The Bridge of Sighs (1936)

Wonderful character development!

Sadly Over-hyped

Boring

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Question marks and inconsistencies abound in this cheap programmer from Invincible Pictures, the kind that always make me wonder why the film makers even bothered. The biggest head scratcher here is how Marion Courtney (Dorothy Tree) got to be an inmate at Women's State Prison - how did that happen? And did anyone else wonder why all the other female prisoners were such good lookers? Chatting and laughing it up with each other like they had no care in the world. None of it rang true, nor did the original crime that put Harry West (Paul Fix) behind bars for the murder that began the picture. The murder weapon winds up in the pocketbook of Duchess Evelyn (Mary Doran), and she's not even considered a suspect? OK, she winds up convicted as an accessory after the fact, but this was all just so sloppy that it defies credibility.It's only when the picture was over that I was able to put two and two together with Paul Fix portraying Harry West. He looked completely unrecognizable to those of us who knew him better as Sheriff Micah Torrance in the Chuck Connors 'Rifleman' TV series. Fix popped up in a lot of these old programmers from back in the day, but for me, he'll always be remembered best for his work in TV and movie Westerns. The revelation in this picture that he was Marion's brother seemed to come out of left field at the finale, serving no purpose other than to create some tension in the Courteney/Powell romance.

With a novel beginning - a girl Marion (Dorothy Tree) is being mercilessly cross examined in the witness box. The deputy District Attorney ((Onslow Stevens) then asks her out to dinner - they have been fooling around in an empty court.Mary has a few secrets. When her brother Harry (Paul Fix)is arrested for a night club murder she decides to hire hot shot lawyer Alan Adams. When Harry refuses to tell the truth about himself he is convicted and sent to prison. I don't know how but next thing Marion's aunt and uncle get a cryptic wire from her. She is also going to prison as an accessory - she wants to find out all she can about the Duchess, the girl she is convinced is the real killer. Mary Doran, who had a memorable career - she played the fiery chorus girl in "The Broadway Melody", the other woman in "The Divorcée" and in occasional Jean Harlow films - usually inmates!!! - she plays Duchess.An escape is planned for Duchess and when it happens Marion (or "Mary") goes with her . The Duchess's boyfriend, Arnie (Walter Byron) orchestrated the break and instantly takes a shine to Mary. The police find their hide-out and set up a wire so they can hear their plans - but Arnie cuts the wire. While there Mary sees people that gave false evidence in court. Among them, an elderly man seems to be intimidated by Arnie but Marion convinces him to do the right thing for the sake of his son. Before they can get away Arnie arrives and knocks the old man down - he does not come into it again - what happened to him!!!! There is a car chase and of course Harry is exonerated of the crime.It is okay. Again the big plus is seeing stars on their way up or down.

This film is missing something. It's a sense of order. When it's all over, the whole thing is very confusing. There are so many plot holes and convenient events that it just doesn't work. What was that crime exactly and why did the guy get nailed so badly? And how could that girl be thinking so fast as to keep the gun? And why did she end up in a prison with rooms that looked like the YMCA with weapons all around? And why wouldn't she tell? It's so full of things that just wouldn't happen if a man's life was at stake. Then there are the criminals who set things up and the double cross. It's a veritable mess of events that just don't wash, even in the world of the low budget crime movie. The actors also look like they are a bit bored and have nothing to work with.

Phil Rosen directed many films of this type - - "B" crime themed melodramas - - and always with efficiency, as in the case here, a low budget Invincible Pictures Corporation production that, although replete with expected shortcomings, possesses those elements that result from the presence of stage experienced players acquainted with developing largely hackneyed scenes and dialogue into sequences that will provide entertainment for themselves as well as to an audience. Onslow Stevens, frequently cast as a heavy, here performs as Jeffrey Powell, New York City Deputy District Attorney who just happens to be at the scene of a nightclub homicide, following which he is tasked with prosecution of the accused, Harry West (Paul Fix), who distressingly is somewhat mysteriously connected with Jeffrey's romantic target Marion Courtney (Dorothy Tree), the latter not being convinced of West's guilt and ostensibly having such a profound interest in the case that she decides to personally involve herself in an attempt to find whomever might be the actual killer. In some unknown fashion, Marion creates for herself a lengthy criminal history, becomes arrested for an unknown crime, subsequently convicted and assigned to the state prison wherein, naturally, resides "Duchess" (Mary Doran), moll of the man, Arny Norman (Walter Byron), suspected by Marion as being the true murderer, escapes with the other woman, following which the pair flees to the residence of Norman who is in hiding from yet other evildoers due to gambling debts, and so forth, with logic not expected to befog a nonsensical plot that careers toward a climax that mixes puerile violence with farce. The film's title refers to a covered and enclosed walkway bridging from a courthouse directly into a prison, only vaguely evocative of the Venetian original. Tree works hard at making something of her role and the film includes several episodes that feature rather witty dialogue, but this is an unmistakable product of skimpy resources benefiting largely from the editing of Ernest Nims (his first English language assignment) that keeps the action moving briskly, leaving little opportunity for a viewer to focus upon the plot holes and glaring lack of sense.