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
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.