Hell's House (1932) User Reviews

The Lost Boys

[wes-connors · 7/10 · 28 June 2010]

In the days of Prohibition, orphaned country boy Junior Durkin (as James "Jimmy" Mason) goes to live in the city with his aunt and uncle, after his mother is hit by a car. There, Mr. Durkin becomes meets, and hero-worships charismatic boarder Pat O'Brien (as Matt Kelly). Durkin doesn't know it, but Mr. O'Brien is a bootlegger. O'Brien dupes Durkin into being the lookout for a cache of liquor, which police discover. Durkin naively thinks the booze was planted, and refuses to squeal. O'Brien lets the lad take the rap, and Durkin is sentenced to three years in "The State Industrial School for Boys".

After arguing over who gets top, Durkin befriends bunkmate Frank "Junior" Coghlan (as "Shorty"), who has a heart ailment. Conditions in the reformatory are terrible. The boys have a plan to spring Durkin, but young Coghlan is caught. While his pal lies close to death, in solitary confinement, Durkin breaks out to enlist O'Brien's help in finding suitable doctors for Coghlan. But, O'Brien doesn't want to get involved, or he'll have to leave pretty Bette Davis (as Peggy Gardner) for prison...

Howard Higgin's "Hell House" was relatively ahead of the juvenile reformatory curve, and boasts several points of interest.

First off, you have the two "Juniors" Durkin and Coghlan in the same picture, comparable to the 1980s "Coreys" Haim and Feldman. Durkin even looks a little like Feldman. Unfortunately, Durkin died in a car accident. Coghlan's supporting performance upstages even Ms. Davis - and, you will see Davis get her hair messed up as O'Brien tell her, "I just washed my hands and I can't do a thing with 'em!" Note, this was before Davis uttered her famous trademark response, "I'd like to kiss ya, but I just washed my hair" (see "The Cabin in the Cotton"). Finally, you have a delirious Coghlan "talking" to his dead mother quite credibly in one scene - and, in the end, Durkin's deathly "conversation" gives the story startling emotional closure.

******* Hell's House (1/30/32) Howard Higgin ~ Junior Durkin, Frank Coghlan Jr., Pat O'Brien, Bette Davis

EARLY bette davis...

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 4 July 2018]

One of the first films Bette D ever did. and unfortunately, one of the last that Howard Higgin directed. and almost the end of the road for Junior Durkin (played "Jimmy") as well. more about them later. In the film, Jimmy's mom gets bumped off, and he goes to live with relatives. Pat Obrien is "Kelly", a no-good boarder, and Davis is his girl. Jimmy takes the fall for Kelly, and now he's off to reform school. Sound and picture are pretty rough, which is probably why we never see this one on Turner Classics. director Higgin died quite young at 47. and Junior Durkin, the "star" of this also died young, at 19 in a car accident. Durkin also lost his own mother at a young age, just like in this film. The car was driven by friend Jackie Coogan. The film's okay. and a good oppurtunity to see a young Bette Davis in an early, small role. Showing on Moonlight Movies channel.

worth watching

[timboytx · 6/10 · 5 April 2006]

The production values leave much to be desired, as this was apparently a B-movie with a very low budget, but several things make it worth watching. There's the legendary Bette Davis, before she was legendary. She always owns the screen whenever the camera sees her, and this early performance is no exception, even in a smaller role. Plus, Junior Dirkin as Jimmy Mason, the teenager, is wonderful in a simple, unaffected performance, as is Frank Coghlin playing his buddy Shorty. Also, there's Charles Grapewin, prior to his role as Uncle Henry in "The Wizard of Oz". And if you have an affinity for reform school movies, as I do, add this to your list. Don't know why, but there's something about the incarceration of youth that appeals to me.

Worthwhile Material Helps Make Up for Weaknesses Elsewhere

[Snow Leopard · 16 December 2005]

The worthwhile story material in this crime drama helps to make up for its weaknesses in other areas. In approaching the subject of juvenile crime, it doesn't present anything revolutionary or ground-breaking, but it does call attention to a few issues that are worth considering, such as the ways that young persons become involved in crime, and the priorities of the justice system in dealing with young offenders. The movie is also of some interest in having Bette Davis in one of her earliest screen roles.

Junior Durkin plays a young man who in all innocence becomes involved with a charismatic bootlegger during the days of prohibition. Jimmy (Durkin's character) is arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and is sent to reform school, where things get worse. Some of the plot developments are not all that logical or plausible, but the story works in calling attention to the way that the young offenders are often treated simply as annoyances to be minimized, with insufficient attention given to constructive development.

