The Hole in the Wall

I used to correspond with Robert Florey, who directed the early-talkie Paramount feature, "The Hole in the Wall" (1929). He told me that Edward G. Robinson, one of the many stage actors hired by the studios for their vocal ability, sound pictures then coming into their own, tended to, in this, his first talkie, "play to the camera"; hence Florey having to lie to him as to which of the multiple cameras on the set was the active one! He also mentioned that, upon learning of a train derailment, he and his crew rushed to the site and worked footage of the wreck into the movie. He kindly put me in touch with Ernst Fegte (1900 -- 1976), who was his Art Director (Paramount not crediting this in their films back then, one doesn't see Fegte listed as such in the numerous online articles dealing with his impressive career). Fegte, if I recall correctly, was working in television at the time, employed by Filmways. Aside from Florey haranguing him, in his pronounced French accent, for "my ghosts" he wanted for the eerie walls of the crystal-ball set (the medium enacted by Claudette Colbert), he recalled nothing of the large spooks he depicted. So, to refresh his memory, I sent him a rare 8 x 10 linen-backed keybook still of the scene, and that was the last I ever saw of my photo or ever heard from Fegte!

Cordially, Ray Cabana, Jr.

The Hole in the Wall (1929)

** (out of 4)

Edward G. RObinson plays a man known as The Fox, the leader of a group of thieves. They get away with so many crimes due to help from a psychic but when she is killed the leader fears their criminal days are over. That's until they meet Jean Oliver (Claudette Colbert) who agrees to help them as long as they help her kidnap a child from a woman who caused her to go to jail.

THE HOLE IN THE WALL is a pretty ridiculous drama story that should have been re-written a few times before it was actually filmed. THe film has pretty much been forgotten today except to those who want to see two future legends in their talkie debuts. While the film is pretty stupid all around, the appeal of the two stars makes it worth watching.

As I said, the screenplay here is certainly the worst thing about the picture as the entire thing is just way too dumb to make you actually care about anything going on. The entire thing with the psychic just doesn't work and at times it becomes rather laughable. I'm guess since this was an early talkie the screenwriters just through everyone would be caught up in the dialogue that they wouldn't pay attention to how silly the story was.

The one good thing about the film is that it clocks in at just 63- minutes so it's certainly over before you know it. Both Robinson and Colbert are decent enough in their roles but I'm not sure anyone watching this in 1929 would have guessed that they'd go on to become legends.

There are several reviews posted here on the page which cover well "The Hole in the Wall," but I just want to with this comment encourage younger viewers who may be considering embarking on a look at this one to definitely do so. This film was released in April of 1929, so it was probably shot over the winter of 1928-29 or in Jan or Feb at the latest. I would conjecture that most films produced before the summer of 1929 do not hold up well for viewing today, in 2020. But this one does... it looks and feels good in its acting work, its direction, the sets, and the compelling story. Oh sure, the dialog may not be sparkling, but that's just the writing... we're not looking for something great when we are peering into history. We are looking for the joy of seeing what came before, to learn how things developed... to see what things were like back in the day. And "The Hole..." gives us that. Many films in 1928 were still being shot as silents, particularly before summer began, so here in these early days of talkies we have the actors placed around microphones that often dictated where the actors were placed on set. Much of the dialog was delivered deliberately and enunciation was important. The voices may be a bit louder than what would really be appropriate for the situation. For some actors the dialog offered could sound "stagey," and getting physicality to jibe with speech was tricky. Some actors coming in from silent pictures had exaggerated eye and hand movements, but that wasn't the case in this film. Just think how really exciting it must have been to be a part of this change from silents to talkies in the film industry.

It was fun to here see the apparent difficulty of trying to present the characters in conversation while in the nightclub with the band's music playing. For the most part they didn't even try. There was one short sequence where they did try and it worked out just so-so. And furthermore, no attempt was seemingly made to soundtrack the words of the cops who were gathering for the stakeout at the gangsters' den... we only see the mouths moving in apparent conversation while the soundtrack is dull static. This shouldn't be negatively criticized by us today; rather it should be enjoyed. The little girl in peril under the dock is shown in silence in her peril... we the viewers must supply our own sound for the situation she is in, including the splashing of the water by Donald Meek (I for one think silences such as this can add to the gathering concern felt by the viewer if one accepts some of the terms of watching a sound film from early 1929).

