The Big House

Jun 14, 1930

1h 27m

★ 6.6

Timely! Tremendous! Thrilling! Drama of Love and a Jail-Break!

Overview

Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.

Genres

Crime

Drama

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Cosmopolitan Productions

The Big House Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

John Morgan

Chester Morris

Machine Gun 'Butch' Schmidt

Wallace Beery

Warden James Adams

Lewis Stone

Kent Marlowe

Robert Montgomery

Anne Marlowe

Leila Hyams

Pop

George F. Marion

Mr. Marlowe

J. C. Nugent

Olsen

Karl Dane

Wallace

DeWitt Jennings

Gopher

Matthew Betz

Mrs. Marlowe

Claire McDowell

Donlin

Robert Emmett O'Connor

Mr. Morris, the owner of a large metropolitan department store, gives jobs to paroled ex-convicts in an effort to help them reform and go straight. Among his 'employed-prison-graduates' are Helen Roberts and Joe Dennis, working as sales clerks. Joe is in love with Helen and asks her to marry him, but she is forbidden to marry as she is still on parole, but she says yes and they are married. In spite of their poverty-level life, their marriage is a happy one until Joe discovers she has lied about her past, in order to marry him. Disillusioned, he leaves, goes back to his old gang and plans to rob the department store.

5.6

Last Dance

May 2, 1996

Upon taking a new job, young lawyer Rick Hayes is assigned to the clemency case of Cindy Liggett, a woman convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. As Hayes investigates the background for her case, the two begin to form a deep friendship, while all the while the date for her execution draws nearer.

5.0

Longe da Vista

Apr 2, 1999

In order to make some much-needed cash for himself, 65-year-old Portuguese prison inmate Eugenio impersonates a young woman and begins a romantic correspondence with a lonely Portuguese truck-driver living in Boston, convincing him that her tragic life has culminated in financial dire straits so he will send money. At first Eugenio's sister Idalina assists him in creating the character of Maria da Luz. Touched by her sweetness and apparent loving nature, the trucker willingly sends her money. When Idalina starts fearing they will be caught, she backs out of her arrangement with Eugenio who then convinces his young cellmate Vasco to help write the letters and even sends a picture of himself at age seven to "prove" that Maria has a young son. As prison life exacts an increasingly heavy toll upon Eugenio's health, his feminine alter-ego helps sustain him.

6.4

In Youth We Trust

Nov 28, 2024

Puek, a boy from the slums, had no choice but to endure his circumstances, feeling that he could never have the same worth as others. He remained silent, accepting the bullying of others just to survive in society.

6.0

The Mad Parade

Sep 18, 1931

The story of eight women and how they served their country during World War I.

4.1

Command Performance

Jan 19, 1931

Prince Alexis of Kordovia refuses to do his duty under threat of war. Recently arrested actor Peter Fedor conveniently bears a striking resemblance to the prince. The King and Queen hatch a plan to force the prince to do his duty.

6.7

The Miracle Woman

Jul 17, 1931

After an unappreciated minister dies, his daughter loses her faith in God, prompting her to open a phony temple with a con man. Can the love of a blind former aviator restore her faith and happiness?

5.3

Stone

Oct 7, 2010

Parole officer Jack Mabry has only a few weeks left before retirement and wishes to finish out the cases he's been assigned. One such case is that of Gerald 'Stone' Creeson, a convicted arsonist who is up for parole. Jack is initially reluctant to indulge Stone in the coarse banter he wishes to pursue and feels little sympathy for the prisoner's pleads for an early release. Seeing little hope in convincing Jack himself, Stone arranges for his wife to seduce the officer, but motives and intentions steadily blur amidst the passions and buried secrets of the corrupted players in this deadly game of deception.

6.0

Cleopatra

Oct 5, 1934

The queen of Egypt barges the Nile and flirts with Mark Antony and Julius Caesar.

6.5

Of Human Bondage

Jul 20, 1934

A young man finds himself attracted to a cold and unfeeling waitress who may ultimately destroy them both.

4.6

The Scarlet Letter

Sep 18, 1934

In the seventeenth century, in Massachusetts, a young woman is forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress for bearing a child out of wedlock.

6.7

The Count of Monte Cristo

Sep 6, 1934

After greedy men have Edmound Dantes unjustly imprisoned for 20 years for innocently delivering a letter entrusted to him, he escapes to revenge himself on them.

6.0

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Sep 21, 1934

Remarkable poet Elizabeth Barrett is slowly recovering from a crippling illness with the help of her siblings, especially her youngest sister, Henrietta, but feels stifled by the domestic tyranny of her wealthy widowed father. When she meets fellow poet Robert Browning in a romantic first encounter, her heart belongs to him. However, her controlling father has no intention of allowing her out of his sight.

6.9

Sadie McKee

May 9, 1934

A maid has romances with a two-timer, a boozing millionaire and the master of the house.

5.5

Emperor Jones

Sep 29, 1933

Unscrupulously ambitious, Brutus Jones escapes from jail after killing a guard and, through bluff and bravado, finds himself the emperor of a Caribbean island.

5.8

She Done Him Wrong

Feb 9, 1933

New York singer and nightclub owner Lady Lou has more men friends than you can imagine. One of them is a vicious criminal who’s escaped and is on the way to see “his” girl, not realising she hasn’t exactly been faithful in his absence. Help is at hand in the form of young Captain Cummings, a local temperance league leader.

6.9

Lady Killer

Dec 9, 1933

An ex-gang member tries to resist his old cohorts' criminal influence after he suddenly becomes a Hollywood movie star.

6.1

Ladies They Talk About

Feb 4, 1933

A moll, imprisoned after participating in a bank robbery, helps with a breakout plot.