The Big House

1930

The Big House

Critics Consensus

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The Big House Photos

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Movie Info

Not the first of the prison pictures, but the one that truly put the genre on the map. Playboy Kent (Robert Montgomery), driving drunk, kills a couple of pedestrians and is sentenced to a 10-year manslaughter term. His cellmate is forger Morgan (Chester Morris), a tough but essentially decent con; the cell-block leader is Butch (Wallace Beery), whose outer oafishness hides a cruel, calculating mind. Butch lives for the day that he can bust out and doesn't care who gets hurt along the way. Panicking, Kent "rats" on Butch and is murdered during the climactic breakout as a consequence. Morgan behaves courageously, saving the warden (Lewis Stone) and the guards from Butch's wrath; as a reward, Morgan earns a reduced sentence and the love of Kent's sister Anne (Leila Hyams). Remarkably brutal for an MGM film, The Big House (a double Oscar winner, for best screenplay and sound recording) established not only the grimy mise-en-scene of prison life, but also a whole new glossary of slang terms and a veritable menagerie of movie "types," from the firm but kindly prison chaplain to the embittered lifer. The film was gloriously lampooned by Laurel & Hardy's Pardon Us, in which Walter Long played the Beery counterpart.

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Classics, Drama
Directed By:

George W. Hill
Written By:

Frances Marion, Martin Flavin, Joseph Farnham, Lennox Robinson
In Theaters:

May 14, 1930 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Jun 22, 1994
Runtime:

87 minutes
Studio:

Warner Bros.

Cast

Wallace Beery
as Butch

Robert Montgomery
as Kent

Chester Morris
as Morgan

Karl Dane
as Olsen

Lewis Stone
as Warden James Adams

Leila Hyams
as Anne Marlowe

George F. Marion
as Pop Reicher

J.C. Nugent
as Mr. Marlowe

DeWitt Jennings
as Capt. Wallace

Matthew Betz
as Gopher

Claire McDowell
as Mrs. Marlowe

Robert E. O'Connor
as Sgt. Donlin

Robert Emmett O'Connor
as Sgt. Donlin

Tom Wilson
as Sandy, the Guard

Eddie Foyer
as Dopey

Roscoe Ates
as Putnam

Fletcher Norton
as Oliver

Adolph Seidel
as Prison Barber

Tom Kennedy
as Uncle Jed

Eddie Lambert
as Inmate (uncredited)

Michael Vavitch
as Inmate (uncredited)

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Critic Reviews for The Big House

All Critics (8) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (2)

Dialogue cannot carry the mood, the film as a whole is the vehicle. The accusations therefore remain incidents -- passing and unemphatic. Whatever suggestion of social guilt they contain is dissipated by the events of the story, and their treatment.

Sep 5, 2019 | Full Review…

Harry Alan Potamkin
The New Masses
George W. Hill expertly directed the film and some of the scenes with prisoners en masse are beautifully choreographed. I love how cinematographer Harold Wenstrom plays with light and shadow especially in the earlier part of the movie.

Nov 7, 2018 | Full Review…

Raquel Stecher
Out of the Past
It's an outsized, abstracted version of everyday life circa 1930.

Apr 7, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Noel Murray
The Dissolve
A good early prison drama with a strong, Oscar-nominated performance of Wallace Beery as a tough murderer; Beery took over after Lon Chaney's sudden death.

Feb 12, 2008 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Despite its flaws, for those who love this genre it's a must see film.

Jan 23, 2008 | Rating: C+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Any niggling doubts about the film disappear in the last twenty minutes.

Jun 25, 2005 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies
Great early prison drama from the ever-inventive George Hill.

Aug 21, 2003 | Rating: 4/5

Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

View All Critic Reviews (8)

Audience Reviews for The Big House

Apr 24, 2017

***Spoilers ahead, Maybe?*** Since I like old black & white prison movies so much I expected to like this movie as well but I couldn't get into it.For me it was just OK.Right from the start I felt like I was watching it just to be watching it.Things didn't get exciting until the very end with the failed escape & shoot out.It was the only time I was able to get into the movie but there was only like 10 minutes left so it really didn't matter.During the riot I can't believe they brought out a couple of tanks.I was NOT expecting that.It had me wondering if there were ever any actual prison riots where tanks were used to bring the prison back to order.A thing I thought that was interesting was the inmate that escaped, went straight on the outside & seemed like he would've stayed that way if he wasn't captured & sent back, fell right back into place on the inside, the inmate who I thought would never let prison change him, ended up changing in the end & the main inmate you knew there was no hope for, was never going to change.I'm not sure The Big House is a movie I'd recommend.It got alot of good reviews but I just wasn't into it.It's something you'll have to see & decide for yourself

Brody M Super Reviewer
Mar 14, 2009

an early prison break film. robert montgomery is completely overshadowed by the now forgotten actor chester morris. i'm afraid montgomery would be everyone's bitch at prison. wallace beery is fun and this film made him a huge star. frances marion became the first woman to win an oscar for screenwriting. it's a little hokey at times. i'd like to see what warner bros could've done with it. interesting to note that prison overcrowding was already an issue in 1930

Stella D Super Reviewer
Sep 09, 2007

A classic jailhouse saga.

John B Super Reviewer