Joel Grant (Donald Woods) goes ashore for the evening to enjoy a carnival. There he meets Claire only to discover she is already married to Dr. Martel who she doesn't love at all. She decides she wants a divorce and he decides to quit the ship only to be confronted by the captain who refuses to grant his wish. They fight and he leaves believing he's just knocked the captain out. Claire then tells her husband she wants a divorce but he refuses and tells her he is going to be the doctor on Devil's Island. Joel is then arrested for robbery and murder and his plea of self defence is rejected. He refuses to give a reason for wanting to leave the boat because Claire is in the courtroom with her husband. Joel then gets sent to Devil's Island for 3 years...
5 Reviews
another nice Lew Landers
eric-baril28 January 2014
Warning: Spoilers
From Lew Landers, I already appreciated "Inner Sanctum", "The Power Of The Whistler", "Man In The Dark" and of course "The Cruel Tower" with a very nasty Charles Mc Graw. In his very prolific career, there must be some other nice B surprises.
Like "I Was A Prisoner On Devil's Island", rather slow in the beginning and getting faster in the middle. Very few settings of this prison, and yet the action is quite fast paced thanks to an intelligent script by Karl Brown (who was also cinematographer on other movies, that could have helped for the efficiency of this movie).
Special bravo to Eduardo Cianelli, the mysterious Doctor Satan himself. He is the nasty character of the movie, and he is so good at being so bad.
A truly entertaining prison movie for B treasures lovers.
Like "I Was A Prisoner On Devil's Island", rather slow in the beginning and getting faster in the middle. Very few settings of this prison, and yet the action is quite fast paced thanks to an intelligent script by Karl Brown (who was also cinematographer on other movies, that could have helped for the efficiency of this movie).
Special bravo to Eduardo Cianelli, the mysterious Doctor Satan himself. He is the nasty character of the movie, and he is so good at being so bad.
A truly entertaining prison movie for B treasures lovers.
I was a mesmerized viewer in my living room.
mark.waltz24 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
B movies are often better than the higher budgeted A features where profits were expected to make up for adding on second features for audiences during the golden age of cinema. When B movies were bad, they could often be wretched, but when they were good, they were often forgotten a towards time because of the stigma surrounding the B's. This Columbia second feature is one of dozens surrounding life behind bars, but there was something so human about it that it exceeds expectations and ends up being a film worthy of becoming a classic.
The first 20 minutes which set up the film is pretty corny where Donald Woods, as an American member of the French Foreign Legion, flirts with the pretty Sally Eilers whoever he goes out of his way to desperately cheer up sensing her severe depression. I would be depressed too if I was married to a dour doctor like Eduardo Cianelli, and after their brief encounter (which is platonic), Eilers asks her husband for a divorce. of course, he's a tyrant and refuses, just having accepted a position at Devil's Island where ironically Woods is sentenced after being found guilty in the accidental death of someone Woods had an altercation with.
From the moment of Woods' sentencing (where Eilers, who is in the courtroom, faints), this becomes an exciting melodrama of fear and survival, where Woods ironically becomes the prisoner assistant to Cianelli. A plague breaks out in the prison and Woods takes command, even aggressively ordering Cianelli to check out The newly-arrived Prisoner who brought in the plague and is now a corpse in the morgue. But Cianelli and the warden (Charles Halton) are desperate to save their hides, and when Woods is offered a pardon, circumstances lead to a violent twist that threatens Woods' freedom for good.
The performances by the three main actors are superb and with the direction by Lew Landers, the film flows at a fast pace. Technically, the film is excellent with set design that is gorgeous, looking very much like the sets from a Dietrich/Von Sternberg film. Cianelli, in particular, stands out as the villainess husband whose darkness may be evident but it is never one-dimensional or stereotypical. Every movement that he makes is perfectly calculated and thanks to the script, he never feels like a cartoon character. Woods, who was always dependable but never particularly outstanding, is giving a character that develops greatly throughout the film, perhaps giving him his best performance. Eilers is a great heroine with strengths that overshadow her fragile demeanor.
