San Quentin
Directed by Lloyd Bacon
Written by Peter Miller, Humphrey Cobb et al
1937/USA
First National Pictures/Warner Bros.
First viewing
[box] Tagline: Out Of The “Pen” . . . Into The Jaws Of Death ! . . .[/box]
Humphrey Bogart rescues this clichéd prison drama.
Lt. Druggin (Barton Keyes) rules the San Quentin prison yard with an iron hand, sending elderly deaf men to solitary just because they can’t hear his orders. The prison board doesn’t like his methods, so they hire ex-Army trainer Capt. Stephen Jameson (Pat O’Brien) to restore order and win the hearts of the men. Meanwhile, Jameson falls in love with May (Ann Sheridan), then discovers hardened convict ‘Red’ Kennedy (Humphrey Bogart) is her younger brother. Jameson takes an interest in Red and he is sent on the coveted road gang duty. The men resent the special treatment but Red resents Jameson’s involvement with his sister even more.
I thought this was over-earnest but Humphrey Bogart is always good. The ending is an eye-roller. It didn’t help that the DVD commentary was one of those blow-by-blow descriptions of what we can see for ourselves.
Re-release Trailer
