Condemned!

This was produced just a year after those famous words - the first words in the first talking picture. What is amazing is how creative it was with sound - techniques that rarely appeared in theatre and some that were entirely new.

First there is the overlaying of the sound of the prisoners "choir" over sound and pictures inside the governors house cutting with continuity to pictures of the prisoners singing - all in sync. And, entirely novel the sound of the governors voice as he looks in the mirror - we are hearing the voices in his head. The sound of drums in sync with the guarding soldier's walk.

It was not until after WW2 that magnetic tape recording - with multitracks was available. I can only guess that this film was all done with gramophone discs.

I was for a while a videotape editor in the earliest days so appreciate how revolutionary and sophisticated was the use of sound just one year after it started. Had radio pioneered this or was it entirely the work of the new talkie movies?

Seen on Talking Pictures TV - yet another overlooked historic film with exceptional qualities.

CONDEMNED! (Samuel Goldwyn/United Artists, 1929), directed by Wesley Ruggles, is an early sound prison movie where "The action takes place at the French penal colony to South America's community known as Devil's Island." Starring Ronald Colman in his second full-length talkie, it seemed unlikely finding Colman, best known for romance stories of the silent screen, in such a premise. Founded upon the book, "Condemned to Devil's Island" by Blair Niles, with screenplay by Sidney Howard, CONDEMNED! turned out to be another winner for the popular actor, even to a point of earning him an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor (along with his talkie debut as BULLDOG DRUMMOND) to his resume.

Following the opening credit titles super imposed over the ocean water waves with vocalization to "The Song of the Condemned," the story begins as a prison ship docking on Devil's Island with its handful of new prisoners behind bars, including Michel Oban (Ronald Colman), a gentleman thief of Paris, and his friend, Jacques Duval (Louis Wolheim), sentenced to life for murder. Jean Duval (Dudley Digges), a tough warden living on the penal colony with his young wife (Ann Harding), who's biggest fear is living amongst the surroundings of convicts, meets his new prisoners giving them warning that there is no escape on Devil's Island, which "lies between the jungle and the sea of sharks." Vidal, who finds Michel (Number 7232) to be an "unusual type of criminal thief," assigns him as servant houseboy to his wife's daily duties. While out on the market grounds, Michel brings a smile to Madame Duval's face with a good deed by buying her a pet monkey so she won't be so lonely at home. Losing her fear over this debonair prisoner, she soon becomes attracted him. Rumors by gossipers spread about these two, forcing the jealous warden to place Michel in solitary confinement for six months, and substituting Jacques as his wife's new household servant. After learning the warden is to send his wife back to Paris, Michel makes his daring escape to be with her, only to be surprised by the outcome. Also in the cast are William Elmer (Pierre); Frank Campeau (Gilbert); Ernie Adams, Lionel Bellmore and Constantine Romanoff.

While not as famous or stronger than some of the latter prison movies of the early 1930s, CONDEMNED! is sadly an overlooked item. A bit advanced in camera angles and movement as opposed to other 1929 sound releases, CONDEMNED! holds interest throughout its 87 minutes. Cast against type, Colman allows himself go be shown unshaven, and brave danger while being chased by prison guards through the marshes. Other than that, he continues his debonair style with his distinguished voice and mannerisms that has made him popular throughout his career. Dudley Digges as the sadistic warden whom his wife fears and hates, does a splendid job. He gives the sort of performance most worthy for a Charles Laughton had he been assigned the part. Ann Harding, a stage actress also appearing in her third talkie release, is believable, although looking way too sophisticated for playing a woman who loves a convict. Louis Wolheim is also unforgettable, right down to the giant eye tattoo posted on his chest.

Seldom shown on television since the mid 1970s, CONDEMNED! did show up on occasionally on cable TV over the years as Wometco Home Theater (1986); Nostalgia Television (late 1980s); Turner Network Television (1989-91; and many years later, Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: August 21, 2017) as part of an all-day Ann Harding movie tribute. Never distributed on video cassette or DVD, CONDEMNED! remains a curiosity as best for early Ronald Colman years before he became THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (1937). (***)

This film was based on the bestselling fictionalized account of the escapes of René Belbenoît, a prisoner on the Devil's Island penal colony in French Guiana, written by Blair Niles. The novel helped raise awareness of conditions there which eventually led to its closure.