This film is a real treat for all the reasons listed above and also because, on good authority, it was Edward G. Robinson's first sound picture and was also his first gangster role, and additionally for it being Claudette Colbert's very first movie role. Youngsters and anyone interested in film history should indeed enjoy this very valuable motion picture. It is a worthy experience.

"The Hole in the Wall" is an early part-talkie, well-directed by Robert Florey but saddled with a plot that Tod Browning might have cooked up for Lon Chaney on a bad day. Several themes beloved of Browning (and often used in Chaney's movies) are prominently used here, including a gang of crooks and phoney mediums, and (shades of "West of Zanzibar") a plot to corrupt an innocent girl in order to get revenge on her parent. The "hole in the wall" in this movie's title is in the crooks' hideout: it's a peephole with a periscope, which the phoney medium uses to spy on her victims, so that she can gain information about them before she meets them, and impress her victims with her "psychic" abilities.

Claudette Colbert (still learning the techniques of film acting) stars as Jean Oliver, who was sent to prison on false testimony by snooty society dame Mrs Ramsay. After spending several years in prison, now Jean is out and hell-bent on revenge. She plans to kidnap Mrs Ramsay's little daughter Marcia, and raise the girl as a thief in a Fagin-like environment. Jean hopes that Marcia will grow up to be an habitual thief, get arrested and acquire a criminal record ... and then Jean will get her revenge by revealing herself to Mrs Ramsay as the person responsible for her daughter's corruption.

The climax of the film is meant to be very exciting, when little golden-haired Marcia is a prisoner in the dockyards, trapped on a quayside ladder while the tide rises. Unfortunately, the untalented child actress who plays the kidnap victim keeps screeching "Mama! Mama!" over and over, on a very bad soundtrack. We're supposed to be concerned about the plight of a kidnapped child who's in danger of drowning, but I kept wishing the brat would shut her gob and quit yapping.

The soundtrack is VERY bad, and I don't think it's just because I saw a very scratchy old print of this film. In the late 1920s and early 30s, the Fox Movietone method of sound recording (which this film uses) was vastly inferior to the Vitaphone process used by Warner Brothers. I give credit to director Florey and his screenwriter (Pierre Collinge) for intelligently shaping the story to incorporate sound effects legitimately, at a time when many part-talkie films used sound effects merely for stunt purposes. But the dialogue is badly written, apart from its poor sound fidelity. Groucho Marx, who worked with the French-born Florey in "The Cocoanuts" later this same year, claimed that Florey had difficulty speaking English ... which might explain why Florey allowed such wretchedly bad dialogue to get past him in "The Hole in the Wall".

There's an exciting scene of a train crash on an elevated railway, and throughout the film the photography is excellent, as are the lighting and the shot-framing. This film's many good points outweigh its numerous bad points.

I was so excited to see Edward G. Robinson's first movie! He plays the ringleader in a gang of thieves, fronted by a psychic "madam". Together with Donald Meek, Alan Brooks, and Nellie Savage, they extort information out of wealthy clients and then rob them. Everything changes when Nellie is killed in a train accident and they go in search of a new madam. Enter Claudette Colbert, in only her second picture. It was before her Harlequin eyebrows, but she's still very beautiful. Her acting is very modern for its time. There are parts of the film that feel like a silent picture, but Claudette propels the audiences into the future with her different style. There are no grand gestures, no facial expressions intended to reach the back row, and no over-exaggeration of her words. I was very impressed; no wonder she became a star!

Eddie G, as much as I love him, wasn't much different in this picture than he was in Little Caesar. Watching this movie will be fun because it was his first, but it won't showcase his greatest performance. In fact, he sometimes takes the back seat (which he rarely did in his later movies) to the storyline, Claudette, or the creepiness of Donald and Alan.

There are some very eerie parts to this movie, and it might not be for everyone. I'd have a comedy on hand for later in the evening, to get you in a better mood. And try to remember the movie is 95 years old. Yes, there are silent passages where no sound was recorded, and yes, women didn't shave under their arms, but that was just the time period.