San Quentin

They've got a new captain of the guards coming to San Quentin in Pat O'Brien. Barton MacLane who held the job previously is demoted and is in a foul mood.

A couple of new prisoners are arriving as well. Joe Sawyer as a hardened criminal and Humphrey Bogart who O'Brien believes is salvageable. O'Brien also meets up with Bogey's sister, Ann Sheridan and they get to kanoodling.

Each for their own motives, Sawyer and MacLane play Iago to Bogey's inner Othello and Bogey and Sawyer crash out of San Quentin.

Back in the day Warner Brothers was the great working class studio, with many a film of social significance. San Quentin is one of these, but it's hardly the best one. I'm at a loss to see why O'Brien thinks Bogart is so salvageable other than his involvement with his sister.

Joe Sawyer has one of his best film parts in San Quentin. He's a hardened criminal and that's all there is to it. He played a similar role vis a vis Bogart in Black Legion which is a much better film.

Also Garry Owen has a nice turn as a stir crazy convict who O'Brien has to face down and disarm.

Dedicated fans of Humphrey Bogart will like this film, others can take it or leave it.

This is one of those odd situations where the actors were some big names and decent in their performances, and the story wasn't bad....yet there wasn't much appeal to it, either. Only the action scene in the last 10-15 minutes provided any spark to this film which was too flat, for the most part.

The story was about a new guy in charge of the San Quentin prison yard who was going to be humane and make things work. Pat O'Brien plays that guy, "Capt. Steve Jameson." The previous man in charge is a nasty, corrupt bird named "Lt. Druggin," who Barton MacLane plays effectively well.

In the meantime we have the featured crook, "Red Kennedy," played by Humphrey Bogart, who almost always played villains in his 1930 films, and we have his sister "May" played by Ann Sheridan. O'Brien has the hots for her and promises to be fair to her brother. "Red," however, is too paranoid and stupid to appreciate what's done for him and that's when we get to the interesting finale to the film.

Overall, not bad but not worth watching a second time. At 70 minutes, at least it didn't overstay its welcome.

"San Quentin" as the name implies is a trim little prison movie (it runs a scant 70 minutes) from Director Lloyd Bacon and Warner Brothers.

Ex Army Captain Steve Jameson (Pat O'Brien) takes a job as Captain of the Yard of San Quentin prison replacing acting Captain Druggin (Barton MacLane) whose handling of the prisoners was questioned by Warden Taylor (Joseph King).

Before taking up his duties, Jameson meets singer May Kennedy (Ann Sheridan) in a nightclub and the two become attracted to each other. May's brother "Red" Kennedy (Humphrey Bogart) is on the lam and comes to her for money but is arrested at the club in front of Jameson. Guess which prison Red will be sent to.

Jameson takes up his duties and vows to instill discipline and respect in the prisoners. Meanwhile Red turns up at the prison in the company of hard timer Sailor Boy Hansen (Joe Sawyer). Hansen plots an escape and asks Red to go along.

Meanwhile Jameson begins to make progress in Red's rehabilitation to the point of where Red is refusing to go along with Hansen's escape plan. However the envious Druggin learns from the prison fink (Ernie Adams) of the planned escape. He arranges Hansen's assignment to the road gang along with Red. One night the fink lets it slip that Jameson is "taking advantage" of Red's sister May. Red becomes enraged and decides to go along with Hansen and....................

An oddity in the casting has Bogey playing Ann Sheridan's younger 25 year old brother. In fact Bogey was some 15 years older than Sheridan, although to both of their credits, they manage to pull it off. Pat O'Brien was born to play authority figures and does his usual excellent job here. Bogey for once, gets to play a character far removed from his usual one dimensional gangster portrayals, and proves his range as an actor.

Others in the cast include Garry Owen as Dopey the preacher, Veda Ann Borg as Helen, Hansen's moll and James Robbins, Marc Lawrence, William Pawley and Al Hill as various convicts.

Another of Warners long list of 30s gangster/prison classics.

Pat O'Brien is the new captain of the prison guard at San Quentin who clashes with guard Barton MacLane while romancing the sister (Ann Sheridan) of new convict Humphrey Bogart. A great WB prison flick; one of the best. Solid supporting cast of familiar faces. The leads are all great. Sheridan gets to sing a song. She's not as glamorous here as she would be in the '40s, but she's still a looker. Bogie is very entertaining in one of his early roles. He's got pals on the outside that can pull wires, doncha know? O'Brien and MacLane are good in roles they could play in their sleep. The prison stuff is better than the romantic subplot. Bogie fans will like it for his fun performance. Love that gangster tough guy lingo!

The army Captain Stephen Jameson (Pat O'Brien) accepts the assignment to work as captain of San Quentin yard and he celebrates with two military friends in a night-club. He falls in love with the singer May Kennedy (Ann Sheridan) and he witnesses the arrest of her brother Joe 'Red' Kennedy (Humphrey Bogart) for the heist of a restaurant.

The prison warden tells to Lieutenant Druggin (Barton MacLane), who is temporarily in the position of captain, that he will be replaced by Jameson and Druggin is upset. Captain Jameson implements a rigid discipline expecting to regenerate the law offender inmates and he helps Red. When the criminal "Sailor Boy" Hansen (Joseph Sawyer) plans a prison escape, he invites Red to join him. Red refuses, and Hansen poisons him telling that Jameson is helping him is banging his sister. Now Red accepts to escape to kill Jameson.

"San Quentin" is a dated prison drama, with a story that sounds naive and moralist in the present days but nevertheless is a good movie. Ann Sheridan is gorgeous and I am a fan of Humphrey Bogart; in addition the movie has spectacular car chase and I really like and recommend it despite the bad reviews. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "San Quentin"