Safe in Hell

1931

Crime / Drama / Romance

6
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 100% · 7 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 44% · 50 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.9/10 10 2255 2.3K

exotic island fictitious marriage call girl shot to death arbitrary law new orleans, louisiana

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Plot summary

To avoid the rigors of the law, Gilda flees New Orleans and hides on a Caribbean island where the worst criminals can ask for asylum. Besieged by the scum of the earth, Gilda will soon find out that she has found refuge in hell.

Director

William A. Wellman Photo
William A. Wellman

Top cast

Dorothy Mackaill Photo
Dorothy Mackaill as Gilda Carlson - aka Gilda Erickson
Noble Johnson Photo
Noble Johnson as Bobo - a Caribbean Policeman
Rondo Hatton Photo
Rondo Hatton as Jury Member
Morgan Wallace Photo
Morgan Wallace as Mr. Bruno - the Hangman
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
674.97 MB
1280*1066
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 13 min
Seeds ...
1.22 GB
1296*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 13 min
Seeds 9

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by AlsExGal 7 / 10

When you think of William Wellman you might not think of this one

I've wanted to see Safe in Hell for a long time, thinking it was some kind of archetypal pre-Code experience, and it's tawdry enough but fatally slow. Dorothy Mackaill plays a woman who was left behind by her sailor boyfriend, turned to prostitution, and ends up killing a john she apparently had a bad experience with before the movie started. That's the first ten minutes or so, and it's pretty good. Then the sailor boyfriend, who gets over the prostitution and murder stuff pretty quickly, helps her escape and, making the same mistake with his not very strong-willed girlfriend a second time, plops her alone on a miserable little island with a group of exiled lowlifes who sit in rattan chairs all day ogling her.This proves, ultimately if not convincingly, irresistible, and once she falls the second time, it's a short walk from there to being executed for a crime she didn't commit, and trying hard to keep the secret of her sorry end from her sailor boyfriend, who really needs to find a nice gal he can leave alone somewhere for five minutes without her killing somebody, regardless of the circumstances.I think the island stuff was originally a play, in the far-east-sleaze mode of Kongo, Shanghai Gesture, etc., and if so I think there must have been more action in it than made it to the screen, because there's a lot of suggestion that something's going to happen, but not much actually does. Mackaill is all right, she's certainly attractive and doesn't object to a pre-Code wardrobe, but she doesn't make as strong an impression as, say, Barbara Stanwyck, who was evidently Wellman's first choice.The strongest impression is made by Nina Mae McKinney and Clarence Muse as the hotel proprietors, who exude a warmth and conviviality in their scenes that seems to have come from a different movie (and suggests that the Hell of the island was brought there by its white visitors, not intrinsic to the place). McKinney, the wonderful star of the very early sound Hallelujah!, even gets to sing a song, in the only on-screen appearance of her MGM contract (loaned out to Warners). It makes you a wish for a very different movie about her character, rather than Mackaill's.
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Reviewed by JohnSeal 6 / 10

Another fascinating pre-code gem

Safe In Hell is is a cross between Sadie Thompson and The Getaway, with Dorothy Mackaill in stunning form as the 'bad girl' who runs away to a remote Caribbean island to escape her past. Director William Wellman delivers another quality picture, and we get to see Nina Mae McKinney's star power on display (including one hot jazz number!). The story is silly but fans of early thirties cinema need to see this.

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