Pat O'Brien is effective as the bootlegger, and Davis, though cast as a stock character, has a few good moments as his tough-minded girlfriend. The rest of the supporting cast, which features Charley Grapewin and Junior Coghlan, is solid, and the story moves at a good pace. Overall, it's a little above average for its time and genre, and it contains some ideas worth thinking about.

Needs Cleaning, But Not Bad

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 19 August 2015]

Jimmy idolizes bootlegger Matt, and when he refuses to implicate his friend, he is sent to reform school. He befriends Shorty, a boy with a heart condition, and escapes to let the world know about the brutal conditions.

Mordaunt Hall observed, "The attempt to pillory reform schools is hardly adult in its attack, but it has a few moderately interesting interludes. The direction of this film is old-fashioned. Pat O'Brien gives a forced performance. Young Durkin's playing is sincere and likewise that of Bette Davis as Peggy."

The biggest problem with this film is how poorly the physical film itself has held up. The Library of Congress has done a great job cleaning it, but it remains a bit of a mess, particularly in the first act. Hopefully some day a better print will be found. The story itself is decent, and tells another angle on the whole gangster theme: what of those who are not gangsters but keep their mouths shut on their behalf?

"KO Jimmy, KO".

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 4 July 2009]

"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.

Vintage reform school drama

[lugonian · 3/10 · 7 August 2001]

"Hell's House" (Capital Films, 1932), directed by Howard Higgins, is a low-budget drama that might have been a much better reform school drama had it been produced at the Warner Brothers studio, in spite of pre-Warner Brothers contract players of Pat O'Brien and Bette Davis in supporting roles that give this the Warner Brothers feel. The central character to the story happens to be played by Junior Durkin (famous for his role as Huck Finn in Paramount's Mark Twain classics, "Tom Sawyer" (1930) and "Huckleberry Finn" (1931), both starring Jackie Coogan). But for today's viewers who may possibly find this movie in a local video store, Bette Davis is the one who brings added interest in a somewhat small role.

The story opens at a farm where Jimmy Mason (Junior Durkin) helps his widowed mother (Mary Alden) with the chores. The pleasant day turns out tragically when Mrs. Mason is suddenly struck and killed by a passing automobile. Left alone, Jimmy decides to come to the city and live with his Uncle Henry (Charley Grapewin) and Aunt Emma (Emma Dunn), landlords of an apartment building. There he meets one of their tenants, Matt Kelly (Pat O'Brien), who befriends the boy, and later introduces him to his girlfriend, Peggy (Bette Davis), a tough babe with a good heart, who takes an instant liking to this young teen. Jimmy, however, is quite naive and doesn't realize that Kelly is a smooth-talking, small-town operator and racketeer. Jimmy is soon offered a job by Kelly answering the telephone at his bootlegging headquarters. After showing him what to do and say, Kelly leaves Jimmy alone to tend to business. As Kelly slowly drives away, he looks at his rear view mirror to find the police barging in the place and arresting Jimmy. While in juvenile court, Jimmy believes that Kelly will come and speak on his behalf, and be released (no such luck). He refuses to identify Kelly as the man who hired him to the judge (Wallis Clark). Because of this, Jimmy is sentenced to three years in a state reformatory. While there, Jimmy becomes the victim of a cruelly-operated institution.

The supporting cast includes Junior Coughlan as Shorty, a reform school boy with a heart ailment who befriends Jimmy; Morgan Wallace as Frank Gebhardt, a crusading publisher wanting to improve reform school conditions; and James Marcus as the superintendent. While the opening credits presented on TV or video today give Davis and O'Brien star billing over Junior Durkin, the current opening credits are actually taken from reissue prints that capitalized on the stardom of both Davis and O'Brien, and is not the original opening credits as presented to 1932 audiences, hence the misspelling of Durkin's surname spelled Dirkin.