The first 20 minutes which set up the film is pretty corny where Donald Woods, as an American member of the French Foreign Legion, flirts with the pretty Sally Eilers whoever he goes out of his way to desperately cheer up sensing her severe depression. I would be depressed too if I was married to a dour doctor like Eduardo Cianelli, and after their brief encounter (which is platonic), Eilers asks her husband for a divorce. of course, he's a tyrant and refuses, just having accepted a position at Devil's Island where ironically Woods is sentenced after being found guilty in the accidental death of someone Woods had an altercation with.
From the moment of Woods' sentencing (where Eilers, who is in the courtroom, faints), this becomes an exciting melodrama of fear and survival, where Woods ironically becomes the prisoner assistant to Cianelli. A plague breaks out in the prison and Woods takes command, even aggressively ordering Cianelli to check out The newly-arrived Prisoner who brought in the plague and is now a corpse in the morgue. But Cianelli and the warden (Charles Halton) are desperate to save their hides, and when Woods is offered a pardon, circumstances lead to a violent twist that threatens Woods' freedom for good.
The performances by the three main actors are superb and with the direction by Lew Landers, the film flows at a fast pace. Technically, the film is excellent with set design that is gorgeous, looking very much like the sets from a Dietrich/Von Sternberg film. Cianelli, in particular, stands out as the villainess husband whose darkness may be evident but it is never one-dimensional or stereotypical. Every movement that he makes is perfectly calculated and thanks to the script, he never feels like a cartoon character. Woods, who was always dependable but never particularly outstanding, is giving a character that develops greatly throughout the film, perhaps giving him his best performance. Eilers is a great heroine with strengths that overshadow her fragile demeanor.
An exquisite Lew Landers's rare gem
searchanddestroy-110 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I looked for this film since many years now. And unlike many others I search too, this one is really worth the waiting. I watched it in a superb quality DVD from a 16mm print. It looked like a TV taping off. This story of a hero sent to hard labor prison farm - Devil's Island - may sound familiar for many movie buffs. Many B pictures already told us such tales. But this one is among most of them.
The first officer of a freight cargo accidentally kills his captain and is sent to Devil's Island, where strange and horrible things happen with the prisoners. You also may find some analogy with the Nazi disgusting medical works in concentration camps. But, at this time, in 1941, who was aware of this? So, we may guess that's only a dark hazard to tell such details on screen.
The love affair with the unavoidable gal doesn't spoil the film.
Fortunately.
Plenty of rhythm and action. Get it at all costs.
The first officer of a freight cargo accidentally kills his captain and is sent to Devil's Island, where strange and horrible things happen with the prisoners. You also may find some analogy with the Nazi disgusting medical works in concentration camps. But, at this time, in 1941, who was aware of this? So, we may guess that's only a dark hazard to tell such details on screen.
The love affair with the unavoidable gal doesn't spoil the film.
Fortunately.
Plenty of rhythm and action. Get it at all costs.
How come a lovely girl lands up on Devil's Island? Simple! All she has to do is marry the prison doctor,
JohnHowardReid21 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
So how do you beat the rap if you're a prisoner on Devil's Island who deserves to be a prisoner on Devil's Island? Simple! You just wait until the Prison Governor is visiting the island and then you pray (1) that the prison's chief warden and the medical officer are not only corrupt but are making a fortune by selling all the island prison's medical supplies on the mainland; that (2) a really infectious disease to which you and the governor and his staff are immune, breaks out; that (3) this all occurs during a vicious storm in which the island is cut off from the mainland; and that although you have no knowledge of medicine, you are just a natural-born doctor who can save lives at the flick of a wrist! See, it's simple, if you know how and just wait forty or fifty years for the right combination of circumstances to occur. In the movie, of course, it all takes just a few months. As might be expected, hero Donald Woods does absolutely nothing to make the preposterous script even mildly realistic. Lovely Sally Eilers fares a bit better, but it takes a couple of inveterate baddies in Charles Halton and Eduardo Ciannelli to bring a bit of class and even momentary believability to this Lew Landers' "B". Formerly available on an excellent VintageFilmBuff DVD.
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