"Hell's House" is a low budget Poverty Row production from Capital Films, doing what Warner Brothers provided on a broader and grander scale during the same era. It's interesting to see Bette Davis and Pat O'Brien in roles well before they became big names for Warner, even if they're backing the real star of the piece, a short lived young actor of the time named Junior Durkin. Durkin's character is Jimmy Mason, sent to the State Industrial School for Boys when he's pinched in a liquor warehouse raid. His fast and smooth talking pal Kelly (O'Brien) allows Jimmy to take the heat, even as Jimmy believes his pal will come to the rescue.
The film is classic melodrama, highlighted by a scene in the reform school when Jimmy tries to comfort his sick pal Shorty (Junior Coughlin), who subsequently dies after Jimmy breaks out. On the surface, the film attempts to uncover the pitfalls of the reform school system, but the exposition falls short of revealing any serious abuses. It's left more to the imagination of the viewer what might be going on behind the prison-like walls of the reformatory. The worst we get to see is the uniformed boys laboring in the 'brick yard', although that didn't look like it would be much fun. Funny, but I grew up in a small town that had it's own brick yard dating back to the early 1900's, and that nickname stuck around until about the 1960's; hearing it in the film really caught me off guard.
There's no way you'll ever believe the ending to the story if you know anything about human nature. Pat O'Brien's character gets remorseful after newspaper publisher Gebhardt (Morgan Wallace) declares 'You're a Rat!', setting up Kelly's come clean confession. You got the impression that Peggy (Bette Davis) had a good idea what a heel her boyfriend was throughout the picture. Her character walked a fine line between being the clean cut girl next door and a would be moll to O'Brien's bootlegger. Hers was a well played and subtle role.
If you enjoy stuff like this as I do, you would do well to look up a neat sixty disc/two hundred fifty film DVD set from Mill Creek Entertainment-Tree Line Films, comprising their Mystery Collection. It's a great bargain, and one of the very few ways you'll ever get to see flicks like this unless you're at the right place at the right time for a Turner Classics screening.
The film is classic melodrama, highlighted by a scene in the reform school when Jimmy tries to comfort his sick pal Shorty (Junior Coughlin), who subsequently dies after Jimmy breaks out. On the surface, the film attempts to uncover the pitfalls of the reform school system, but the exposition falls short of revealing any serious abuses. It's left more to the imagination of the viewer what might be going on behind the prison-like walls of the reformatory. The worst we get to see is the uniformed boys laboring in the 'brick yard', although that didn't look like it would be much fun. Funny, but I grew up in a small town that had it's own brick yard dating back to the early 1900's, and that nickname stuck around until about the 1960's; hearing it in the film really caught me off guard.
There's no way you'll ever believe the ending to the story if you know anything about human nature. Pat O'Brien's character gets remorseful after newspaper publisher Gebhardt (Morgan Wallace) declares 'You're a Rat!', setting up Kelly's come clean confession. You got the impression that Peggy (Bette Davis) had a good idea what a heel her boyfriend was throughout the picture. Her character walked a fine line between being the clean cut girl next door and a would be moll to O'Brien's bootlegger. Hers was a well played and subtle role.
If you enjoy stuff like this as I do, you would do well to look up a neat sixty disc/two hundred fifty film DVD set from Mill Creek Entertainment-Tree Line Films, comprising their Mystery Collection. It's a great bargain, and one of the very few ways you'll ever get to see flicks like this unless you're at the right place at the right time for a Turner Classics screening.