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The Big House (1930)

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12 comments in total

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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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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Jail House Classic Still Rocks, 2 January 2001

Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA

THE BIG HOUSE - prison of no hope - the last terminal for lost souls. Only the strong survive; the weak crack or are corrupted. As the warden shrewdly tells a new arrival, the place won't make you go yellow, but it you already are yellow it'll bring it out.

MGM was the only studio in Hollywood which would have let a female write the script for such a strong story. But in Frances Marion they not only had the most celebrated screenwriter in the industry, but also a person uniquely qualified to write about any situation. She headed off to California's notorious San Quentin Prison to observe the conditions & learn the lingo. Cheerfully deflecting the jibes & taunts of guards & prisoners alike, she reminded them that after being a frontline correspondent in the Great War there were few situations she couldn't handle.

The result is a wonderful film, tough, hard-bitten & stark. MGM did itself proud by supplying a terrific cast and production values. The scene where belligerent Wallace Beery refuses to eat the commissary slop remains a classic.

Chester Morris does a fine job as a resourceful crook who is actually helped by his time in prison, reformed against his will. This excellent actor is too often ignored when the histories of 1930's cinema are written. Wallace Beery, as murderous Butch, is absolutely unforgettable. Marion wrote the part with him in mind & it is difficult to imagine anyone else playing it. Lovable & dangerous in equal measure, he steals every scene he's in. THE BIG HOUSE would set Beery firmly on the road to major talkie stardom.

Robert Montgomery, on the cusp of his own salad days as a sophisticated, romantic leading man, here plays quite a different role. As a weak, cowardly stool pigeon, he's cast very much against type. It would be 1937's NIGHT MUST FALL before he received another such finely-nuanced role.

Lewis Stone is very effective in the small role as the tough-as-nails warden. Beautiful Leila Hyams is well-cast as Mongomery's spunky sister. George F. Marion & DeWitt Jennings are both memorable as elderly security guards. Champion stutterer Roscoe Ates provides a few moments of much needed comic relief.

Karl Dane is easily spotted as a hulking convict in several scenes, but he is curiously mute. Doubtless, his thick Danish accent was already giving the Studio trouble. Even though he had been an important comic star in silent pictures, he was quickly relegated to talkie bit parts. He was eventually further reduced to selling hot dogs from a cart outside the MGM front gates. This was the final indignity. He committed suicide in 1934.

Preview audiences were curiously cool to THE BIG HOUSE, until MGM executive Irving Thalberg figured out that female viewers didn't like con Chester Morris romancing another prisoner's wife. Thalberg instructed Marion to rewrite a few scenes and refilming made it clear that Leila Hyams was Robert Montgomery's sister, not his spouse. This pleased the patrons and the movie was a big hit.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Crashing Out, 5 October 2007

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Even after 77 years, The Big House is still the grand daddy of all prison films. Though films like Shawshank Redemption and a personal favorite of mine, Brubaker, with no Code restrictions can be a lot more graphic, still The Big House will shock as well as entertain.

Wallace Beery got a Best Actor nomination for being hardened killer Butch Schmidt who's a lifer in the state penitentiary. He and cell mate Chester Morris have a new man in their little abode in the person of a young Robert Montgomery.

Montgomery's only a kid, but he's done a man size crime of manslaughter in a vehicular homicide where he was no doubt good and sloshed on prohibition rotgut. Montgomery is a weakling in a place where that's not a good thing.

All the clichés about prison films really do start here, culminating in the final crash-out where a whole lot of people get themselves killed. It's a scene well staged, very similar to the breakout in Brute Force.

As the story progresses you'll see plot elements from Brute Force and from Warner Brothers Each Dawn I Die. The cast does a marvelous job and that also includes Lewis Stone as a Judge Hardy like warden.

If you like prison films, this one's the grand daddy of them all.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Good Story, Though A Bit Hokey, 7 August 2000

Author: Tom-497 from Los Angeles, CA

I thought this film was very strong from the story angle -- the main characters are not cliches and a relatively happy ending is contrived in a relatively believable way.

Still, there is some rather hokey preaching from the warden, which feels more like "social commentary" from the writer than believable dialogue from the character. And the "comic relief" of a stuttering convict falls flat.

Also, somewhat strangely, I didn't see any black faces in any of the shots that actually involve dialogue, or even in medium-long shots of say a dozen or so prisoners. But when you get extreme long shots, suddenly all sorts of black prisoners appear. I'm not sure if this accurately reflected segregation in prisons, racism in filmmaking, or a continuity problem.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Brilliant acting., 30 May 1999

Author: mark-293

I really enjoyed this film. It was a refreshing change from the films of today which all seem to have to rely on special effects for the film to be a success. The story of 'The big house' is very good and I would venture an opinion that it was far and above the norm for films of that era. The acting was great from Robert Montgomary as Kent Marlowe and Wallace Beery as Butch Schmidt. Leila Hyams as Anne Marlowe was both a stunning looking, and brilliant actress and stole the film with her looks.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Film Classic, 23 January 2008

Author: whpratt1 from United States

It was hard for me to believe that this film story was written by a female named Francis Marion who had studied prison life at San Quentin. Chester Morris plays the role as a con named John Morgan and is good friends with Butch Schmidt, (Wallace Berry) who is a hard nose prisoner with lots of power and connections among the other prison mates. Robert Montgomery, (Kent Marlowe) is a man who comes from a rich family, however, Kent is a weak minded guy or you could also call him a stool pigeon. There is a big prison break scene with all kinds of bullets flying all over the place and machine guns blasting away. Even the National Guard is call to action in one of the worst prison breaks I have ever seen. This is a great film with great actors and an outstanding Classic Film from 1930.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Classic--a prison drama written by a woman!, 19 March 2003

Author: Wayne Malin (wwaayynnee51@hotmail.com) from United States

This is the prison drama that set the pattern for all later ones.

