Safe in Hell

Viewed March 7, 2022. Highly atmospheric crime drama about a prostitute who is falsely accused of murder and hides out on an island filled with runaway criminals. There's an appealing minimal, almost metaphysical quality to the way Wellman directs this film - the combination of its seedy atmosphere, the narrative's emphasis on the slow and palpable passage of time, and Wellman's fondness for sweeping character movements and obstructive set design breathes a lot of life into its titular hell.

If this is a sign of what could have been had Americans been a more liberated people, it's depressing thinking about how much cool shit we missed out on thanks to the hays code.

The tropical atmosphere and hazy cinemtography are intoxicating, but it's also a relatively interesting little story in its way.

Enjoyable pre-Code proto-noir. Since the plot is stretched a little too thin (especially in a place with no prosecution arguments), it almost seemed wasteful to have that many oddball side characters and not do a little more with them. There's a little of everything here, though, with some humor, a few unmentionable-for-the-times bits, and some strong cinematography that made me feel just as trapped as the protagonist was. Fav moment: the turning of the chairs.

The intrigues of the story are unfortunately too much dependent on the setup and atmosphere, as opposed to the storytelling and the characters, giving the impression of unrealised potential.

Love finds redemption. Then redemption leads to death in this very different melodrama about a lonely, scared woman.

Loved the length of this. Feel if it were any longer you'd get kinda annoyed with the side characters. Sad sad movie.

Meh.

"Warners worked best for his temperament and the kind of pictures he wanted to make." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2014/07/episode-20-william-wellman-1929-1934.html

60.000

Good turns from Mackaill and Nina Mae McKinney and the darker themes and touches of raunch that pre-Code fans love make it a gem, despite a plot that the characters themselves at times all but admit makes no sense.

About a prostitute who kills a man and goes into hiding in a tropical place. Where a bunch of other down on their luck guys are hiding too. A grim film. Sadness and human filth portrayed all the way. In quite a good way too. It was hardly a fast paced drama, but a sumber number which had a bunch of established character actors making it a quality picture.

In some peculiar and rather bizarre way, this one proved to be quite a bit of fun. The accent is definitely on melodrama here, but there are numerous touches of humor as well (in fact, it plays in places like some sub-tropical version of The Old Dark House), and the black barmaid and the servant guy are a lot of fun too. I just wish they'd given her a chance to sing more... :)