HELL’S HOUSE
US, 1932, 72 minutes, Black-and-white.
Junior Durkin, Pat O' Brien, Bette Davis, Junior Coughlin , Emma Dunn, Charlie Grapewin.
Directed by Howard Higgin.
One of the many films about reform entries from the 1930s. This one has many strengths. At the centre is the performance of Jr Durkin, working in the country with his mother who is killed in a hit run accident. In the city, he goes to live with his aunt and uncle, encountering a con man bootlegger, played by a swift speaking Pat O’Brien? (his girlfriend is played by Bette Davis). Kelly, the conman seems to know everyone, with connections. He puts Jimmy in charge of the bootlegging office but it is immediately rated, Jimmy taken to juvenile court, Kelly not turning up.
The scenes in the reformatory are as expected, rather grim pictures of the boys working with huge mounds of bricks, images of solitary, harsh disciplinary punishments – with the newspaper editor crusading but misled in his tour of the reformatory. Jimmy makes friends with the younger boy, Jr:, ill health and who ultimately dies after refusing to name Jimmy as the writer of a letter he wants to send out.
Jimmy decides to escape, tries to track down Kelly, goes to his girlfriend’s house that she has always been sympathetic. To get out of his responsibilities, Kelly permits the crusading editor, goes to see him, the editor having conversation with Jimmy which leads to an expose. However, the editor challenges Kelly for his cowardice in not helping Jimmy and Kelly changes heart, willing to go to prison and for Jimmy to be free.
This was Bette Davis’s sixth film.
(The sad thing is that Junior Durkin was killed in a car accident soon after the age of 19.)
1. The title? The reformatory? The popularity reformatory films in the 1930s?
2. The countryside, Jimmy at home with his mother, the washing on the line, the accident? The treasure sent to the city? The Depression, the apartments, the streets, the bootlegging office? The exterior of the reformatory, interiors? Newspaper offices? The musical score?
3. Jimmy at the centre of the film, his age, love for his mother, grief, trust in his uncle and aunt and their welcome, meeting Kelly, impressed, walking the streets, Kelly knowing everyone? His uncle was at work? Kelly giving him work in the office, pledging him to silence and forgetting detail? Jimmy and his arrest, Kelly hesitating, not going to his help? The juvenile court, his keeping silence?
4. The reformatory, the range of boys, the pep talk from the warden, the change of clothes, the dormitory, the initial clash but his friendship with Shorty? The hard work with the bricks? The tricks? The discipline? The fights? Writing the letter in the dark? Shorty taking it, unable to post it? The physical examination, discovering the letter, his keeping quiet, in solitary? The effect on his health? Jimmy puzzled? His being asked to be monitor? The harsh reaction of the other boys? His having to supervise the discipline, the boys with their eyes fixed on the line, those standing, the collapse?
5. The editor, talking with the warden, a campaign for reform, his visit, everything covered up?
6. Jimmy discovering Shorty, his escape, at home, the newspapers and the police after him, trying to find Kelly, going to his girlfriend, finding Kelly, still believing in him? His plea?
7. Kelly, wringing the editor, the pretense, the interview with the editor, the editor talking with Jimmy? The news of Shorty’s death? The editor, his challenging Kelly, Kelly and his fears of prison, and willing to help Jimmy – and shamed by the editor and his girlfriend into accepting blame?
