San Quentin

This is one of those odd situations where the actors were some big names and decent in their performances, and the story wasn't bad....yet there wasn't much appeal to it, either. Only the action scene in the last 10-15 minutes provided any spark to this film which was too flat, for the most part.

The story was about a new guy in charge of the San Quentin prison yard who was going to be humane and make things work. Pat O'Brien plays that guy, "Capt. Steve Jameson." The previous man in charge is a nasty, corrupt bird named "Lt. Druggin," who Barton MacLane plays effectively well.

In the meantime we have the featured crook, "Red Kennedy," played by Humphrey Bogart, who almost always played villains in his 1930 films, and we have his sister "May" played by Ann Sheridan. O'Brien has the hots for her and promises to be fair to her brother. "Red," however, is too paranoid and stupid to appreciate what's done for him and that's when we get to the interesting finale to the film.

Overall, not bad but not worth watching a second time. At 70 minutes, at least it didn't overstay its welcome.

Pat O'Brien is the new captain of the prison guard at San Quentin who clashes with guard Barton MacLane while romancing the sister (Ann Sheridan) of new convict Humphrey Bogart. A great WB prison flick; one of the best. Solid supporting cast of familiar faces. The leads are all great. Sheridan gets to sing a song. She's not as glamorous here as she would be in the '40s, but she's still a looker. Bogie is very entertaining in one of his early roles. He's got pals on the outside that can pull wires, doncha know? O'Brien and MacLane are good in roles they could play in their sleep. The prison stuff is better than the romantic subplot. Bogie fans will like it for his fun performance. Love that gangster tough guy lingo!

This is a good solid entertaining formulated prison picture that stars Pat O'Brien & Humphrey Bogart in good form & backed by an excellent cast of Warner Bros. contract players such as Ann Sheridan, Barton Maclane, Joseph Sawyer, Veda Ann Borg etc. Pat O'Brien is the Army Captain Steve Jameson that takes over as the new warden of San Quentin Prison replacing Lt. Druggin (Barton Maclane)who's reduced to a tough prison guard.

Humphrey Bogart portrays Joe "Red" Kennedy a small time crook that gets arrested & lands in the Big House & comes face to face with Captain Jameson who thinks Kennedy can be rehabilitated. Bogart is in his element as the tough convict Red Kennedy but also has some depth & dimension predating Roy Earle in High Sierra. Not just another one dimensional type gangster Bogart so often played in the 30's.

San Quentin doesn't bring anything new to the genre in 1937, the early 30's already introduced audiences to prison life in The Big House, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing & I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang. San Quentin is a very watchable prison movie with a winning formula that works if you like the genre. I love prison movies & if it was good enough for Spencer Tracy, Paul Muni, George Raft & James Cagney then it was good enough for Humphrey Bogart.

All these actors were part of the Rogues Gallery of Thugs that excelled in gangster films & did time in the Big House. This is a very fast paced story that packs a lot of elements in just 70 minutes. We see a singing Ann Sheridan, a prison strike, a rifle carrying bible thumping nut ball & of course the inevitable prison escape climaxed by an exciting high speed chase that involves cars, motorcycles, a freight train, spectacular crashes & dare devil stunts.

I have this & several other early Bogart & Spencer Tracy movies on VHS & I'm quite pleased to find San Quentin out on commercial DVD, of course I had to buy it & there's even a commentary for this. Which tells me that San Quentin is a fairly significant movie worthy of some attention & praise. Bogart gets 2nd billing to Pat O'Brien, Bogie was previously in Marked Woman 2nd billed to Bette Davis as a crusader of justice. But in 1936 Bogart had the lead role as a factory auto worker in Black Legion, released in 1937. 1937 was a good year for Bogart. His next film was Dead End.

In "San Quentin," Bogart returns quickly to a life of crime… Trying without success to add some depth and meaning to a role which offered little of either, Bogart is a convicted robber sent to San Quentin and assigned to a road gang as a rehabilitated step instituted by the prison yard captain, Pat O'Brien…

When Bogart is maliciously informed, through the efforts of the bad Barton MacLane, that O'Brien has less than honorable intentions toward his sister, Ann Sheridan, he breaks out and shoots O'Brien, though not seriously…

When he finds that he has made a mistake, he decides to give himself up, but…

"San Quentin," though far from one of Bogart's best roles, is almost always included in his film retrospectives as a favorite choice of his fans

"San Quentin" as the name implies is a trim little prison movie (it runs a scant 70 minutes) from Director Lloyd Bacon and Warner Brothers.

Ex Army Captain Steve Jameson (Pat O'Brien) takes a job as Captain of the Yard of San Quentin prison replacing acting Captain Druggin (Barton MacLane) whose handling of the prisoners was questioned by Warden Taylor (Joseph King).

Before taking up his duties, Jameson meets singer May Kennedy (Ann Sheridan) in a nightclub and the two become attracted to each other. May's brother "Red" Kennedy (Humphrey Bogart) is on the lam and comes to her for money but is arrested at the club in front of Jameson. Guess which prison Red will be sent to.

Jameson takes up his duties and vows to instill discipline and respect in the prisoners. Meanwhile Red turns up at the prison in the company of hard timer Sailor Boy Hansen (Joe Sawyer). Hansen plots an escape and asks Red to go along.

Meanwhile Jameson begins to make progress in Red's rehabilitation to the point of where Red is refusing to go along with Hansen's escape plan. However the envious Druggin learns from the prison fink (Ernie Adams) of the planned escape. He arranges Hansen's assignment to the road gang along with Red. One night the fink lets it slip that Jameson is "taking advantage" of Red's sister May. Red becomes enraged and decides to go along with Hansen and....................

An oddity in the casting has Bogey playing Ann Sheridan's younger 25 year old brother. In fact Bogey was some 15 years older than Sheridan, although to both of their credits, they manage to pull it off. Pat O'Brien was born to play authority figures and does his usual excellent job here. Bogey for once, gets to play a character far removed from his usual one dimensional gangster portrayals, and proves his range as an actor.

Others in the cast include Garry Owen as Dopey the preacher, Veda Ann Borg as Helen, Hansen's moll and James Robbins, Marc Lawrence, William Pawley and Al Hill as various convicts.

Another of Warners long list of 30s gangster/prison classics.