Safe in Hell **** (1931, Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook, Ralf Harolde, Nina Mae McKinney, Charles Middleton, Clarence Muse) – Classic Movie Review 6,835

Warner Bros’ fascinating and provocative 1931 crime drama film Safe in Hell stars Dorothy Mackaill as Gilda Karlson, a New Orleans hooker who flees to a Caribbean island after apparently killing Piet Van Saal (Ralf Harolde).

Director William A Wellman’s fascinating and provocative 1931 Warner Bros crime drama thriller film Safe in Hell stars Dorothy Mackaill as Gilda Karlson, a New Orleans hooker who flees to a Caribbean island after apparently killing Piet Van Saal (Ralf Harolde),who was responsible for ending her job as a secretary and making her a prostitute. Sailor Carl Erickson (Donald Cook), her old boyfriend, smuggles her to safety to Tortuga where there is no extradition but there is a bunch of predatory men.

Wellman’s weird, gutsy, rather adult early Thirties pre-Code item, no doubt influenced by Miss Sadie Thompson, was intended to star Barbara Stanwyck as Gilda but she was in a contract dispute with her studio Columbia and eventually went back to the studio to make Forbidden (1932). The much less famous Mackaill is just great.

Also in the cast are Morgan Wallace as jailer and hangman Mr Bruno, John Wray as Eagan, Ivan Simpson as Crunch, Victor Varconi as General Gomez, Nina Mae McKinney as Leonie, Charles Middleton as lawyer Jones, Clarence Muse as the porter Newcastle, Gustav von Seyffertitz as Larson, Noble Johnson as policeman Bobo, Cecil Cunningham as Angie and George F Marion [George Marion Sr] as Jack.

Dorothy Mackaill as a secretary-turned-prostitute in the pre-Code film Safe in Hell (1931).

Safe in Hell is directed by William A Wellman, runs 73 minutes, is made by First National Pictures, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Maude Fulton and Joseph Jackson, based on a play by Houston Branch, is shot in black and white by Sid {Sidney] Hickox, with Art Direction by Jack Okey. Leo F Forbstein is the conductor of the Vitaphone Orchestra. Film Editing by Owen Marks.

Title card for Safe in Hell.

McKinney sings ‘When It’s Sleepy Time Down South’, written for the film by Leon René, Otis René and Clarence Muse.

Remarkably for 1931, the characters portrayed by the main African-American actors —Nina Mae McKinney and Clarence Muse—are almost the only reputable figures in the film. Though their lines were written in ‘Negro dialect’, the two popular actors spoke in standard American English.

Shooting took place from mid-September to October 18 1931, under the titles of Lady from New Orleans and Lost Lady.

It was released on December 12, 1931 in the US.

British-American actress Dorothy Mackaill (March 4, 1903 – August 12, 1990) was a star in the silent-film era and early 1930s pre-Code era. Her contract with First National Pictures was not renewed in 1931 after the studio was acquired by Warner Bros. Her most memorable film of this era was the 1932 Love Affair (1932) with Humphrey Bogart. She made films for MGM, Paramount and Columbia before retiring in 1937 to care for her sick mother.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6,835

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The Swedish theatrical release poster of Safe in Hell.