CRYSTAL PALACE.
$ i ■ A ... » , ~l\ PRISON, MELODRAMA. ' \ ■ / With .none ot th» .customary talkie props, like, ballets, theme songs, or 'lovely ladles, &!/The Big .House,"' a Metro-Goldwyn-Jdsyer, fllm, which tv*» presented at -the Crystal Mriaea, oa Saturday, is a very distinct and lustingtiished production. Ia essence' it'is no 'jfepre then sensational melodrama, -but the -Worst features of this form ere absent and Replaced by fine acting, intelligent direction. >jjood .photography, and'one or two mensor&ble iiipwd Mcenek, „ - , , ' %- Within the ffNm walls of the biff-house" &jre confined 8000 of-America's wtitlcrtmlMais,,'murderer's," thieves, and. scoundrels to'(ether. ""The hard discipline which feunopnds "them'--gradually'wears them down until' (too or three''of. the more spirited,'men' plan a hitze revolt * They procure firearms,.overcome -tifc'warders,, turning thilr prison into a sttatighold, they become ■ so dangerous that .jurmoured tanks have to "be brought into the »tfaclc. h This is the culminating point of the 'toictafe, and' Although; the action-towards it 'jmnfctfast, there ib. time' for 'some very accufrSte' and- discerning sketches ~of three, of-the , men, played by Wallace' Berry, ■ Chester .3torris,~~ and Robert -Montgomery' The' love i Interest has a very minor place, although | iX&ila iHytaas makes its' short length very I Alarming indeed. A fifth is lewis* Stone, i>whO ,hns » characteristic part as the .chief Warder of the prison. ."The Big stouse" „ contains considerable ' propaganda fojf better prison conditions. In- 1 Seed, it the Scenes -it, shows'are'based on aoraal conditions, it may be called » condemnation'of the American prison, in .which boy* and hardened murderers ore confined cheek' by' Jowl." It-is memorable for several great scenesone in the prisoners' dining hall, when .Beery loses his temper, and the men, following ,fci* lead,,hurl their plates and eups into the air; another when If orris, trying to go straight, is canght again and returned to prison; ana. a 'third in the grand scale of the prisoners' riot,' Actlhg and direction-are splendid throughout. Thef supporting; programme includes a palette, a,Burton Holmes travelogue, and a ''clever ."all-bArkie" comedy with a cast of dogs. '
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Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20181, 9 March 1931, Page 4
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327CRYSTAL PALACE. Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20181, 9 March 1931, Page 4
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