To avoid the rigors of the law, Gilda flees New Orleans and hides on a Caribbean island where the worst criminals can ask for asylum. Besieged by the scum of the earth, Gilda will soon find out that she has found refuge in hell.
Acting
Mackaill's brittle defiance in a role that broke good-girl conventions.
Direction
Wellman's island becomes a pressure cooker of leering masculinity.
Production
Warner Bros. backlot tropicalia — cheap, sweaty, perfect.
Director
William A. Wellman
Dorothy Mackaill
Gilda Carlson
Donald Cook
Carl Bergen
Ralf Harolde
Piet van Saal
John Wray
Eagan
Ivan F. Simpson
Crunch
Victor Varconi
General Emmanuel Jesus Maria Gomez
Nina Mae McKinney
Leonie
Charles Middleton
Lawyer Jones
Morgan Wallace
Mr. Bruno
Clarence Muse
Newcastle
Gustav von Seyffertitz
Larson
Noble Johnson
Bobo
Cecil Cunningham
Angie
Harold Waldridge
New Orleans Hotel Bellhop (uncredited)
Lionel Belmore
Judge (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released months before the Hays Code enforcement, this is pre-Code Hollywood at maximum sleaze — sex work, sexual threat, and downbeat endings all vanish after 1934.
Dorothy Mackaill retired from film entirely in 1935; this remains one of her most substantial surviving roles.
US
