Hell's House
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Howard Higgin
Bette Davis
Pat O'brien
Junior Durkin
Junior Coughlin
Emma Dunn
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After Jimmy Mason's mother is killed in a hit-and-run accident, he goes to live with his aunt and uncle, Emma and Henry Clark. There he meets their boarder, Kelly, whose bragging and apparent civic connections impress Jimmy. In fact, Kelly is a notorious bootlegger, and when Jimmy asks him for a job, he puts the boy to work taking orders for bootleg booze. The police raid Kelly's office, and because Jimmy will not name Kelly as his boss, he is sentenced to three years in the state industrial school for boys. At the reform school, Jimmy is forced to do hard labor in the brick yards but makes friends with Shorty, a sickly boy who tries to help Jimmy sneak a letter out to Kelly. Shorty gets caught, and when he keeps silent for Jimmy, he is sentenced to solitary confinement. When Jimmy learns that Shorty is seriously ill, he escapes and goes to Kelly and Kelly's girl friend, Peggy Gardner, for help. Kelly tries to evade his responsibility toward Jimmy, but Peggy calls newspaper columnist Frank Gebhardt, who has been desperately trying to expose the brutal conditions at the boy's school. The authorities follow Jimmy to Gebhardt's office and are about to take him back, when at the last minute, Kelly has a change of heart, confesses his guilt, and admits the boy's innocence. Shorty, however, has already died due to the heartless abuses of the system.
Director
Howard Higgin
Cast
Bette Davis
Pat O'brien
Junior Durkin
Junior Coughlin
Emma Dunn
Morgan Wallace
Hooper Atchley
Wallis Clark
James Marcus
Mary Alden
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
If you'd give the kid a chance, Kelly, he might amount to something, instead of always thinking about yourself.- Peggy Gardner
Trivia
Notes
The synopsis in the copyright records is entitled "Misguided." The working title of the film was Juvenile Court. Universal loaned Bette Davis to B. F. Zeidman as part of a contractual obligation to the studio.
