliss George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he ...

offered her the ingenue role in '' The Man Who Played God''.

Critical reception

In his review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.''New York Times'' review
/ref>

References

External links

* * * * * {{Howard Higgin 1932 films 1932 crime drama films 1930s prison films American black-and-white films American crime drama films Films about prohibition in the United States Films directed by Howard Higgin American prison films Films produced by B. F. Zeidman 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language crime drama films