''Condemned'' is a 1929 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

melodrama, directed by

Wesley Ruggles Wesley Ruggles (June 11, 1889 – January 8, 1972) was an American film director. Life and work He was born in Los Angeles, California, younger brother of actor Charlie Ruggles. He began his career in 1915 as an actor, appearing in a doz ...

, and starring

Ronald Colman Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English-born actor who started his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then emigrated to the United States where he had a highly successful Cinema of the United ...

, Ann Harding, Dudley Digges,

Louis Wolheim Louis Robert Wolheim (March 28, 1880 – February 18, 1931) was an American actor, of both stage and screen, whose rough physical appearance relegated him to roles mostly of thugs, villains and occasionally a soldier with a heart of gold in ...

William Elmer William Elmer (April 25, 1869 – February 24, 1945) was an American actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1913 and 1942. He was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa and died in Hollywood, California. Elmer acted in ...

, and

Wilhelm von Brincken Wilhelm von Brincken (May 27, 1881 – January 18, 1946), also known as Wilhelm L. von Brincken, William Vaughn, William von Brinken, and William Vaughan, was a German diplomat and spy during World War I, who went on to become an American charac ...

. The movie was adapted by

Sidney Howard Sidney Coe Howard (June 26, 1891 – August 23, 1939) was an American playwright, dramatist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 and a posthumous Academy Award in 1940 for the screenplay for '' Gone with the Wind'' ...

from the novel by Blair Niles.

Plot

A thief incarcerated at the notorious

Devil's Island The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953, in the Salvation Islan ...

penal colony falls in love with the prison warden's wife.

Cast

- Michel * Ann Harding - Madame Vidal * Dudley Digges - Vidal *

- Jacques *

- Pierre *

- Vidal's orderly (as William Vaughn) * Albert Kingsley - Felix * Constantine Romanoff - Brute Convict * Harry Ginsberg - Inmate * Bud Sommers - Inmate * Stephen Selznick - Inmate * Baldy Biuddle - Inmate * John George - Inmate * John Schwartz - Inmate

Production background

This film was also released in a silent version running 9,000 feet.''Condemned''
SilentEra.com; accessed July 23, 2015. In 1930, Colman was nominated for an Academy Award in the

Acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

category for his work in this film and in ''

Bulldog Drummond Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond is a fictional character, created by H. C. McNeile and published under his pen name "Sapper". Following McNeile's death in 1937, the novels were continued by Gerard Fairlie. Drummond is a First World War veteran who ...

'' (1929). ''Condemned'' was the first of eight films written by Sidney Howard for producer

Samuel Goldwyn Samuel Goldwyn (; born Szmuel Gelbfisz; ; July 1879 (most likely; claimed to be August 27, 1882) January 31, 1974), also known as Samuel Goldfish, was a Polish-born American film producer and pioneer in the American film industry, who produce ...

, the last of which was '' Raffles'' (1939).

Soundtrack

''Note: this list is incomplete'' * "Song of the Condemned", written by Jack Meskill and Pete Wendling

International releases

The film is known by a variety of other names, including: ''Condenado'' in Portugal and Spain, ''Condemned to Devil's Island'' in the U.S. reissue, ''Condenado a Isla del Diablo'' in Argentina, ''Flucht von der Teufelsinsel'' in Austria, and ''L'isola del diavolo'' in Italy.

References

External links

*
''Condemned'' at Cine.gr
(in Greek) *
Condemned
' at TCM * American prison films 1929 films American black-and-white films American romantic drama films Films directed by Wesley Ruggles Films set on Devil's Island Samuel Goldwyn Productions films 1929 romantic drama films 1920s melodrama films 1920s English-language films 1920s American films Films scored by Hugo Riesenfeld English-language romantic drama films {{1920s-romantic-drama-film-stub