Although a reform school drama like this had been produced numerous times by other studios throughout the 1930s, "Hell's House," is really nothing new, in fact, a trifle slow at 70 minutes, handicapped by low-budget production values. Acting is good and reform school situations are grimly handled. However it's still interesting to see mainly because of the supporting actors of O'Brien and Davis, both of whom would become major film stars in later years, especially at Warner Brothers. (**1/2)

young Bette Davis

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 25 May 2020]

Jimmy Mason is an orphan living with his aunt and uncle. He is taken with their cocky boarder Matt Kelly (Pat O'Brien) who claims to have political connections but is only a petty bootlegger. Peggy Gardner (Bette Davis) is Matt's girlfriend. When Jimmy gets arrested, he is sure to be rescued by his well connected friend Matt. He refuses to turn in Matt and gets sent to reformatory school for three years instead. It's a rough place and his new friend is dying.

The most compelling part of the movie is Jimmy waiting for Matt while he's in court. The rest is a functional story for the boy although he's a little too clueless even at the end. His character needs to get smarter. Bette Davis is a supporting actress in this one. It's very early in her career. I would like Matt to be younger and his turn is a little too happy ending.

Fresh Off the Farm

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 28 October 2005]

Stars Pat O'Brien and Bette Davis have not near as much time as juvenile actor Junior Durkin in this one. It's another sociological drama from Warner Brothers about juvenile crime.

Junior Durkin is fresh off the farm in every sense of the word. The film opens up with Junior's Mom killed by a hit and run driver. Junior goes off to the big city to live with uncle and aunt Charley Grapewin and Emma Dunn.

They have conman boarder in Pat O'Brien and Junior falls for his spiel, hook, line, and sinker. O'Brien's a bootlegger and when his warehouse is raided, Junior takes the fall because he won't rat out his pal.

Junior goes to reform school where the conditions kind of open up his naive young eyes a crack. I think you can figure the rest of the plot.

Granted that things were more innocent back then even in Hollywood before the Code. But I have to believe that even audiences in 1932 had trouble believing this kid could be that naive. Also the beginning scene was totally unnecessary with Mom being killed. That storyline was left hanging. I was waiting for the driver to be caught and dealt with and he never was. Bad editing to say the least.

Warner Brothers got things a whole lot better with James Cagney in The Mayor of Hell the following year and then in a whole series of films with The Dead End Kids. Bette Davis is totally wasted on a thankless role.

Hell's House review

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 23 May 2020]

Hell's House is an independent picture which has the feel of a Warner Brothers product, not only because it stars Warner refugees Bette Davis and Pat O'Brien but because of the crime and prison - or reform school - subject matter. Although Davis and O'Brien headline, it's the ill-fated Junior Durkin, playing a good kid who ends up in reform school, who has most of the screen time. A pacey and tough drama that stands up well to the second-tier features churned out by the majors.

Grim reform

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 27 February 2020]

Really liked the idea for the story for 'Hells House'. It sounded quite touching and relatable. It also had Bette Davis, reason enough to see anything she was in regardless of the film's overall quality, in a small early role. The title does grab the attention and do appreciate early film, so there were enough reasons to make me want to see 'Hells House'. Regardless of the lukewarm reviews here and that it didn't look particularly great production-values wise.

'Hells House' has its moments and good things, and is overall quite watchable. It is though not much more than a curiosity piece, my curio reason being me wanting to see all the films not seen yet starring or featuring Davis. For me, the film could have a lot more with its relatively under-explored potential and more induced mixed feelings within me. It is namely to be seen for Davis but execution-wise it doesn't have much of everything else going for it.

Davis' screen time is far too small and her character is stock, she is above her material, but she brings a lot of dignity to what she has. Actually thought that in general the acting was above average, not mind-blowing but not amateur-hour, definitely one of 'Hells House's' better aspects. Great to see Pat O'Brien and Charley Grapewin here and giving likeable performances, Junior Durkin tries too hard at times and Jimmy was to me a problematic character in a way but he and Frank Coghlan's performances are deeply felt.

Their chemistry is also tenderly done, generally thought the character interaction was beautifully done in 'Hells House' and didn't get too cloying or overdone.

For all those good things though, too much is done wrong. The production values are far from great, excepting the effective use of shadow it looks very primitive. The sound likewise. The dialogue tends to be too corny and doesn't flow particularly well.

As said, Jimmy's character is problematic. Too naive in an unrealistic way. The story is charming and touching enough, but can be a little too slow in the early parts and can be contrived.

Overall, watchable curio but there are far better representations of Davis around. 5/10

Very Good!

