Convicted (1938) User Reviews

Loyal sister and great detective

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 7 March 2019]

Rita Hayworth was a woman on the upward move in her Hollywood career. Convicted was one of a series of B films she did honing her craft before she became Columbia Picture's ruling queen. Studio head Harry Cohn brought her along slowly, but the results were worth it.

The role in Convicted call for a couple of dance numbers and as we know before she was Rita Hayworth she was Marguerite Carmen Cansino of the Dancing Casinos. Hayworth is the sister of Edgar Edwards and she's trying to break up his romance with golddigger Phyllis Clare. When Clare is strangled Edwards is found bending over the body at the scene by a maid. Her testimony convicts Edwards and he's facing the electric chair.

That's when his loyal sister goes to work with some help from police detective Charles Quigley who never quite believed Edwards was guilty.

Other than Rita Hayworth the only other person who had any real career in the cast is Marc Lawrence who plays both a nightclub owner and owner of the building where Clare was killed.

Convicted is a chance to see a star being born.

Pre star Rita Hayworth actually starring in a 1938 movie

[jjcremin-1 · 6/10 · 18 May 2008]

Last night, May 17, 2008, at the Starlight Studio hosted by Mark Viera, someone had brought in a 16mn print of a 1938 film that actually starred Rita Hayworth a few years before she became a star. This hour long movie was very low budget, curiously filmed in Canada, but shot mainly indoors on sound stages.

The movie starts out with Hayworth billed as Jerry dancing up a storm in some nondescript night club. Though not a great actress, her acting ability actually beats just about anyone else in this. The only other familiar face for me was Marc Lawrence, who plays the nightclub owner and the villain of the piece. Her lovesick brother, Edgar Edwards, sees a blatant gold digger, Phyllis Clare, who shows she doesn't need him. She proudly shows a $10,0000 bracelet. Her maid comes to find the brother standing over the gold digger's body. The hero detective is played by Charles Quigley. a total non-actor.

The rest of the plot is quite nonsensical. Hayworth gets saved by William Irving, who played an obnoxious drunk who later transforms into a obnoxious policeman. However, if you are a Rita Hayworth fan, it's fun seeing her as bright eyed and bushy tailed as the ingénue. We are treated with her giving another amazing dance just prior to fade out.

Early Rita had stardom destined, even in mediocre movies.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 14 September 2018]

Rita Hayworth's true star power didn't explode on screen until 1941 when she danced with Fred Astaire for the first time, but for several years, she had been on the rise at Columbia after several years in the background. Her early Columbia films have been very difficult to find for the most part, so when they do turn up, they are delightful surprises for sure, even if the movies themselves are just average. In this film, young Rita is a cabaret dancer already tired out and looking to find a better way of making a living without disillusionment. She is also a very protective older sister, looking out for reckless brother Edgar Edwards even when he defies her good advice. Against her wishes, he plans on running away with nasty dancer Phyllis Clare whom Rita has a confrontation with that ends up with a slap to Clare's face by the sweet looking Rita. There's no holding Edwards back from heading to Clare's apartment, and when he gets there, Clare's maid (Noel Cusack) finds Edwards over Clare's dead body. The distraught Rita quickly claims she killed Clare in a last minute confrontation, but her weak attempts to protect her brother are seen through easily by her cop boyfriend Charles Quigley. Edwards is sentenced to be hung, and Hayworth and Quigley decide to work together to find a way of clearing him.

Even though they work in the same profession, there is no comparing Hayworth's basically decent dancer to Clare's opportunistic viper. It is obvious from the confrontation between the two women that Clare will end up on a slab, and it happens extremely quickly. This quota quickie is fun but typical B material, filmed in Vancouver, although by the looks of the film, it could have just as easily been made in Hollywood. The highlight of this film is the auction sequence of Clare's belongings (I just love her character's name of Ruby Rose, not to be confused with the Dominican playboy, Rubirosa) where members of organized crime (lead by Marc Lawrence) try to get their hands on a music box that Hayworth also bids on. It is obvious that Hayworth is determined to give a believable performance, and you never take her eyes off of her. The same year, she played a murder victim in "Who Killed Gail Preston?" as a nasty nightclub singer, so it's nice to see her survive here. Doreen MacGregor adds innocence and pathos to the role of the girlfriend Edwards dropped so he could find sin with the opportunistic Clare. You pretty much know what happened from the moment certain characters appear on screen, so there isn't much as far as suspense, but as a record of Hayworth's rise to screen immortality, the film is quite memorable.