A criminal known as Thunderbolt is imprisoned and facing execution. Into the next cell is placed Bob Moran, an innocent man who has been framed and who is in love with Thunderbolt's girl, without knowing of their relationship. Thunderbolt hopes to stave off the execution long enough to kill young Moran for romancing his girl.
Direction
Sternberg turns a prison into an expressionist fever dream.
Acting
Bancroft's bulldog intensity chews through every frame.
Cinematography
Shadows, bars, and faces—silent film grammar speaking loud.
Director
Josef von Sternberg
George Bancroft
Thunderbolt Jim Lang
Fay Wray
Ritzy
Richard Arlen
Bob Moran
Tully Marshall
Warden
Eugenie Besserer
Mrs. Moran
Fred Kohler
'Bad Al' Friedberg
Robert Elliott
Prison chaplain
E.H. Calvert
Dist. Atty. McKay
George Irving
Mr. Corwin
Mike Donlin
Kentucky Sampson
William L. Thorne
Police Inspector
Theresa Harris
Singer
Madame Sul-Te-Wan
Bit Role
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was von Sternberg's first sound film, yet he treated dialogue as sonic texture—visual storytelling still ruled his universe.
Fay Wray made this between 'The Wedding March' and 'King Kong'—she spent 1929-1933 being spectacularly imperiled by obsessive men.
US