[animism-36544 · 8/10 · 21 October 2015]

You can't call this story sweet because of the bad conditions of the reform school and the couple of shady characters, but the two little boys, the aunt and uncle, and the bootleggers girl friend definitely are. All in all, a very good movie confronting an important issues and morals. My favorite part is when Jimmy first arrives at the school, and gets into a small scrap with his bunk mate, friend to be. His friend comes off as a real jerk at first, but since Jimmy obviously knows how to keep his mouth shut about things and is nice, the friend automatically lightens up. It was great to see Mr. Kelly give himself up at the end. Such a good kid shouldn't suffer on account of an irresponsible man.

Bette Davis in an early role!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 31 March 2018]

Copyright 10 February 1932 by Bennie F. Zeidman Productions, Ltd. U.S. release through Capitol Films Exchange: 14 February 1932. New York opening at the Warner's Strand: 11 February 1932. 8 reels. 72 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Naive young boy takes the rap for a bootlegger and is sentenced to three years in the state reformatory.

VIEWER'S GUIDE: An emphasis on torture and violence make this film highly unsuitable for children.

COMMENT: Although most people will want to see this film mainly out of curiosity (although her sixth feature, it is one of the earliest Bette Davis movies that are readily available), you soon become captured by the simple but rather horrific story, despite the general air of Poverty Row. In fact, the very lack of gloss in the production adds to rather than detracts from its still powerful impact. The photography is murky, the studio sets claustrophobic, but writer/director Higgin has used his real street locations with considerable flair. Two street scenes with Pat O'Brien are particularly well staged. The second is especially memorable with O'Brien sitting in his car at one end of an alley, watching the police raid his warehouse.

The acting has traces of amateurish enthusiasm, but there's no denying its force. Durkin is excellent as the naive country lad who innocently idolises O'Brien's self-promoting, minor-league bootlegger. Davis, easily recognizable despite her blonde hair and slim figure, is O'Brien's understandably surly girlfriend, while Morgan Wallace plays the tough, crusading but respected newspaperman. Marcus is the hand-washing warden, Clark a mealy-mouthed judge, Grapewin the hero's put-upon uncle, and Junior Coghlan a doomed inmate.

Admittedly, this movie is far from a masterpiece, even by "B" picture standards, but it is grimly entertaining nonetheless.

an early reform school drama

[kidboots · 5/10 · 26 October 2007]

Junior Durkin (spelled Durkin) played Jimmy in this film. If he is billed as Dirkin - it is probably a printing error (which often popped up on poverty row productions.) Capitol Films was hardly MGM and probably didn't have the budget for such extravagances as printing people's names right!!!

Durkin also appeared in "Tom Sawyer" (1930) and "Huckleberry Finn" (1931) with his friend Jackie Coogan. Unfortunately he died in a road accident in 1935 - Jackie Coogan was also injured.

This was an early teenage reform school drama. In this film Durkin plays Jimmy, who is orphaned early in the movie and goes to live with an aunt and uncle (Emma Dunn and Charley Grapewin). Pat O'Brien, in an uncharacteristic "baddie" role, plays their boarder. Outwardly he is everybodys friend but he is really a bootlegger and Jimmie comes under his spell. Jimmy is sent to reform school after refusing to inform on his friend, Mr. Kelly. It is the "Hell's House' of the title. While there he witnesses suffering and cruelty to the young boys and makes a friend of Shorty (Junior Coughlin, another child actor of the silents) a boy with a bad heart. When Shorty is sent to solitary confine- meant, Jimmy escapes to try to find him good medical treatment. When Shorty dies Jimmy exposes the dreadful conditions of the school, Mr Kelly confesses his guilt and Jimmy is free.

It is an alright film. It's only interest is a mousey Bette Davis in one of her earliest roles.

A Young Davis and O'Brien

[Michael_Elliott · 29 August 2009]

Hell's House (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Low-budget crime/melodrama is best remembered for the early views of Pat O'Brien and Bette Davis. In the film, a young boy (Junior Durkin) moves to New York after the death of his mother where he quickly looks up to Matt (O'Brien). What the boy doesn't know is that Matt is a bootlegger and he ends up taking the rap for a crime and sent to an abusive reform school. The boy is trapped there unless Matt can grow some guts and admit that he is the one who should be behind bars. This film beat the Warner/James Cagney drama THE MAYOR OF HELL into theaters by nearly a year so I'm curious if this is one of those small studios hearing about a major studios work and then trying to race a finished product into theaters. The film certainly comes off that way because it has the structure of a decent drama but everything seems so rushed that they forgot to add any heart or soul. The movie is pretty flat, especially compared to the Cagney film and its several remakes, because we really don't see too much here. This reform school is suppose to be "hell's house" yet we hardly ever see any of the abuse or torments that the boys are going through. O'Brien's character is underwritten pretty badly as is his girlfriend played by Davis. The two actors are the main reason to see the film because they both come off very likable. O'Brien gets to shine in the role of the bad guy with a heart and it's easy to see why Warner signed him up. Davis doesn't come off as good but it's fun seeing a legend pay her dues. Durkin also does pretty good in his role but I thought he was a lot more believable in his "country boy" state early in the film rather than the hero at the end.

