The Big House

I saw "The Big House" last night as part of Turner Classic Movies' tribute to Frances Marion, the great female screenwriter. Marion became the first woman to win an Academy Award for screenwriting for her work on this film.

"The Big House" is a fascinating character study, showing how three very different men deal with being imprisoned. Butch (Wallace Beery) lords over all of the men with a knife and threats of violence. John Morgan (Chester Morris) is smart enough to befriend Butch and his crew, but keeps his own set of values. Newcomer Kent Marlowe (Robert Montgomery) is terrified of prison and eventually turns "rat" in hopes of being released.

The film also infers that the public at large is partly to blame for the discontent (and eventual unrest) within the prison: at one moment, the head warden says something to the effect of the public wanting to put criminals in prison, but not wanting to spend the money to build more prisons to accommodate them. This is issue is still debated to this day.

I also found the portrayal of the lone female character, Anne Marlowe (Kent's sister, played by Leila Hyams), very refreshing and unexpected. Instead of the crying, simpering type we might expect in a prison movie, we are given a smart and compassionate woman who owns her own business.

All of the actors gave excellent, realistic performances and Frances Marion's screenplay was well-deserving of the accolades it received. The insight and sensitivity that she used to write about these characters and this place surpasses most of the scripts written by men on the same subject.

The acting in this doesn't feel like acting, it doesn't feel like a 1930 picture, it's like watching real people. There's a quote which sums up why. It was from director, George Hill who told his cast: 'If I see any of you acting, you're fired,' This was MGM's first year of talkies and this film did not want that silent movie acting style that infested so many early talkies.

It's hard-hitting without being melodramatic, emotional without being sentimental and still feels relevant today although was made nearly a century ago. Obviously it looks like an old picture but it definitely doesn't look like one of those early talkies. The style of acting is realistic and natural and as far away from melodrama as you can get! It's not as authentic as 2019's BBC drama, TIME with Sean Bean....but to actually be able to compare in terms of entertainment, enjoyment and ability to provoke thought, a modern drama with something made nearly a hundred years ago speaks wonders for George Hill's direction, the acting and the writing.

One of the biggest appeals of pre-code movies is the sexy star whether it's a Joan, a Jean or a Claudette....this however has a virtually all male cast but even so it's not one of those horribly macho men's film. It was written by Frances Marion, not just MGM's top female writer but MGM's top writer in 1929. She imbues this with a subtle sensitivity based on weeks of in-depth research and visiting real criminals. Like in her famous comedy of manners, DINNER AT EIGHT, or ANNA CHRISTIE, she finds what spark makes her characters tick.

It's a character driven drama with characters with so much more depth than you expect in such an old film. It's a stereotype-free zone! It also plays with your sympathies. You're immediately on Robert Montgomery's side when he's stuffed into a tiny cell with two hardened criminals - ten years - he shouldn't have to put up with this. Then you see him as a spoilt rich kid whose sense of entitlement landed him in this situation. Then....well it just goes on like that changing your point of view... and that's just for one character!

Because there's so much depth and drama, most reviewers go on for hours but I'll force myself to stop.

The Big House is a 1930 crime-drama film, set in a prison. The story follows several inmates who are all willing to do anything to get out of jail. Whether it is cutting deals, informing on one another, or planning a breakout, each character is pushed to the limits of what a person is willing to do for freedom. As the story progresses, each character must ultimately face the consequences of whatever choice they make, which seems to be the moral of the film.

The Big House is surprisingly sympathetic toward the flaws in the penal system and makes no attempt to hide the horrors of prison. The jail in the film is almost medieval at times with a dungeon for solitary confinement, roach-infested, rotten food, and three men to a closet-sized cell. The story is well-written and the acting is great, for the most part.

The bad parts of the film mostly consists of the silliness, such as obviously fake punches, the phony tough-guy routine, and the cringe-worthy "Who...Me?" line that is repeated throughout. The comedy aspects of the film also fall flat, such as the cross-eyed stutter routine and the exaggerated wide-eyed stupidity role. These elements drag the film down.

Overall, The Big House is worth watching. Honest, enjoyable, and intense, most viewers will have a lot of fun with this film. Despite a few flaws and bad comedy, the amazing prison scenery will keep you drawn to the screen.

Even after 77 years, The Big House is still the grand daddy of all prison films. Though films like Shawshank Redemption and a personal favorite of mine, Brubaker, with no Code restrictions can be a lot more graphic, still The Big House will shock as well as entertain.

Wallace Beery got a Best Actor nomination for being hardened killer Butch Schmidt who's a lifer in the state penitentiary. He and cell mate Chester Morris have a new man in their little abode in the person of a young Robert Montgomery.

Montgomery's only a kid, but he's done a man size crime of manslaughter in a vehicular homicide where he was no doubt good and sloshed on prohibition rotgut. Montgomery is a weakling in a place where that's not a good thing.

All the clichés about prison films really do start here, culminating in the final crash-out where a whole lot of people get themselves killed. It's a scene well staged, very similar to the breakout in Brute Force.

As the story progresses you'll see plot elements from Brute Force and from Warner Brothers Each Dawn I Die. The cast does a marvelous job and that also includes Lewis Stone as a Judge Hardy like warden.

If you like prison films, this one's the grand daddy of them all.

Convict John Morgan (Chester Morris) escapes prison and falls in love with his cellmate Kent Marlowe's (Robert Montgomery) sister, but is later caught and sent back. He soon becomes embroiled in an escape plot that also involves Kent.

The Big House was one of the first prison films, and obviously an influential one. Chester Morris is excellent in the lead, and Wallace Beery is great as the simple-minded Machine Gun "Butch" Schmidt. The best performance in the film comes from Robert Montgomery as the weak-willed Marlowe. The cinematography and set design are quite good.

Highly recommended. First time viewing. 4/5