The big house 1930 - Putting the prison pictures genre on the map

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,2

Director: George W. Hill
Main Cast: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Robert Montgomery, Leila Hyams

"The Big House established the prison drama as a motion picture genre, as it set new standards in realistic sound recording. Even by MGM's lofty standards, the film had high production values: the Cedric Gibbons-designed sets vividly recreated the harsh, sometimes brutal life inside U.S. prisons in the 1930s, and Douglas Shearer's Oscar-winning sound effects accentuated the stark visual tone. The sensation of bullets whizzing, rattling, and clanking off metal bars was a thrill to audiences who were embracing the transition away from silent films. Big House proved to be a star-making vehicle for Wallace Beery, who had been cast in the film only after the death of the studio's first choice, Lon Chaney. Frances Marion garnered a Best Writing Oscar for her screenplay, making her the first woman to receive an Academy Award outside of the Best Actress category." - www.allmovie.com

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Pardon us 1931 - Laurel and Hardy's first feature length comedy

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022251/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
IMDB rating: 7,1

Director: James Parrott
Main Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Marlowe, Wilfred Lucas, James Finlayson

"Laurel and Hardy's first feature-length comedy was apparently meant to be a two-reeler, and was only expanded because of a dispute between producer Hal Roach and MGM. Roach wanted to use the actual set from The Big House for his parody and the studio agreed - if Laurel and Hardy would do a film for them. Roach refused this condition (odd, since the duo had been loaned out before), and proceeded to build his own prison set. The extra cost this ensued made it necessary to draw the film out to feature length. While Pardon Us is a very funny film, it is clear that it is based on a two-reel idea. The fact that it works as well as it does is due to the strength of the gags (the raspberry sound made by Laurel's loose tooth never grows old), and some very entertaining, though extraneous scenes. The schoolroom scene featuring James Finlayson appears out of nowhere, but it's still hilarious, and the part of the film featuring Laurel and Hardy as prison escapees in blackface could have been drawn out even longer, there's so much richness to it (in fact, there was actually more to these scenes that was edited out). The duo's little act, where Ollie sings and Stan does one of his light-footed, eccentric dances, is charming; they're one of the few comic acts of their era that could pull off a song and dance number without driving interest to a grinding halt in the eyes of today's audiences. While Pardon Us began life as a parody, it's not at all necessary to have seen The Big House to appreciate it fully. Laurel and Hardy would make many better feature films, but that says more about the overall high quality of their work than about any lacks this picture may have." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/pardon-us-v37266/

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