Convict's Code

Convict's Code is a surprisingly engaging little film noir about Dave Tyler, a man on parole who tries to clear his name while trying not to get thrown back in the slammer. While the reasoning why Dave is hired by a man who wants him thrown back into prison is highly ridiculous, as is the totally melodramatic conclusion, the in-betweens are great, with Robert Kent doing a fine job as the tormented parolee, and Anne Nagel equally fine as his (of course!) blonde haired girlfriend, who mustn't know that he's a parolee, because of course, they have to get permission from his parole officer! (Oh, and she's also the heavy's sister). Actually, this film carefully describes parole life back in 1939, and seems to be more of a burden on a person then it is now. Quite interesting and entertaining!

Five years ago, Sidney Blackmer framed Robert Kent for a robbery. Now Kent's friends have gotten him out on parole, and he's to work for Blackmer, who wants to keep a watch on him; he figures he can always violate him back to prison. Kent is trying to find the witnesses who falsely identified him, but he and Blackmer's sister, Anne Neagle, have fallen in love.

It's a B movie plot, and John Krafft's script is B movie material, and it's a Monogram picture. The cast is good, though, and the director is Lambert Hillyer, who had been an A director for William S. Hart, and he works the scenes at a crackling pace and his actors make their lines sound convincing, turning the film into a variation of the Good Bad Man movies that Hillyer and Hart had done. It's clear that the production was done on the cheap, and Hillyer would never venture beyond B westerns and the occasional serial again. However this is a nice little movie to cap his non-western career.

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.

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 college football star Dave Tyler (Robert Kent) maintains his innocence even after three years in prison. He gets released on parole and sets about finding the real culprits. His new bosses are actually the criminals who had set him up and he falls for the bosses' sister.

This is a B-movie crime drama. The filmmaking is simple without much style. The acting isn't any better. The writing is the most problematic. One would think that the perpetrators would keep their distance from Tyler especially since he seems clueless to their scheme. It is solidly stuck in B-movie territory and can't rise above it.