Safe in Hell (1931)

How sad is this?

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

"Safe in Hell" is by far the darkest, most risqué film of its time period that I have yet seen. Even by today's standards it is far from tame. The atmosphere of sexual predators is overwhelming.There is a great ensemble performance in this film. Gilda (Mackaill), the hotel manager (McKinney), and the general (Varconi), are all highlights. The best performance though is Morgan Wallace as Mr. Bruno. A good case could be made that he is one of the most evil villains in the history of cinema. The movie is worth watching if only for him.The overall story and drama is the only part of the movie I would call less than spectacular. The main plot point is how in love Gilda (Mackaill) and Carl (Cook) are, and how far she is willing to go to stay with him. Yet we never see them together for more than a few minutes. Had the romance angle been a little better it would have made the drama part of the picture much stronger.The best reason to watch this movie is the atmosphere. One beautiful white girl on an island of criminals. One by one trying their moves on her, while the others sit in a row of wicker chairs watching to see how the other one does. The thin shred of civilization being the only thing stopping pure lust from taking over.This is a movie that simply wouldn't exist if it hadn't been pre-code. If that's something that intrigues you, then Safe in Hell is exactly what you are looking for.

William Wellman makes the most of pre code freedom in the dark and cynical Safe in Hell. With an on the run hooker in the lead hiding out on a rogues island with a disreputable bunch of sex starved thieves and wheeler dealers Wellman serves up ample helpings of society's underbelly with some effective and subversive pokes at society in general.New Orleans "escort" Gilda has to blow town fast after possibly committing murder and burning down an apartment building. Her seaman lover spirits her away to an island until things cool off where she shares a fleabag hotel with some male dregs of humanity. Her lover plans to return and marry her but the local law and the hangman who also has designs on her confiscates his letters giving her the feeling she's been deserted. Keeping the boys at arms length most of the picture she is forced to shoot and kill one of the miscreants. Found innocent of murder she must nevertheless do some time on the weapons charge thus delivering her into the grimy paws of the hangman.Nearly all the white male characters in Safe in Hell are low lifes of the first order. Criminals without conscience, lusting voyeurs they all want a piece of the action and when Gilda feels she's gotten the brush off she lowers her guard. With a telling sense of irony Wellman provocatively juxtaposes their loutishness with the films only refined respectful well spoken character, a black porter (Clarence Muse) as well as infer miscegenation with the inn keeper (Nina Mae McKinney) who dazzles the boys with a touch of Bessie Smith.Dorothy Mackaill plays Gilda with a glamor less tragic resignation as well as most of the hard boiled molls permeating early sound poverty row films. Morgan Wallace's lascivious Mr. Bruno the hangman is convincing enough to makes Gilda's rash action that determines her fate certainly understandable as Wellman's uncompromising take leaves her little alternative.

Although this film directed by the versatile William Wellman is not essentially different from many other fallen women pictures of the early talkie era, it has elements that lift it out of the ordinary. For contemporary viewers it's an opportunity to see Dorothy Mackaill in a starring role. She was a beautiful and self-possessed actress whose career came and went too quickly. At times she looks so much like Marion Davies that you could easily mistake them for twins. Here she plays a prostitute fleeing the law with a young fellow who loves her. He deposits her in a hotel on a steamy Caribbean island inhabited by escaped male criminals. There is the appealing shock of seeing two African-American actors actually speaking and behaving in a dignified and even admirable manner: Nina Mae MacKinney and Clarence Muse as a hotel proprietress and porter, respectively. Muse speaks the King's English better than the blonde leading lady and comports himself in a far more civilized manner than any of the white men. MacKinney is spectacular. She holds her own no matter who she is playing against and even sings a spirited round of "Sleepy Time Down South" as she pours wine for a large table of diners. Another case of wasted talent in the old Hollywood days.

Robert Osborne talked about this being one of Wild Bill Wellman's pre-code classics, so naturally, it immediately got my attention. But I wasn't prepared for this. An amazing story of a hooker played by Dorothy Mackaill who is sucked into "the life" by one of the most vicious, but underrated movie villains ever on screen. The quirky, psycho, delicious Ralf Harolde.The story is unusual. Gilda the hooker falls in love with a sailor. He accepts her warts and all. She gets into confrontation with Ralf Rotten and thinks she killed him. Her sailor boyfriend helps her lam out to an island to hide out. They marry in a private ceremony and he ships out. Meanwhile, she is left to fend for herself on this island, surrounded by a half dozen lecherous criminals. She holds her own until Ralf suddenly shows up by accident. It seems he didn't die after all, but had to lam out himself after pulling off a scam. In an ironic twist, he tries for a rematch and she actually does kill him. Up till now, the story was almost poetic, but the last twenty minutes had my head spinning. She is about to be found innocent when she finds the Jefe de Policia is going to frame her for another crime and ravish her in his prison. In order to be true to her "husband" she convinces the court that she, in fact, is guilty of murder so she can be hanged. Her line to El Jefe is something like: "The only time you will touch me is when you put the noose around my neck." I've seen lots of pre-code movies. Mostly WB, and they can be pretty raunchy, but this one leads the pack. Dorothy Mackaill puts in an "A" performance in a decidedly "B" movie. It has the feel of the movie "Rain", but it seems less stylized and more authentic. I recommend it for a lot of reasons, but keep your eyes open for Ralf Harolde. Once you've seen him, I think you are going to want more.