Hell's House

Jimmy Mason is an orphan living with his aunt and uncle. He is taken with their cocky boarder Matt Kelly (Pat O'Brien) who claims to have political connections but is only a petty bootlegger. Peggy Gardner (Bette Davis) is Matt's girlfriend. When Jimmy gets arrested, he is sure to be rescued by his well connected friend Matt. He refuses to turn in Matt and gets sent to reformatory school for three years instead. It's a rough place and his new friend is dying.

The most compelling part of the movie is Jimmy waiting for Matt while he's in court. The rest is a functional story for the boy although he's a little too clueless even at the end. His character needs to get smarter. Bette Davis is a supporting actress in this one. It's very early in her career. I would like Matt to be younger and his turn is a little too happy ending.

The reviews for this film posted here (quite a large number) reflect badly not on the movie, over 90 years old now, but on the submitters. They take a high-handed tone as if the movie had been shot recently, reflecting/comparing it to current budgets, techniques, sensibilities. I'd hate to see their reactions to silent films, only four or five years earlier than this one.

Silent Era Pathos was a formidable approach to movie making a hundred years ago, from Chaplin to Borzage, and a surefire way of captivating an audience. The simplicity of "Hell's House" in aiming for pathos is its strength, not a weakness, and its lack of flashiness (in camerawork or other techniques) is because it's not an All-Star big-budget picture or a musical extravaganza.

I truly enjoyed this simplicity, the unaffected performance by Junior, who resembles a young Sean Penn. The immense charisma bursting from stars Pat O'Brien (perfectly cast as the glad-handing con man) and just starting out Bette Davis balances the downbeat subject matter. Director/story writer Howard Higgin makes his point on prison reform -reform school subset here - without sensationalism, while obviously today's audience is looking for an exploitation movie approach a la Reefer Madness.

One sidelight: the young Bette Davis is a dead ringer (no pun intended) for current porn starlet Chloe Cherry, an amazing resemblance I hadn't noted even after seeing dozens of Cherry's videos, probably because in my mind's eye I imagine Davis with her iconic look years later in her career. Chloe's star quality has served her well, as she is one of the rare actresses to make a name for herself in the mainstream (via "Euphoria" and social media) after being pigeonholed in the still-looked down upon porn industry.

The worthwhile story material in this crime drama helps to make up for its weaknesses in other areas. In approaching the subject of juvenile crime, it doesn't present anything revolutionary or ground-breaking, but it does call attention to a few issues that are worth considering, such as the ways that young persons become involved in crime, and the priorities of the justice system in dealing with young offenders. The movie is also of some interest in having Bette Davis in one of her earliest screen roles.

Junior Durkin plays a young man who in all innocence becomes involved with a charismatic bootlegger during the days of prohibition. Jimmy (Durkin's character) is arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and is sent to reform school, where things get worse. Some of the plot developments are not all that logical or plausible, but the story works in calling attention to the way that the young offenders are often treated simply as annoyances to be minimized, with insufficient attention given to constructive development.

Pat O'Brien is effective as the bootlegger, and Davis, though cast as a stock character, has a few good moments as his tough-minded girlfriend. The rest of the supporting cast, which features Charley Grapewin and Junior Coghlan, is solid, and the story moves at a good pace. Overall, it's a little above average for its time and genre, and it contains some ideas worth thinking about.

In the days of Prohibition, orphaned country boy Junior Durkin (as James "Jimmy" Mason) goes to live in the city with his aunt and uncle, after his mother is hit by a car. There, Mr. Durkin becomes meets, and hero-worships charismatic boarder Pat O'Brien (as Matt Kelly). Durkin doesn't know it, but Mr. O'Brien is a bootlegger. O'Brien dupes Durkin into being the lookout for a cache of liquor, which police discover. Durkin naively thinks the booze was planted, and refuses to squeal. O'Brien lets the lad take the rap, and Durkin is sentenced to three years in "The State Industrial School for Boys".

After arguing over who gets top, Durkin befriends bunkmate Frank "Junior" Coghlan (as "Shorty"), who has a heart ailment. Conditions in the reformatory are terrible. The boys have a plan to spring Durkin, but young Coghlan is caught. While his pal lies close to death, in solitary confinement, Durkin breaks out to enlist O'Brien's help in finding suitable doctors for Coghlan. But, O'Brien doesn't want to get involved, or he'll have to leave pretty Bette Davis (as Peggy Gardner) for prison...

Howard Higgin's "Hell House" was relatively ahead of the juvenile reformatory curve, and boasts several points of interest.

First off, you have the two "Juniors" Durkin and Coghlan in the same picture, comparable to the 1980s "Coreys" Haim and Feldman. Durkin even looks a little like Feldman. Unfortunately, Durkin died in a car accident. Coghlan's supporting performance upstages even Ms. Davis - and, you will see Davis get her hair messed up as O'Brien tell her, "I just washed my hands and I can't do a thing with 'em!" Note, this was before Davis uttered her famous trademark response, "I'd like to kiss ya, but I just washed my hair" (see "The Cabin in the Cotton"). Finally, you have a delirious Coghlan "talking" to his dead mother quite credibly in one scene - and, in the end, Durkin's deathly "conversation" gives the story startling emotional closure.

******* Hell's House (1/30/32) Howard Higgin ~ Junior Durkin, Frank Coghlan Jr., Pat O'Brien, Bette Davis

I love the homo-erotic nature of this film, especially because of the time it was made. Unfortunately Bette Davis does not have a big part, though it is still important. What this boy goes through just because he is naive is a tragedy. This film is hard to find but I recommend searching for it. The story is original and daring. The loss of innocence is heartbreaking and must be seen for yourself.