Robert Montgomery is sent to prison and encounters hard-bitten Wallace Berry and regular guy Chester Morris. He's a nice guy but prison life slowly begins to change him. That's about all I'm going to say about the movie...it's well worth anybody's time to see it (it's only 86 minutes long).

It does lack the hard edge you might expect--the dialogue is tame (of course) and there's next to no violence, but the script is excellent (surprisingly written by a woman and a Oscar Winner) and the acting is just great--especially Berry (he was nominated for an Oscar but didn't win). It does have a sentimental, happy ending but it WAS made in 1930.

Well worth catching--TCM has an excellent print and shows it every once in a while. Also it's fun to see Robert Montgomery so young and handsome.

Best exchange: "Who me?" "Yes you."

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Good Drama, 10 March 2008
Author: MichaelElliott1 from Louisville, KY

Big House, The (1930)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Robert Montgomery is sent to prison for manslaughter charges when he's put in the same cell as Machine Gun Butch (Wallace Berry). A breakout is eventually planned but a riot happens first. Berry rightfully so got an Oscar nomination but I found Montgomery a tad bit too dull in his role. The film is overly talky, which is the norm for its time but the action packed finale is very good. There are also one too many social messages said but this here was mostly due to the times that the film was released.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Movie Odyssey Review #042: The Big House, 11 January 2007

Author: Cyke from Denver, Colorado

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

042: The Big House (1930) - released 6/14/1930; viewed 3/26/06.

Chicago Tribune journalist Alfred Liddle is shot in Chicago, apparently due to mafia ties.

BIRTHS: Clint Eastwood.

DOUG: It's good to see our Wallace Beery fitting so well into a sound film, with his gruff, raspy voice going well with his intimidating physique. Although the story is told from Morgan's and Kent's points of view, it's Butch who steals the show (Beery was nominated for Lead Actor, after all). The movie starts off from Kent's point of view, as he is incarcerated for a DUI and vehicular manslaughter. After he's there for a while, the film then shifts to Morgan's point of view, as Kent betrays him (on the day of Morgan's parole no less) in hopes of getting some time off (such is the Prisoner's Dilemma). Morgan escapes, and hooks up with Kent's sister on the outside (it used to be his wife, but audiences were turned off by this turn of events). At first we're on Kent's side, but as he starts to cave, our sympathy shifts to Morgan in a most interesting way. The climax is a thrilling gun battle in the prison, and in the end, one of our heroes dies and the other goes free. Overall, a very good genre picture.

KEVIN: More fun from Frances Marion (the most celebrated woman screenwriter in Hollywood history), who here tackles a much grittier subject: the prison movie. This film is really a three-man ensemble, consisting of Morgan (Chester Morris), Kent (Robert Montgomery), and Butch (big bad Wallace Beery). When the film starts, I thought it would be all about Kent, trying to keep his head on straight while serving his manslaughter sentence. The focus begins to shift when he reaches his cell and meets 'Machine Gun' Butch and the charismatic brains to his brawn, John Morgan. Very quickly the story shifts to Morgan after Kent double-crosses him and Morgan later escapes. But Butch can hardly be regarded as the third-place character, as his mere presence virtually dwarfs the other two men. It's definitely not the greatest prison picture that could be made. The directing is average, the action scenes are spectacularly implausible, and the sound effects are notably sloppy, but it's certainly an enjoyable character-driven action yarn, guided by Marion's expert pen.

Last film: Hell's Angels (1930). Next film: Animal Crackers (1930).

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
(SPOILERS AHEAD)...Powerful story is one of the screen's early "big house" prison melodramas..., 12 January 2006

Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

So many high quality prison melodramas have been on the screen in the last few decades that this one--made in 1930--has to be reviewed in the context of its time. As such, it's a well-written, powerful study of men behind bars, none of whom observes a code of conduct likely to make them good material for rehabilitation.

CHESTER MORRIS is a forger, WALLACE BEERY is a thick-necked bullying murderer and ROBERT MONTGOMERY is a comparative "innocent" with a drunken manslaughter charge against him. They share the same cell and are soon involved in bickering and double-crosses that make up most of the plot contrivances that lead to a prison break where all hell breaks loose. Within the conventions of crime melodramas, this one maintains passable interest today although it lacks the taut tension of more modern prison dramas.

Filmed when sound in film was only two years old, there is virtually no background music at all--a factor which dates the film's style and gives it a static quality during moments where music would have raised the drama to a higher pitch.

CHESTER MORRIS, an interesting actor, is likable and energetic as the man who walks out of prison a free man after helping to contain the riot. ROBERT MONTGOMERY does a fine job as the coward who breaks under the stress of having betrayed another prisoner and LEWIS STONE does a good turn as the warden.

Overall, it's better than average for this sort of thing--well paced despite the lack of background music to emphasize the drama--and worth watching for the performances. Beery is especially good and deserved his Best Actor nomination. Chester Morris is equally impressive in the top-billed assignment, forceful and convincing all the way in a showy role.

But I have to conclude that Warner Bros. seemed to have a better handle than MGM on this sort of tough, stark material. Raoul Walsh's WHITE HEAT ('49)with James Cagney is the best example.

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