Hell's House - Overall Impression

[aladar-219-783287 · 6/10 · 3 February 2015]

I managed to find this one netflix, and immediately the ratings told me that it wasn't going to be fun. While I don't think it's all that good, I can tell they tried to get the audience transfixed.

One thing I do not understand is how it goes from Jimmy losing his mother to him getting involved in the prohibition movement without his knowledge? How does this transition, exactly? The two events don't correlate to me and I didn't find it all that intriguing. That and it doesn't help that the acting isn't all that good. Sometimes the dialogue makes me cringe, especially when it comes to exclamations the characters give towards other characters, especially when Shorty was in the reform school. It just felt soooo scripted and unorganized and it was disappointing to see how little attention was put into how the dialogue was constructed.

One thing that I thought was kind of interesting was the friendship between Shorty and Jimmy. A lot of the interactions between the boys in the reform school was corny in general, but these two were the icing on the cake. That and I couldn't help but laugh whenever Shorty called him Big Boy. I'm sorry, but there is innuendo written all over this relationship and it's funny as hell. Being gay isn't funny, but combined with the corny dialogue and poor acting, it made things like that ten times more hilarious than they should be, especially when certain scenes intended to be moving. That isn't good.

I also had an issue with the Jimmy character. He's 15, and yet he acted much younger than he did; much too polite (that sounds awful, I know), too gullible, and very childlike. The actor was young himself, and died tragically two years after this film, but his work here wasn't very believable to me. He played off a kid pretty well, but maybe played it too well. Ironically the actor had a male lover before his death; it speaks VOLUMES. He stands just a little too close to other male actors and the whole time I am just begging for someone to kiss him--Mr. Kelly, Shorty, somebody! Give this poor boy some sugar!

I'm being generous with this and giving it a 6 out of 10, but I wasn't too crazy about this, despite my humor. I felt like they had a lot of wasted potential by spending so little time on filming it. A shame. I felt the topic would have made it similar to I Am A Fugitive In A Chain Gang. Awe well...

what do you mean nothing is gonna happen! It's happening already!

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 1 September 2011]

***SPOILERS*** After his mom, Mary Alden,is killed in a hit and run 15 year old orphan Jimmy Mason, Junior Durkin, is taken in by his aunt and uncle Emma Dunn & Henry Clark, Emma Clark & Charley Grapewin, in their home in the big city as their new tenant. It's there that Johnny meets local wise guy and know it all Matt Kelly, Pat O'Brian, who fills Jimmy's head with all kinds of BS about what a big as well as connected men about town he is.

The very young and impressionable Jimmy falls for Matt's bragging about himself and as a favor Matt gives Jimmy a job at his illegal booze distillery. Jimmy as Matt's personal secretary has no idea in what's going on in the place! Knowing and seeing nothing Jimmy is the perfect pasty who soon ends up getting busted in a police raid when Matt just happened to take off. It was a concerned neighbor that dropped a dime or, in the depths of the depression, nickle and tipped off the cops telling them that there's something screwy is going on in the neighborhood where Matt's distillery was located!

Caught and busted by the police and the court in refusing to snitch out Matt Jimmy ends up in a brutal reform school while Matt continues his charmed life as a bootlegger as well as him looking forward to hitch up with his girlfriend pretty Peggey Gardner, Bette Davis. While this is happening Jimmy is going through hell at the joint, the reform school, waiting for his "good friend" that he took the rap for Matt Kelly to bail him out like he promised to do.

Desperate to get in touch with Matt Jimmy writes him a letter that his friend and fellow inmate the sickly with a serious heart condition Shorty,Frank Coghlan Jr, takes on himself to smuggle out of the prison. Caught red handed with Jimmy's letter Shorty,like the good friend that he is,refuses to implicate Jimmy as the person he's trying to smuggle the letter out for and gets six days in the hole, solitary confinement, for doing it. It's in the hole that Jimmy who's now promoted as a monitor by the warden finds a barley alive Shorty who's weak heart is slowly giving out on him! Jimmy realizes, besides what he did for him, that if Shorty doesn't get help immediately he'll die from acute heart failure!

