PRISON REVOLT

Evening Star, Issue 23497, 10 February 1940, Page 19

PRISON REVOLT

' POWERFUL EMPIRE FARE Prison dramas have been fairly common of late, but the most recent addition to ; the series, ‘ Mutiny in the Big House,’ which opened at the Empire yesterday, is rather different from the ordinary run, and may safely be classed as.-powerful entertainment, in which sensation and- thrill follow in rapid succession. In the “ big house ”—a reconstruction of one of America’s most formidable penitentiaries—a hardly-human killer assumes control, lording it over desperate men, and carries the story on

to a smashing climax. There is not a little of horror in the picture, but it is ■ carefully handled, and the fine manipulation of camera shots leaves to the imagination what might have becen somewhat’ brutally revealed. Barton Mae Lane is magnificently cast as a vindictive and cruel criminal, possessed of a diabolic cmining, and he infuses every ounce of conviction into his grim role of Rod Mansem. MacLano has a bitter, undying hatred of all mankind, and before the mutiny his clashes with the humble Father Joe (played, rather surprisingly, by Charles Bickford) are skilfully portrayed, the differences in the character of the two men being well brought out. Bickford is a brave man, one who has given up everything so that he might help his fellow-men and rebuild the soul of those doomed in the big house. Even when the machine guns of the mutineers are trained on . him Father Joe never descends to the melodramatic, but remains always in character. Growing excitement climaxes at last in a sensational struggle when 1,000 crazed convicts, determined to make their getaway, riot desperately in their endeavours to obtain freedom.

Although it is at first surprising to see Charles Bickford, so many dozens of times cast as the villain of the piece, for once on the side of law and order, it must be‘confessed that this feeling soon gives way to one of admiration, for Bickford proves himself as capable in a sympathetic role as in the more brutal parts so customary to him. There is again a big supporting programme, including a fine selection of news reels which reveal many aspects , of the grave struggles at present going on on the other side of the world. A New Zealand scenic film is also shown, and another deals with matters of interest in popular science. A Paramount musical With popular song hits, hilarious comedy, and snappy dialogue, under the title of ‘Sweet Moments,’ offers variety/ and there is, of course, another instalment of that very popular serial, ‘ The Lone Ranger Rides Again.’