Wordiezett So much average

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

richard-1787 It will not be on anyone's Top Ten list, nor should it be. It's not a great movie.But it's certainly a good one, and downright exciting at the end.It also falls into one of the categories of movies that Hollywood really doesn't make anymore, at least in the same way.Are some of our prisons as corrupt as this one? It wouldn't surprise me, though the corruption is probably not as visible as in this movie.What makes this movie work for me is John Garfield's energy and determination. Once he gets himself arrested and sent to prison, things really start to take off.No, the end is not surprising. You know that his character is unlikely to be killed. He is likely to break the story he went after and break the criminal's hold over the prison. But the way he did it held me.You could do worse than to watch this movie.

dougdoepke After being convicted, an egotistical crime boss corrupts the prison he's sent to, until a crusading commissioner and crime reporter get on his trail.If you like the blustery Wallace Beery you might like this movie. After all, the film's real star is a Beery impersonator, Stanley Fields (Bull Bransom), who has the most scenes and screen time. Looks to me like Garfield's only got a featured part though he gets top billing. I guess (IMDB) the top billing is because his smash hit Four Daughters (1938) was made after this film but released before Blackwell. So Warner's shot more scenes for him in this film before releasing it, knowing they had a budding star. Anyway, as a Garfield fan, I've never seen him look so young. Still, he's got his usual fast-talk delivery but without the patented tough guy demeanor. All in all, this may be his first screen appearance.At the same time, why top bill Rosemary Lane when she's only got about a minute of screen time. No doubt she was also added after initial shooting because she played so well with Garfield in Four Daughters. I've spent some time on these oddities because the movie itself is ordinary, at best. Fields makes a comical crime boss in a routine screenplay that relies mainly on his Beery-like qualities. Warner's does get to use a lot of its stock footage of prison turmoil, a topic it specialized in. Still and all, except for the evolution of Garfield's career, the movie itself is nothing more than a routine bottom-of-the-bill programmer.

wes-connors On the waterfront in New York City, practical joking extortionist Stanley Fields (as Bull Bransom) is not amused when reporter John Garfield (as Tim Haydon) starts writing a series of articles exposing his racket. After beating up policeman Dick Purcell (as Terry Walsh), Mr. Fields is sentenced to "Blackwell's Island". But Fields soon has the prison operating like his private country club, with criminal activity continuing. Mr. Garfield goes undercover as an inmate to investigate. Playing Mr. Purcell's pretty sister, nurse Rosemary Lane (as Sunny), provides Garfield with a romantic interest.**** Blackwell's Island (3/2/39) William McGann ~ John Garfield, Stanley Fields, Dick Purcell, Rosemary Lane

gnrz This is one of those movies which are jammed packed with actors who's names we don't recall but who's faces are very familiar because they appear in so many of these great B movies. About the only well known actors are John Garfield and Victor Jory. This film is about a New York protection racket boss, played by Stanley Fields as somewhat menacing yet also a comic figure. He and two of his henchmen get sent to a local prison on a Hudson River island, where they end-up taking control and have the warden and his staff do their bidding. Garfield plays a crusading crime reporter who arranges to become a prisoner on the island so as to get the goods on the mob. It's great fun with lots of action, laughs, and good solid performances by all parties. You won't take this picture very serious but you will have a lot of fun while watching it.