Thu 4 Mar 2021
CONVICT’S CODE. Monogram Pictures, 1939. Robert Kent, Anne Nagel, Sidney Blackmer, Victor Kilian, Norman Willis, Maude Eburne, Ben Alexander. Director: Lambert Hillyer. Currently available for viewing here on YouTube.
You’d have to be a real fan of old movies to recognize more than one or two of the names above with resorting to IMDb to look them up, but they were all professional performers with loads of credits. I imagine Ben Alexander’s name stands out the most, and his was only a small part. I recognized him by his voice before I saw who he was. He was very young, only 28 at the time, although he’d been making movies since he was five.
Robert Kent was a complete unknown, but with 71 credits included on IMDb, obviously I haven’t been paying attention. In Convict’s Code, he plays the convict, obviously the leading role. He plays Dave Tyler, a former football star who’s been in prison for three years, locked up for a robbery he didn’t commit.
Released on parole, he vows to prove his innocence, but the six eyewitnesses who testified against him seem all to have died or disappeared. This is not surprising, at least to the audience, who all knew this is what was going to happen as soon as he shook the warden’s hand goodbye.
But here is where some suspension of disbelief comes in. After meeting with is parole officer, who goes through all of the things Dave can and cannot do (mostly cannot), Dave unknowingly goes to work for the very same man (Sidney Blackmer) who framed him. And this same guy has a sister (slim and very pretty Anne Nagel) whom he dotes on, and with whom Dave soon finds himself falling in love.
There is more, and all of the players play their roles most enthusiastically, making what could have been a very dull affair not that much of a chore to watch. Turning off your mind and not asking questions helps, but sometimes that’s all you don’t mind doing on a cold winter night around midnight.
March 4th, 2021 at 8:49 pm
Kent was the lead in one good serial I recall, but admittedly the best known names here are Blackmer, whose career ran longest and Victor Killian who went almost as long.
Blackmer was often cast as Teddy Roosevelt so its not surprising he was cast as Anthony Abbott’s Thatcher Colt based on TR in one film.
More often than not he played villains of the suave oily kind,
March 4th, 2021 at 9:14 pm
A persona perfectly fitting his role in this one.
March 4th, 2021 at 9:47 pm
Since I’m a child of the 1960’s, Sidney Blackmer I recall best as Ruth Gordon’s husband in ROSEMARY’S BABY. Delivering the classic line, “He has his father’s eyes.”
March 4th, 2021 at 10:26 pm
Every one of these names is familiar to me including Lambert Hillyer, but the best of all, Victor Killian, has a wonderful part in Only Angels Have Wings and a topper of a scene with Jean Arthur.
March 4th, 2021 at 10:37 pm
Oh, Victor Killian was murdered as he was being robbed. Today, there would have been riots in the streets to protect the jerk who killed this 88 year old man.
March 5th, 2021 at 7:51 am
I also know Maude Eburne. But no, Kent is a total mystery to me. Looking at his credits, I have seen some stuff he was in, but…? He died of a heart attack at 46, apparently.
March 5th, 2021 at 8:36 am
Going through the credits of an old movie like this one is a true test of well versed in old movies you really are.
PS. I’ve had a couple of medical appointments this past week (all followup visits: all is well), so for lack of time, I picked this movie review out of cold storage where it’s been for several years. I did better myself now than when I actually wrote it.