The Mayor of Hell

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Movie
Original title The Mayor of Hell
Country of production United States
original language English
Italian
Publishing year 1933
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director Archie Mayo
script Edward Chodorov
production Edward Chodorov
Lucien Hubbard
music Bernhard Kaun
camera Barney McGill
cut Jack Killifer
occupation

The Mayor of Hell is an American black and white drama from 1933 based on a story by Islin Auster .

action

The story is about the gangster Patsy Gargan, who gets a job as a janitor in a reformatory . He starts out as a helper who has the job of getting quick money for the gangsters. But when he meets the children from the institution, he recognizes himself in them. The previous caretaker was very aggressive and didn't focus on helping the children in any way. Patsy leaves his position in the gang and now works for the reformatory together with the beautiful doctor, played by Madge Evans , who also wants to help the children.

The doctor, whose name is Dorothy, has many good ideas for the reformatory. Together, Patsy and Dorothy try to create a better atmosphere for the young people and everything goes very well at first. But Patsy has a secret that nobody knows about. He got involved in dirty politics and destroyed a man's life in the process. It was actually an accident, but because Thompson is trying to get revenge on him, he has to go into hiding anyway. Therefore he is looking for a shelter where he can stay for a while.

In the meantime the old conditions have returned to the institution with the old caretaker Thompson, and Patsy is no longer there to help the boys. The caretaker Thompson is brutal and heartless with the boys. He tries to convince them that Patsy has given up on them. When Dorothy complains about the poor quality of the institutional food, she is released. The boys no longer have any support. In the end, the boy Johnny "Skinny" Stone is punished by Thompson. Skinny was very sick, but Thompson said he had to sleep outside. In the morning Skinny died.

After Skinny's death, the other boys in the reformatory want revenge and rebel. The boys put the man before a separate court, which finds him guilty. Thompson tries to escape and the boys chase him onto the roof of a shed. Then they set fire to the shed. Thompson tried to jump off the roof, but he ended up on a fence that punctured him. In the meantime Dorothy finds Patsy in his hiding place and tells him the whole story. Patsy runs back to school to restore order, but Thompson is dead. Patsy heard what happened and lies to save the boys. Patsy finally decides to stay at the institution and continue the school.

Trivia

As early as 1938 there was a remake of the film under the name Crime School with Humphrey Bogart and Gale Page in the leading roles. A year later there was another remake, Hell's Kitchen , this time with Ronald Reagan among others .

background

Production costs amounted to 229,000 US dollars .

Web links