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Laughter in Hell is a american film of genre Drama directed by Edward L. Cahn released in USA on 12 january 1933 with Pat O'Brien

Laughter in Hell (1933)

Laughter in Hell
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Released in USA 12 january 1933
Length 1h10
Directed by
OriginUSA
Genres Drama,    Crime
Rating69% 3.472583.472583.472583.472583.47258

Laughter in Hell is a 1933 Pre-Code film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Pat O'Brien. The film's title was typical of the sensationalistic titles of many Pre-Code films. The film was inspired in part by I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and was part of a series of films depicting men in chain gangs following the success of that film. O'Brien plays a railroad engineer who kills his wife and her lover in a jealous rage and is sent to prison. The movie received a mixed review in The New York Times upon its release. Although long considered lost, the film was recently preserved and was screened at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood, CA in October of 2012.

The dead man's brother ends up being the warden of the prison and subjects O'Brien's character to significant abuse. O'Brien and several other characters revolt, killing the warden and escaping from the prison. The film drew controversy for its lynching scene where several black men were hanged. Contrary to reports, only blacks were hung in this scene, though the actual executions occurred off-camera (we see instead reaction shots of the guards and other prisoners). The New Age (an African American weekly newspaper) film critic praised the scene for being courageous enough to depict the atrocities that were occurring in some southern states.

Synopsis

O'Brien plays an Irish mine worker, Barney Slaney. Later Barney gets a job as a fireman on the local train for an engineer named Mileaway. He gets married, but finds his wife having an affair with Grover Perkins, a childhood nemesis. Barney loses control and kills them both. He turns himself in and receives a life sentence of hard labor. Barney quickly finds out that the brother of the man he killed, Ed Perkins, will be in charge of his chain gang, and the brother bullies him repeatedly. While the prisoners dig graves, Barney knocks Ed unconscious and drops him into one of the open graves. He then escapes during the ensuing meyhem, in which the warden is killed. He breaks out of the police dragnet, and hides at a farm which recently had a pestilence infection. He meets a woman named Lorraine, and they run away together.

Actors

Pat O'Brien

(Barney Slaney)Merna Kennedy

(Marybelle Evans)Berton Churchill

(Mike Slaney)Tom Ricketts

(Judge)Gloria Stuart

(Lorraine)
And :
Charles K. French
Tom Brown
Clarence Muse
Pat Harmon
Trailer of Laughter in Hell

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Source : Wikidata

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