Blackwell's Island (1939)

I love this movie so much

Memorable, crazy movie

From my favorite movies..

Absolutely the worst movie.

This boring film hasn't got anything going for it, except for John Garfield. The story is supposedly taken from real events but I find that to be rather incredulous. "Warner Bros" hardly went out of their way in providing a great actor like John Garfield, an opening film which should have been more tailor- made for him. "Blackwell's Island" is a transparent film with no entertainment value at all. Even the action scenes are poor. The film stays relegated as a programmer but I've seen better ones than this!

It will not be on anyone's Top Ten list, nor should it be. It's not a great movie.But it's certainly a good one, and downright exciting at the end.It also falls into one of the categories of movies that Hollywood really doesn't make anymore, at least in the same way.Are some of our prisons as corrupt as this one? It wouldn't surprise me, though the corruption is probably not as visible as in this movie.What makes this movie work for me is John Garfield's energy and determination. Once he gets himself arrested and sent to prison, things really start to take off.No, the end is not surprising. You know that his character is unlikely to be killed. He is likely to break the story he went after and break the criminal's hold over the prison. But the way he did it held me.You could do worse than to watch this movie.

Based on a true story, the Warner Brothers film Blackwell's Island is a routine B programmer boasting the studio's usual staccato pacing and familiar troupe of contract players. The lone exception is newcomer John Garfield in the role of Tim Hayden, a crusading journalist out to get rackets boss "Bull" Bransom. Much happens in the brisk 71 minute film but a consistent tone is never established. Many scenes are played for laughs but there are several murders of good people (including a direct steal from The Public Enemy) that add drama to the piece.The main character is Bransom, a dim-witted gangster who controls many rackets in New York. He is enacted by Stanley Fields, kind of a bargain basement Wallace Beery (Fields played an identical role in the classic Little Caesar). He is fond of practical jokes (particularly exploding cigars) and not shy about rubbing out those who get in his way. Fields portrays this thug with relish and bounces between comedy and drama in expert fashion. His relegation to fifth billing is interesting given the amount of screen time he enjoys.Garfield is brash and cocky and a lot of fun to watch. He insults Bransom at every opportunity but never seems to be in any real danger. Given the former's predilection to violence this seems remarkable. The usually villainous Victor Jory is on board as a crusading DA. I had a hard time accepting him as a good guy and was waiting for him to double-cross Garfield at some point. Granville Bates as the spineless Warden has a funny scene when he learns he must bow to Bransom's wishes when the latter is remanded to the prison. His comments and underlying sense of resignation at having to tolerate the thug's outrageous demands are hilarious.All in all Blackwell's Island is a diverting piece of entertainment that will make 71 minutes zing by. And watching John Garfield in one of his first roles before he exploded into the national consciousness is a treat.

As incredible as it may seem, much of the details of the main criminal is this film is stolen "straight from the headlines" about Joseph/Joeyrel Rao, a racketeer who was convicted on conspiracy charges related to a seltzer racket in the Bronx. Once jailed, he literally took it over, with the help of crooked Tammany Hall politicians, and ran more rackets then they could list or even discuss in the film (e.g. drug dealing, prostitution, etc.).This Rao was related to the same Rao family as the famous restaurant and yummy tomato sauces you can get in your grocery store.You can research him by going to the NYTimes.com. It is hard to find general data about him on the web.