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The Big House (1930) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.4/10   460 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 9% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
George W. Hill
Writers:
Joseph Farnham (additional dialogue)
Martin Flavin (additional dialogue)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Big House on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
14 June 1930 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Thriller more
Tagline:
Timely! Tremendous! Thrilling! Drama of Love and a Jail-Break!
Plot:
A convict falls in love with his new cellmate's sister, only to become embroiled in a planned break-out which is certain to have lethal consequences. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 nominations more
User Comments:
A great character study and view of the prison system more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Chester Morris ... John Morgan

Wallace Beery ... 'Machine Gun' Butch Schmidt
Lewis Stone ... Warden James Adams

Robert Montgomery ... Kent Marlowe
Leila Hyams ... Anne Marlowe
George F. Marion ... Pop Riker
J.C. Nugent ... Mr. Marlowe
Karl Dane ... Olsen
DeWitt Jennings ... Capt. Wallace
Matthew Betz ... Gopher (as Mathew Betz)
Claire McDowell ... Mrs. Marlowe
Robert Emmett O'Connor ... Police Sgt. Donlin (as Robert Emmet O'Connor)
Tom Kennedy ... Uncle Jed
Tom Wilson ... Sandy, Guard
Eddie Foyer ... Dopey
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Additional Details

Runtime:
USA:87 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.20 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
Finland:(Banned)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Wallace Beery's mess hall diatribe is parodied by Leslie Nielsen in Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), when he goes undercover into the prison and complains about the quality of the food. more
Quotes:
[repeated line]
'Machine Gun' Butch Schmidt: Who, me?
more
Movie Connections:
Edited into Crime Does Not Pay Series No. 1 Entitled 'Buried Loot' (1935) more

FAQ

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful:-
A great character study and view of the prison system, 4 August 2000
Author: Harmony Jones from Los Angeles, CA

I saw "The Big House" last night as part of Turner Classic Movies' tribute to Frances Marion, the great female screenwriter. Marion became the first woman to win an Academy Award for screenwriting for her work on this film.

"The Big House" is a fascinating character study, showing how three very different men deal with being imprisoned. Butch (Wallace Beery) lords over all of the men with a knife and threats of violence. John Morgan (Chester Morris) is smart enough to befriend Butch and his crew, but keeps his own set of values. Newcomer Kent Marlowe (Robert Montgomery) is terrified of prison and eventually turns "rat" in hopes of being released.

The film also infers that the public at large is partly to blame for the discontent (and eventual unrest) within the prison: at one moment, the head warden says something to the effect of the public wanting to put criminals in prison, but not wanting to spend the money to build more prisons to accommodate them. This is issue is still debated to this day.

I also found the portrayal of the lone female character, Anne Marlowe (Kent's sister, played by Leila Hyams), very refreshing and unexpected. Instead of the crying, simpering type we might expect in a prison movie, we are given a smart and compassionate woman who owns her own business.

All of the actors gave excellent, realistic performances and Frances Marion's screenplay was well-deserving of the accolades it received. The insight and sensitivity that she used to write about these characters and this place surpasses most of the scripts written by men on the same subject.

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