In his second talking film Ronald Colman plays Michel Oman, an unrepentant thief condemned to Devil's Island. Michel is not a noble guy or an innocent guy, so immediately the niceties are out of the way. Madame Vadal (Ann Harding) is the wife of the warden of the prison (Dudley Digges). He is a big slob, harsh and rude to his wife. I wondered how this pretty and demure woman came to be married to this brute beast, but apparently at the time of their marriage he looked like St. John. I doubt that St. John ever looked like Dudley Digges! But I digress.

Vidal is quite a snob considering he is also a slob, and thinks someone of "his station" should have a servant. He makes Michel his houseboy because he seems more refined than the other convicts, and Michel likes this job because it keeps him from having to do hard labor with the rest of the convicts. But Michel and Vidal's wife fall in love, although they don't act on it. But the wives of the other prison employees begin to gossip based on absolutely nothing but their own boredom, and soon the gossip gets back to Vidal, who reacts exactly like you'd expect him to.

I have to wonder...what would this pair be like in everyday life? Would they make it? Or would ordinary life in a world populated with plenty of other people to which they could turn break them up? What happens when one of them forgets to pay the electric bill, when the sex stops being hot, when the upstairs neighbors turn out to be flamenco dancers? This film isn't alone in being one about people from completely different backgrounds falling in love because they are the only people available to one another, but these scripts never have the subjects in love talk about these obstacles. But, again, I digress.

Originally this was supposed to be shot on Devil's Island, but the expense and practicality of it all prevented that from happening. Colman gives a very subtle performance as Michel, contrasting with Digges and Harding being more theatrical. That surprised me, since Digges and Harding have acting styles here that seem somewhat like holdovers from the silent era, yet they never acted in silent films, where Colman was a veteran of silent films and does not display that style.

The camera work here is excellent, really giving off the feeling of being shot in a prison even though it was not.

And if you think Louis Wolheim is being wasted here, I will tell you he is a very key part of the resolution. This is a precode, but it is definitely not one in the Warner Brothers tradition.

Ronald Colman's second talkie feature film was Condemned and for that and Bulldog Drummond he received his first Oscar nomination. He lost in that second Oscar sweepstakes for Best Actor to Warner Baxter for In Old Arizona. Nevertheless Condemned holds up very well in this story set in the infamous French Devil's Island penal colony.

In the story Colman's a convict and since it's Ronald Colman he's going to have a bit of polish more than the others there like fellow new inmate Louis Wolheim. The warden's wife Ann Harding is unhappily married to warden Dudley Digges who insists that she get herself a house servant from the group. Colman is a bit less threatening so he's chosen.

The inevitable happens as Colman is better company than her lout of a husband. That's when they planned to escape.

Dudley Digges who also doubled as dialogue director for this new fangled talking picture said that stage trained actors like both Colman and Ann Harding were a pleasure to work with. Both grasped that a bit more subtlety in technique had to be used. Both also emoted well when that was called for.

According to Citadel Film series book on Ronald Colman, Colman said how grateful he was that sound came along and what a boon it was to him and other players like William Powell who was both staged trained and a good friend of Colman's. Powell also did well in his talkie debut in one of the Philo Vance films he made.

The depiction of Devil's Island was outstanding. Condemned still holds up well for today's audience.

There is such an element of unreality to the idea that the warden at the Devil's Island penal colony would allow one of the inmates to act as a servant in his home and to be alone with his wife throughout the day, that you'll have to go into this movie suspending your disbelief. Ronald Colman is suave as the convict, and it's always a joy to see him, and here he is opposite Ann Harding, who varies between down to earth and over-emoting. The film does set the stage with some nice 'hard prison' scenes, including one of a man howling in solitary confinement, but next to Colman smooth-talking Harding, something seems off. Perhaps Colman is a little too debonair. On the other hand, the film is entertaining and worth seeing. I liked the supporting cast most, and thought that Dudley Digges turned in the best performance as the warden, angrily spewing his bile.