Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Mark Honhorst Poor Dorothy Mackaill just can't catch a break. After falling into the prostitution racket, she accidentally kills the man who was partially responsible for her line of work in the first place (or so she thinks).Her sailor boyfriend smuggles her onto an island with a bunch of weirdos to avoid arrest. Things get a little complicated when (SPOLIERS!) the man she thought she killed shows up on the island. This is a decent pre code drama, however, it is very draggy in some parts, (featuring many scenes of the half drunken old criminals sitting around in wicker chairs) ,has the production values of a poverty row flick, and drifts off into fairly standard early 30s courtroom drama by the third act. But the last ten minutes or so provide a couple of moving, powerful scenes, and the depressing, but effective ending more than makes up for the rest of the movie being slow. It also helps that the two black actors, Noble Johnson and Nina Mae Mckinney, aren't total stereotypes, which is remarkable for a film of this age.So don't be fooled by the seemingly endless "sitting around on an island" scenes. Just wait til the end, it'll be worth it.

GManfred "Safe In Hell" is a very strange picture, a whimsical story fashioned out of whole cloth by a long-forgotten playwright with a fertile imagination. A round-heeled tart kills a john and flees with her boyfriend to a Caribbean island with no extradition law. There she rents a room at a hotel populated by several gargoyle-type fugitives who are horny as toads. Everyone is in heat in the heat, especially the local constable. The story gets stranger and stranger leading up to a completely unexpected Hollywood ending.The cast is good. Dorothy Mackaill is the 'tomato' in question and she is excellent. Donald Cook is OK as her boyfriend and Ralf Harolde is appropriately sleazy as an old flame. The plot is actually kind of flimsy but Director Wellman brings it off well, aided by some fine acting performances. Black actress Nina Mae McKinney has a plum role for a black actress in an era when there were precious few to be had.This is a Pre-Code curiosity which is somewhat tame by today's standards but still worth a watch, since it is a one-of-a-kind sort of tabloid story, surreal and sensational. It was on TCM the other morning and is not available, so wait for it to come on again.

st-shot William Wellman makes the most of pre code freedom in the dark and cynical Safe in Hell. With an on the run hooker in the lead hiding out on a rogues island with a disreputable bunch of sex starved thieves and wheeler dealers Wellman serves up ample helpings of society's underbelly with some effective and subversive pokes at society in general.New Orleans "escort" Gilda has to blow town fast after possibly committing murder and burning down an apartment building. Her seaman lover spirits her away to an island until things cool off where she shares a fleabag hotel with some male dregs of humanity. Her lover plans to return and marry her but the local law and the hangman who also has designs on her confiscates his letters giving her the feeling she's been deserted. Keeping the boys at arms length most of the picture she is forced to shoot and kill one of the miscreants. Found innocent of murder she must nevertheless do some time on the weapons charge thus delivering her into the grimy paws of the hangman.Nearly all the white male characters in Safe in Hell are low lifes of the first order. Criminals without conscience, lusting voyeurs they all want a piece of the action and when Gilda feels she's gotten the brush off she lowers her guard. With a telling sense of irony Wellman provocatively juxtaposes their loutishness with the films only refined respectful well spoken character, a black porter (Clarence Muse) as well as infer miscegenation with the inn keeper (Nina Mae McKinney) who dazzles the boys with a touch of Bessie Smith.Dorothy Mackaill plays Gilda with a glamor less tragic resignation as well as most of the hard boiled molls permeating early sound poverty row films. Morgan Wallace's lascivious Mr. Bruno the hangman is convincing enough to makes Gilda's rash action that determines her fate certainly understandable as Wellman's uncompromising take leaves her little alternative.

Michael_Elliott Safe in Hell (1931) *** (out of 4) Warner Pre-Code from director William A. Wellman about a prostitute (Dorothy Mackaill) who kills a former lover and then takes off with her current lover (Donald Cook). The sailor/lover takes her to an island where she can live without fear of being arrested since the local sheriff gives shelter to criminals. This sounds good but it isn't because she's the only white woman on an island full of criminals and all of them have ideas for her. What really stands out about this film is all the sexuality that Wellman throws out the screen and this film is certainly one of the dirtier films of the era. As expected, there's a scene with Mackaill undressing for the camera and a see through night gown. We also get a scene where the men spread their legs out as they watch the woman with a high sexual tone. Not to mention another scene where the men look up her dress as she walks up some steps. Mackaill is very, very good in her role as she blends sex and a toughness, which makes these films so memorable. The supporting cast is also very good but the story is pretty standard and lacking. There's not too much drama as the screenplay seems a tad bit lazy but this is still worth watching due to all the sexuality.