Beaking out of the reform school by hiding in a a garbage truck Jimmy makes it back home and tries to get a startled Matt, who by now completely forget about him,to get in touch with one of the big-wigs he always talks about in him getting Shorty immediate medical help before he expires which in fact he soon did! Matt the rat that he is at first tries to fake or con his way out of the situation but it's Peggy,in finally knowing what a rat fink he is, who gets him to do the right thing by having him look at himself in the mirror! And what Matt saw wasn't at all that pretty!

***SPOILERS*** Peggy finally getting Matt to call crusading newspaper editor Frank Gebhartd, Morgan Wallace, Matt is now put in the unenviable position in turning over Jimmy to the cops who are hot on his tail of fessing up and telling the truth about what a heel he is and how he sold his good friend Jimmy Mason down the river after he took the fall for him! With both Peggy and Gebhardt knocking some sense into Matt's thick skull he in the end becomes the big man as well as hero that Jimmy always thought he was. And as for Matt he finds out the hard way that he in fact does have a conscience which in the end will make a far better and kinder person, instead of the rotten lying slime-ball that he was, out of him.

Is it OK, or a KO ?

[jacowium · 5/10 · 11 December 2011]

This is only the second feature film directed by Howard Higgin that I get to see, and unfortunately confirms my suspicion that his craftsmanship still lagged behind other directors of the time, such as Edmund Goulding, Mervyn LeRoy, Alfred Hitchcock etc.

I would cite the screen writing (in which he had a major hand) as one of the weaknesses. The characters often act cartoonish and not all the narrative bases are always covered. For instance, here we see the only the first part of an escape attempt, then the viewer is left in the dark as to how the escapee managed the rest of it.

On the other hand, Higgin's direction of the actors still manages to make me care about the characters, even if their behaviour is often cartoonish, as mentioned above. The actors use facial expressions quite well in communicating emotions, overcoming some of the production difficulties in the early years of talkies.

Another reviewer stated that the opening scenes are "unnecessary" and the "storyline left hanging". Au contraire! A central theme is introduced, i.e. the unwillingness of citizens to take responsibility for their actions, leaving the innocent to suffer in their wake. We then see the main character cradling a dying person in his lap, foreshadowing a critical scene later on.

I believe therefore that director Higgin had a good understanding of cinematic techniques and dramatic elements, but it is in the execution and communication of those aspects, where he disappoints somewhat.

And wait, I didn't mention the joy of seeing Bette Davis in an early role...

A kid get's caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[saalehab · 6/10 · 22 September 2015]

Now personally, I'll have to save that this movie wasn't a favorite. The plot was good, yes. But I'm a stickler for acting, and only two actors, Davis and O'Brien, actually provided a good performance.Overall, I was kept watching by the interesting story. The sound for a movie still early in the sound game was quite good, you were able to hear sounds like the bricks being thrown and cars clearly and even though there wasn't much of it, the music was also pretty good. The camera work I didn't find spectacular, there was one artistic moment that I can remember enjoying, which was when the boys shadows are cast on the reform room wall, it was a good choice to show that. But this movie, though good story was just lacking a little for me in the acting and camera work department for me.

somewhat interesting story but plagued with shabby production values

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 3 July 2006]

This story is about a teen orphan who goes to live with his aunt and uncle. They have a blow-hard boarder, Pat O'Brien, living with them and the boy idolizes and believes in this man--even though practically everything he tells them is pure bull. O'Brien gives the boy a job working in a warehouse answering the phone. The boy doesn't realize that the warehouse is stuffed with illegal alcohol and after the police get a tip, they raid the place and jail the boy. However, the boy foolishly believes in O'Brien and keeps his mouth shut and is subsequently sent to reform school. Here, the kid finds out that reform school is not a very nice place (big surprise) and much of the rest of the film is an indictment against the juvenile justice system.

