Ronald Colman has never been a favorite of mine, but in this early talkie, as a convicted thief on Devil's Island who lucks into a job caring for warden's wife Ann Harding and engineers an escape, he's convincing, and even manages to generate some sex appeal. Ms. Harding, as ever, is womanly and subtle and beautiful, and the acting throughout is several notches above the early-talkie norm, with Dudley Digges an eminently hatable spouse, and Louis Wolheim doing one of his useful sidekick turns. But there's much more to it than that. Wesley Ruggles, about to be a top director, paces it far faster than most 1929 films struggling with the new technology, and the deep-focus photography and unusual angles are quite striking. Small wonder: Gregg Toland worked on it, and the production design, by William Cameron Menzies, is so bleached you can feel the French Guyana heat. Some dialogue gets lost, but the sound recording is pretty good for the period. It was a hit, and a deserved one, marred only by a too-rushed happy-ish ending that comes out of nowhere and seems awfully unlikely. I liked it quite a lot, though, and may even have to check out some more Ronald Colman output.
Review of Condemned!
