Convict's Code

I was unfamiliar with Robert Kent and Anne Nagel. After reading their bios on IMDb, I was glad I didn't have a razor blade nearby. And Victor Killian of Mary Hartman fame was murdered, which I didn't know. A very sad group.

Dave Tyler (Kent) is released on parole. He was accused of murder unjustly, with the jurors paid off. He is determined to clear himself. He goes to work for a man (Sidney Blackmer) - who is the one who actually framed him, though he is unaware of this.

As an added problem, he falls for Blackmer's sister (Nagel).

Victor Killian plays Tyler's parole officer, and he's very strict. I don't know if they're that strict today, but Tyler really had to toe the line.

Not terribly interesting - but the biographies of these actors are something else.

Former football star Dave " Whizz " Tyler is convicted of a robbery and spends three years in jail . Given parole he faces completing the remaining six years if he breaks his parole but vows that he's innocent of the crime and will do everything to prove it

You don't need to be a jailbird to know the convicts code - you don't snitch . If a tunnel suddenly appears in the next cell and you suddenly find a pneumatic drill in your own cell then you invoke the Nuremberg defence of " I didn't hear anything , I didn't see anything , this has got nothing to do with me " and you'll probably live long enough to complete your sentence

With a title like CONVICT'S CODE you could be forgiven for thinking you're going to be watching the similar sounding premise of EACH DAWN I DIE where an innocent man who has been framed trying to clear his name surrounded by hardened criminals . This isn't how the film works out . Instead we get Whizz Tyler walking about from one cheap studio set to another with not very good actors who are marginally just less wooden than the sets

There's also something that puzzled me and that is Whizz continually claims to be innocent to everyone including the prison Warden and his parole officer and I kept wondering how the parole board works in America . In Scottish and English law someone is only eligible for parole if they admit to the crime and are genuinely sorry they did the crime . Someone claiming they are innocent wouldn't in theory qualify . Of course the practise is entirely different and we've been treated to some truly hideous sights like Johnathan King calling a press conference on his day of release saying his victims were lying and he can prove it . Needless to say we're still waiting for this evidence to surface . I was under the impression that America does tend to be a lot stricter about parole and its granting of it

B-movies in the 1930s and 40s were inexpensively made and relatively short films that were shown as part of a double-feature. Many were made by "poverty row" studios--tiny independent companies that often rented space on the major studio lots at night. For the most part, Bs are entertaining enough, but also tend to have lesser actors, writers and directors--sort of like the minor leagues for movie people. Because of this, most B-films are not the quality or entertainment level of an A-picture--though there are many, many exceptions. As For me, I often prefer the Bs--they can be fun, entertaining and usually very fast-moving--as a typical B is about 60 minutes (more or less).

The film starts with a relatively dumb ex-college football star getting out of prison after serving three years for a robbery. Dave continues to deny that he did anything wrong and vows to look up all the witnesses who testified against him and make them tell the truth. However, he needs to be careful, as he is on parole--one slip and he's back in the can. Interestingly, all but one of the witnesses against him are either dead, have moved or are killed as the ex-con talks with him. And, most importantly, they all were known criminal-types. You'd think if the guy could show that all six turned out to have such questionable backgrounds that there'd be reason for the police to re-open the case, but he tells no one--remember, he IS kind of dumb. What else is dumb is that later he does a lot of things that would violate his parole in order to try to prove his innocence. Having a gun, involvement in a NEW robbery, not returning home at night, etc. all further prove the guy is a moron. Then, when he DOES learn who the guy behind the frame-up is, he doesn't go to the police--as he's fallen in love with that man's sister. Just how stupid can a guy be?!

"Convict's Code" is a pretty good B and might have earned a 4 despite its no-name cast--mostly because the story is pretty interesting-even if Dave is a certifiable idiot. However, the ending of the film is sort of like a "scene missing here" film--one where important action takes place off camera and it seems like this is dealt with in a slap-dash manner. It's a shame, but the ending is clearly an example of scene missing here film making--as the guy who REALLY committed the crime admits it but apparently says all this off camera!! Cheesy, clearly at the end and probably not a film to watch unless you are a B-movie fan, too.

By the way, the best thing about the film is a bit role played by Maude Eburne. She plays the most amazingly ambivalent landlady I've ever seen and she is pretty funny. Eburne played in a lot of films over the years and was always fun--including her stint as Dr. Christian's housekeeper in the RKO series.

Robert Kent is Dave Tyler, sent to prison for a bank job he didn't do. Kent played a bunch of B film roles, and died quite young at 46. In the story, Tyler is paroled, and wants to find out who dunnit. He seems to be spending all his time convincing his friends and his employer that he really didn't do it. One of his friends "Gregory" is played by Sydney Blackmer, whose best known role was probably the cult leader in Rosemary's Baby. Tyler gets into a couple of fist fights, but has to be careful not to break parole, or he'll be back in the big house! it's all quite droll. The gang that framed Tyler is following him around town as he tries to track down those who did him dirty. He walks the line of crossing the line of breaking parole, which could land him back in prison. It all moves pretty slowly.... this IS just a short 62 minutes from Monogram Pictures. Showing on Moonlight Movies... one of the free channels on roku. Directed by Lambert Hillyer, who had started directing in the early days of the silent films. In the 1950s, Hillyer moved to television, and directed TV series until 1956. Hillyer had filmed the early serial version of Batman in 1943! He seems to have retired about then, having reached the age of 66. The film is pretty average... it DOES have some OLD scenery of Los Angeles. sadly, no filming locations listed on imdb as of Sept 2018.

Convict's Code casts Robert Kent as a recently paroled convict who has Victor Kilian as his parole officer. Kent was in on a frame and now that he's out wants to find the real criminals.

Little does he know that he's being employed by them, Sidney Blackmer and Norman Willis. It's Blackmer's way of keeping tabs on a man whom he knows is seeking the real crooks.

Everywhere Kent goes people keep getting dead or are already dead. It's frustrating.

What's wrong with this film is that Blackmer who is portrayed as really slick makes a sentimental decision that undoes everything for him. It has to do with Kent seeing Anne Nagel who is Blackmer's younger sister. The whole idea was badly plotted. The fault could be Monogram Pictures butchered editing techniques which were legendary.

This is one sub-par noir crime drama.