Despite all this, the boy remains convinced that O'Brien is his friend--even though at any point O'Brien COULD have gone to the police and told him the truth and had the boy released. Eventually the boy escapes because he's trying to get medical help for his buddy, Shorty. The press find out about the boy as well as the truth about his incarceration. O'Brien finally admits the truth and the boy is released--but it's too late for poor Shorty. Despite being dead, Shorty returns for an amazingly sappy and stupid conclusion, as we hear his voice saying goodbye to his friend in the final frames (gag me)! This general theme of kids unfairly treated in jail was repeated many times in the 1930s--some times with the Dead End Kids and some times without. And, considering how lousy the acting and dialog is in this movie, you might be best served to watch one of these other films. Plus, the boy, at times, just seems too dumb to be real!

Also, while Bette Davis is in the movie, she's largely given an unremarkable and bland role. Several years would pass before the quality of the material given her would improve. Poor Bette!

If you are a sucker for an old corny movie, you will like it -- I did

[playground_swing · 7/10 · 23 April 2020]

While the movie drips with overly sentimental syrup, I found it easy to watch. The torment of the poor innocent boy is way over the top, but that is part of what makes it so watchable. The actors actually are pretty good. Though most of them ham it up, they do not stumble on their lines. I was able to watch it start to finish and just started watching it on a whim when it came up recommended on YouTube. For me it was between a 6 and 7 star movie, but I rounded up for the lost innocence that these old corny flicks represent.

Hell's House

[eroberts-93865 · 4/10 · 21 September 2015]

Barely a few minutes into this movie, I was confused as to why I was even watching it. The acting in the first scene between Jimmy and his mom is absolutely awful, as is the camera work. Jimmy's performance doesn't seem to improve at all. In fact, I cringed when Jimmy stares directly into the camera after his first exchange with Shorty when he arrives at the reform home. That was quite a choice to make, but as far as the performance goes, I believe it's the kind of acting that doesn't understand the difference between on-stage and on-camera. Bette Davis easily gives the best performance in this movie, and with the amount of screen-time she gets, I think that's saying something.

I also noticed the lighting being slightly inconsistent and overall, not great. The transitions, however, consisting mainly of the number assigned to Jimmy at the reform home being added to list after list of new duties, were something I enjoyed. It was one of the only things that made me feel sympathy for his character.

One scene I did really enjoy was Jimmy's first try at supervising the other boys, who have been instructed to stare at a line on a wall indefinitely. The shots of their shadows on the wall followed by the one boy fainting really made me feel something. Horror, injustice, sympathy, disgust. While it had its moments, I can't say I was engaged or thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

Innocence getting caught up with crime with no awareness of it

[clanciai · 8/10 · 30 September 2021]

The beginning of the film marks its character. A single mother gets run over by a car, which leaves her there to die in the arms of her only child, a small boy with the name of James Mason. He has no choice but to go to town to his nearest of kin, his mother's sister and her husband out of work, but they have a tenant, who employs James Mason in his bootlegging business. Naturally the boy gets caught while his 'benefactor' absconds in faked innocence. That's the beginning of the downward journey into hell.

He ends up in a reform school, and the real interest of the film is the shocking revelation of conditions there. The boys are forced to slave work and subjected to inhuman punishments which are not far from brainwash. But the truth will out, even from the hell of a reform school, and a nosy journalist gets interested. That, however, does not help the one boy who has already died.

Focuses on important issues

[s-lajeunesse · 6/10 · 13 March 2015]

Hell's House was a film that i felt, even though the movie itself could have been better, was successful in focusing on important topics like the treatment of juveniles and prisoners. the film was able to get that message across that something needed to be done about the conditions those boys faced but the story by itself felt lacking. the movie fits right in with the theme of prison or crime based movies that were being made at that time (mainly from Warner Bros.). the acting was satisfactory but i was able to see the bond between the boys grow while they were in the reform school and that made the movie work. The film did not impress me as much as other movie during the time when it was made but i still believe that it was successful in accomplishing what the filmmakers set out to do.

Lying for one person gets Jimmy in more trouble than he ever expected.

[livieelynn · 5/10 · 4 October 2015]

The acting in this movie was very good. All the characters really helped shape the movie. The plot/meaning behind it was very hard to decipher but the plot overall never got boring. It really made you learn about how that time period handled crimes and how even a young boy can be thrown into hell without a second thought. The lighting was very well done, too. It was perfect to watch the movie throughout and had darkened with shadows and face contours for effect when needed.This was very apparent in the scene with Shorty and Jimmy in the solitary confinement room. The photography was excellent, there were amazing shots and narrative when it came to the camera. The film lacked good sound effects. It was good, overall, but lacked in some areas.