Outside the Wall

Richard Baseheart never competed with such mega stars as Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne but kept more to himself concentrating on more complicated roles on a smaller scale, like a kind of understatement actor, but the result is that his roles are always interesting and intriguing. Here he is released from prison after fifteen years at the age of 29 and knows nothing about society. His only schooling in 15 years' imprisonment has been to handle tough guys and ruffians and a thorough knowledge of the criminal type. To get away from the stress and noise of Philadelphia, he heads for the country and finds a small friendly town where nothing ever happens, where he is employed as an assistant at a hospital. So far so good, but it is not. An old fellow gangster turns up in a dying state who has hidden a million away somewhere, and the fellow hoodlums he has fooled are after him, so he is not allowed to die in peace. Unfortunately Richard Baseheart is there, they recognise each other, and the case is cooked. From there on the strain and excitement of the thriller keeps constantly rising like a fever temperature, and a few dames get involved also. This is in many ways the perfect thriller, but Richard Baseheart's acting is what keeps it glowingly alive until it bursts into flames, and the finale is an ingenious climax of the composition.

OUTSIDE THE WALL is a solid B crime movie that delivers everything the genre promises. It might make a nice comparison with TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY, released the next year. In both films, an ex-con, newly released, runs into trouble despite their pretty naive aspirations and innocuous personalities.

Probably the main distinguishing characteristic of OUTSIDE THE WALL is the use of Philadelphia locations. It's always fascinating to see a large city back in the middle of the last century. We are usually shown L. A. or N. Y., the Pennsylvania metropolis makes a welcome change.

At the top of the cast list is Richard Basehart. Pretty much an asset in any film, Basehart carries the lead perfectly. His boyish good looks serve the character, a still-young man who never had a chance to experience the world before he was thrown into prison. When he's let out, Basehart meets a stream of women, most of them unworthy of his attentions. Marliyn Maxwell is also well-cast as a brittle, materialistic nurse whom Basehart encounters in his first legitimate job. Her influence leads him to rejoin the criminal life, and plenty of trouble ensues. Among the rest of the cast are Noir favorites, Joseph Pevney, the incredibly prolific John Hoyt and Harry Morgan (who here plays a crime boss with gusto), . Dolores Hart plays Basehart's possible love interest, while Signe Hasso is almost wasted as a money-hungry gangster's wife.

Not RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11 nor BRUTE FORCE, nor THE LAST MILE either. But it is actually a movie about an ex jail bird who was condemned for manslaughter, and who, after his release from prison, encounters many issues. Nothing really exciting, but it is an Universal crime drama, rather hard to find, and Richard Basehart is an actor who is always interesting to see in a movie, especially a thriller. The funny thing is that after this one - OUTSIDE THE WALL - director Crane Wilbur will give us INSIDE THE WALLS OF FOLSOM, and I don't even speak of his CANON CITY, made before this one. Also both prison break plots. Good little noir, pretty much enjoyable.

The premise of a convict trying for a fresh start isn't a new one, but I liked the unique characterization or Richard Basehart in Outside the Wall. He plays a young man who's spent more than half his life in prison. While he was a fourteen-year-old in reform school, he beat up a guard (who later died) and was sentenced to murder. After fifteen years, he receives a pardon and is completely unprepared for the outside world. Think about it: the last time he saw the outside, he was a little boy. He's never driven a car, worked at a job, gone on a date, paid bills, or lived on his own. Thrust out into a new world, he gets a job working in a sanitarium and quickly falls for the first blonde who turns his head, Marilyn Maxwell. Dorothy Hart is the brunette nurse with a heart of gold, in contrast to Marilyn's obvious gold digging schemes. Will the innocent protagonist see through her, or will he have to grow up the hard way?

This old movie doesn't feel like it was made in 1950; it feels like it was made in the early 1930s. Everything about it is old-fashioned, from the good girl and bad girl contrast, to the simple filmmaking techniques, to the type of turns the plot takes. I kept expecting Chester Morris to show up with Carole Lombard, Kay Francis, and Shirley Temple. If you like old movies, and especially ex-con movies, try this one out.

Larry Nelson (Richard Basehart) is a 29 year old convict who wins his plea for a pardon. But "outside the wall" freedom is initially not so sweet. He was in a reform school at 14 - he describes himself as an incorrigible hood at that age - and when a guard who dislikes him hits him, he hits him back, the guard falls and dies, and Larry is convicted of murder but given life in prison instead of death because of his young age. So he is free with 672 dollars he has earned over the course of his imprisonment (that would be about 12 thousand dollars now), but he has never been on a date, never taken a drink, never driven a car or learned how, never applied for a real job. After a couple of days of bad experiences in the city, he hits the road and "tramps it" to a small town and gets a job as a lab assistant in a hospital for TB patients, hoping just to keep his head down and stay out of trouble. On the way to the small town, he reads about a one million dollar robbery in which three of the robbers were killed and three armored car guards were killed. Two robbers escaped.

And then one of the robbers shows up at the rest home with a bad case of TB. Larry recognizes him from his time in prison, but true to the prison code, tells him he will not rat him out. The robber asks him to help him get some of the robbery loot to his wife in Philadelphia. Larry refuses to help. At first. But then he starts pining for a nurse who is money hungry bad news, and he thinks that some of the robber's money will win her affection, so he agrees to help the ailing robber. Complications ensue.

I would normally be annoyed by somebody who makes the obviously bad and even stupid choices that Larry Nelson makes in this film, figuring that any intelligent 30 year old should know better than to trust such a greedy woman as the nurse he lusts after or the murderous robber who wants his help. But then, Larry Nelson experientially is 14, not 30. Thus he makes the mistakes that any 14 year old would make in the same situation. But he learns fast.

This was really a great part for Basehart. I believe him as the hardened con and I believe him as the naive teenager in a 30 year old body. If you want to see Basehart in another film where he practically has a dual role, watch "Tension". But by all means do see this, as it has suspense, noirish undertones, and a great performance by Basehart.