Safe in Hell (1931, William A. Wellman)
My latest appearance on The Spoiler Room discussing the king of the message pictures.
It’s no secret I love the films of William A. Wellman. I frequently cite his depression era movies that were dubbed his “message pictures” as early examples of films that successfully tackle social issues like the treatment of women, the treatment of veterans, and generally what life was like during the depression era. His protagonists were often on the lower rung of society from teen runaways traveling the country by train to find employment (and not be a financial burden to their parents) to women forced into sex work to make ends meet. That these films were made in the 1930s astonishes many people as they were very progressive not only for their time, but in some cases even for today.
1931’s Safe in Hell is one such movie. Following the early successes he had with 1927’s Wings (the first movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture) and 1930’s The Public Enemy (which is still widely considered one of the greatest gangster films of its time), Safe in Hell is a lesser known brooding masterpiece about a woman who accidentally murders the man who ruined her life after he tries to force himself on her. Going on the run to a Caribbean island with no extradition, she finds that the entire island is crawling with criminals also evading capture, and that it’s run by the ruthless Bruno, who has set his eyes on her.
So give us a listen as Mark Krawczyk, Ian Simmons, and I discuss Safe in Hell.
https://www.youtube.com/live/dE1bh0Ts2zo?si=Ik3DDw5wu9VE78qA