San Quentin

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.

This is a good solid entertaining formulated prison picture that stars Pat O'Brien & Humphrey Bogart in good form & backed by an excellent cast of Warner Bros. contract players such as Ann Sheridan, Barton Maclane, Joseph Sawyer, Veda Ann Borg etc. Pat O'Brien is the Army Captain Steve Jameson that takes over as the new warden of San Quentin Prison replacing Lt. Druggin (Barton Maclane)who's reduced to a tough prison guard.

Humphrey Bogart portrays Joe "Red" Kennedy a small time crook that gets arrested & lands in the Big House & comes face to face with Captain Jameson who thinks Kennedy can be rehabilitated. Bogart is in his element as the tough convict Red Kennedy but also has some depth & dimension predating Roy Earle in High Sierra. Not just another one dimensional type gangster Bogart so often played in the 30's.

San Quentin doesn't bring anything new to the genre in 1937, the early 30's already introduced audiences to prison life in The Big House, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing & I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang. San Quentin is a very watchable prison movie with a winning formula that works if you like the genre. I love prison movies & if it was good enough for Spencer Tracy, Paul Muni, George Raft & James Cagney then it was good enough for Humphrey Bogart.

All these actors were part of the Rogues Gallery of Thugs that excelled in gangster films & did time in the Big House. This is a very fast paced story that packs a lot of elements in just 70 minutes. We see a singing Ann Sheridan, a prison strike, a rifle carrying bible thumping nut ball & of course the inevitable prison escape climaxed by an exciting high speed chase that involves cars, motorcycles, a freight train, spectacular crashes & dare devil stunts.

I have this & several other early Bogart & Spencer Tracy movies on VHS & I'm quite pleased to find San Quentin out on commercial DVD, of course I had to buy it & there's even a commentary for this. Which tells me that San Quentin is a fairly significant movie worthy of some attention & praise. Bogart gets 2nd billing to Pat O'Brien, Bogie was previously in Marked Woman 2nd billed to Bette Davis as a crusader of justice. But in 1936 Bogart had the lead role as a factory auto worker in Black Legion, released in 1937. 1937 was a good year for Bogart. His next film was Dead End.

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"

This movie doesn't really offer anything new or spectacular but it does provide a good qualitatively 70 minutes. It's your standard prison drama in which most of the formulaic ingredients are present but this time also with a love-story mixed in.

The story is perhaps not the most interesting or refreshing but it is told in a good way. The pace of the movie is high and obviously made by experienced professionals. The editing is a bit offbeat and weird at times and the action and ending is rather weak but nevertheless "San Quentin" remains a perfectly watchable movie, thanks to the professional cast & crew involved.

The movie has a solid cast. Pat O'Brien plays the leading role very well and he really makes the character work. Also great was Humphrey Bogart, from the period when he was not yet a leading man in Hollywood movies. The most other characters remain rather flat and blank but this was often the case in movies from the '30's.

Of course prison movie set in the '30's are the most interesting to watch, when convicts still wore those great uniforms and guards where known as brutal animals who weren't afraid of using their weapons. This movie is set in that period and although this movie is not an heavy or dramatic one, it still makes this movie a better than average one, thanks to the time period it is set in.

It's not an essential viewing. The movie is too dry, simple and short for that. However when you do watch this movie, you won't regret it. It's well made entertainment and has some excellent actors in it.

7/10

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