The Hole in the Wall | |
---|---|
Directed by | Robert Florey |
Written by | Pierre Collings |
Based on | The Hole in the Wall by Frederick J. Jackson |
Starring | Claudette Colbert Edward G. Robinson David Newell |
Cinematography | George J. Folsey |
Edited by | Mort Blumenstock |
Music by | Gerard Carbonara W. Franke Harling |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 63 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Hole in the Wall is a 1929 pre-Code mystery drama film directed by Robert Florey, and starring Claudette Colbert and Edward G. Robinson. This early talking picture was the first appearance of Edward G. Robinson in the role of a gangster, and "can be viewed as a dry run for his eventual success (in 1931 in Little Caesar)". It was also one of Colbert's first film appearances. [1] [2] [3]
The film was shot at Paramount's Astoria Studios in New York. The film is a remake of an earlier 1921 silent The Hole in the Wall .
The Fox, a con man, teams up with Madame Mystera, a fake fortune teller, to bilk naive people of their money. When Madame Mystera dies in an elevated train derailment, the Fox hires Jean Oliver to replace her. However, over time, he comes to believe that Jean actually does have supernatural powers.
According to critic Troy Howarth, the film "is an interesting amalgam of gangster melodrama and horror, one in which Edward G. Robinson steals the show." Colbert's "character becomes more complex as the picture unfolds, and the actress keeps up just fine." [1] He commented that Florey's bizarre set designs for the medium's den looked as if they were inspired by the German film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari . [1]
Émilie Chauchoin, professionally known as Claudette Colbert, was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures. Initially contracted to Paramount Pictures, Colbert became one of the few major actresses of the period who worked freelance, independent of the studio system.
Robert Florey was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor.
This is an overview of 1929 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
The following is an overview of 1927 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
This is an overview of 1923 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
This is an overview of 1922 in film, including significant events, a list of films released and notable births and deaths.
1917 in film was a particularly fruitful year for the art form, and is often cited as one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1913. Secondarily the year saw a limited global embrace of narrative film-making and featured innovative techniques such as continuity cutting. Primarily, the year is an American landmark, as 1917 is the first year where the narrative and visual style is typified as "Classical Hollywood".
The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.
The year 1915 in film involved some significant events.
1913 was a particularly fruitful year for film as an art form, and is often cited one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1917. The year was one where filmmakers of several countries made great artistic advancements, producing notable pioneering masterpieces such as The Student of Prague, Suspense, Atlantis, Raja Harischandra, Juve contre Fantomas, Quo Vadis?, Ingeborg Holm, The Mothering Heart, Ma l’amor mio non muore!, L’enfant de Paris and Twilight of a Woman's Soul.
The year 1911 in film involved some significant events.
The year 1910 in film involved some significant events.
Edward G. Robinson was an American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays, and more than 100 films, during a 50-year career, and is best remembered for his tough-guy roles as gangsters in such films as Little Caesar and Key Largo. During his career, Robinson received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor for his performance in House of Strangers.
The Two Mrs. Grenvilles is a 1987 television miniseries based on Dominick Dunne's 1985 novel of the same name and dramatizing the sensational killing of William Woodward, Jr. by his wife, Ann Woodward in 1955. Directed by John Erman, the miniseries stars Ann-Margret, Elizabeth Ashley, Stephen Collins and Claudette Colbert in her final television role.
The Barton Mystery is a 1920 British silent crime film directed by Harry T. Roberts, produced by Oswald Stoll and starring Lyn Harding, Hilda Bayley and Arthur Pusey It ran 72 minutes in length. The screenplay was written by R. Byron-Webber, based on the eponymous stage play by Walter C. Hackett, which was first staged in England in October, 1917. The cinematographer was E. Harvey Harrison.
Darkened Rooms is a 1929 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and starring Evelyn Brent. It was an early talking picture. This film is preserved at the Library of Congress. The film tried to cash in on the interest in spiritualism caused by the then-popular Harry Houdini, but critics felt the film couldn't quite decide whether it was debunking the supernatural, or embracing it.
(for a 1929 early talkie remake starring Edward G. Robinson and Claudette Colbert see --The Hole in the Wall.)
One Glorious Day is a lost 1922 American silent fantasy comedy film directed by James Cruze and written by Barry Barringer and Walter Woods. The film stars Will Rogers, Lila Lee, Alan Hale, Sr., Johnny Fox, George Nichols, and Emily Rait. It was released on January 29, 1922, by Paramount Pictures. Working titles included Ek, A Fighting Soul and Souls Before Birth. Forrest J. Ackerman, the publisher of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, credited this film as being the one that "created his lifelong interest in science fiction and horror".
The Phantom Melody is a 1920 American silent drama film directed by Douglas Gerrard, and starring Monroe Salisbury, Henry A. Barrows, Ray Gallagher, Charles West and Jean Calhoun. The film was released by Universal Film Manufacturing Company on January 27, 1920. The film's "premature burial" plotline tilts it in the direction of being a horror film as well as a melodrama. Director Gerrard emigrated to Hollywood from Ireland in 1913 to become an actor, but quickly gravitated to film directing in 1916 with his The Price of Victory, but gave up directing soon after filming The Phantom Melody.
Trilby is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by James Young and starring Andrée Lafayette, Creighton Hale, and Arthur Edmund Carewe. It is an adaptation of the 1894 novel Trilby by George du Maurier about a young woman named Trilby who falls under the power of the domineering mesmerist Svengali.