Details
Movie Description
Bob Graham (Phillips Holmes) accidentally kills a man in a barroom scuffle and can't afford a good lawyer. As a result, no-nonsense district attorney Martin Brady (Walter Huston) has no choice but to have Graham tried for murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison. After six years of hard labor, Bob has begun to go stir crazy, but also, by this time, Brady has been appointed warden, and sees the effects of prison life on the young man. He picks Graham to work as chauffeur for his beautiful daughter, and the young couple begins to fall for each other, but when the other prisoners conspire against a stool pigeon, Graham is torn between a possible parole and the criminal code of silence. THE CRIMINAL CODE, a thoughtful look at the social problem of prisons, especially the ramifications they pose for otherwise decent men, features strong performances from Huston as the tough but fair warden and Boris Karloff as a scheming con.
Synopsis
A young man, unjustly jailed for killing another man in self-defense, finds himself at odds with his incarceration. The district attorney who successfully convicted and jailed him turns up as the new warden. In an effort to reconcile their differences, the warden offers him a job because he believes him to be inherently good; however prison may have exacted a complicated toll. The film, directed by Howard Hawks, stars Walter Huston and Phillip Holmes.
Film Notes
Theatrical release: January 15, 1931.
To improve the screenplay, director Hawks assembled a group of former convicts, bought them lunch, and had them figure out how the movie should end. At one point the men became restless; Hawks made them run laps until they promised to behave.
THE CRIMINAL CODE was later remade as PENITENTIARY in 1938 and CONVICTED in 1950.
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