HOLE IN THE WALL
US, 1929, 73 minutes, Black and white.
Claudette Colbert, Edward G. Robinson, David Newell, Nellie Savage, Donald Meek.
Directed by Robert Florey.
Hole in the Wall is a little-known film of 1929, an early sound film, small budget and still experimenting with visual style as well as sound engineering.
The main reason for seeing the film is that it stars Claudette Colbert with Edward G. Robinson in an early role, foreshadowing his other gangster roles.
The film is based on a play and, for an early talkie, is very talkative. It is highly contrived and not a film to keep audience attention.
The film is set in Chicago, focusing on a gang who get information for robberies under the cover of the work of a medium. Soon after the opening of the film, there is a sudden train crash, with some activity between the broken carriages, and the medium is killed.
The leader of the gang is The Fox, played by Robinson in his afterwards familiar style. Amongst the gang members is Donald Meek, who was to play a lot of very meek roles in the films of the 1930s and 40s, so is it a bit of a stretch to see him as a member of a gang and exercising some standover tactics, even though his character is called Goofy. The whole show is a sham, with one of the gang putting on a turban and an accent to invite customers in.
Things change when a young woman, Jean, Claudette Colbert, comes for a job interview and is hired to be the mysterious medium, her face veiled, her arms on the chair which vibrates with Morse code operated in another room by Robinson.
She has a back story, accused by a haughty woman of stealing while the woman concealed the money. Jean has served a prison sentence, is bent on revenge, intends to steal the grandchild of the woman and look after her but train her as a thief.
There is also a journalist who knew her and is on the lookout for her even though the criminals have put her name on the body of the dead medium.
Jean responds to motherhood after the child is abducted and is tempted to give up her vengeance quest. Eventually the woman turns up, as does the journalist, the power is turned off and The Fox is unable to communicate with Jean – which leads to exposure of the scheme, the anger of the older woman, the rescue of the child, and a possible happy ending.
The film was directed by Frenchman Robert Florey who came to the US, small budget films in the 1930s, bigger-budget with God is My Co- Pilot and The Beast with Five Fingers in the 1940s and then a substantial career in television.
