Sometimes I see a movie and I ask why. Why did you guys bother making this waste of celluloid? I don't ask that just because it's a bad movie, but because it seemed they didn't even try. "The Woman Condemned" didn't even try.
I've seen some very dumb reason for marriages on screen in the 1930's: drunk, a coin flip, a bet, to hideout, and even a business deal whereby the man wouldn't be available for a woman he didn't want to marry, but the marriage in "The Woman Condemned" has to be the worst.
A woman named Barbara Hammond (Claudia Dell) was arrested for prowling. As she was being arraigned a reporter named Jerry Beall (Richard Hemingway) was so stricken by her beauty he told the judge that she was his fiance and she was given to practical jokes. The judge, for unclear reasons, decided the two should get married.
Right then and there!
So, in a criminal court, the judge married them. The same thing happened in "Slightly Married" aka "Strange Marriage" (1932). It was dumb then and it was dumb in 1934.
The only thing dumber than the criminal court marriage was the murder mystery. It was such a convoluted mess I'm still doing mental gymnastics trying to figure it out.
All I can say is that a woman named Jane Merrick (Lola Lane) was shot and presumed killed. Barbara was arrested for her murder because... well... check this out.
Barbara was snooping outside of Jane's apartment and we don't know why. She saw Jane get shot. Barbara's next move was to go inside the apartment and PICK UP THE GUN that the killer dropped for some unknown reason. Soon after Barbara picked up the gun Jane's neighbor entered the apartment and saw Barbara standing there--dead body at her feet and gun in her hand.
Now, we know from experience that Barbara cannot be the murderer. The murderer is never the most obvious person regardless of how guilty they appear. So, who was the murderer and why was Barbara offering no explanation for her actions?
Apparently, Barbara's illogical actions were all part of an elaborate plot to catch the real gunman. Instead of simply stating who the gunman was, Barbara pretended to be guilty to lure the real gunman out of hiding. It was a lame brain trick that has no business being in a movie, and judging by the movie's rating, audiences thought so too.
Free on Odnoklassniki.
I've seen some very dumb reason for marriages on screen in the 1930's: drunk, a coin flip, a bet, to hideout, and even a business deal whereby the man wouldn't be available for a woman he didn't want to marry, but the marriage in "The Woman Condemned" has to be the worst.
A woman named Barbara Hammond (Claudia Dell) was arrested for prowling. As she was being arraigned a reporter named Jerry Beall (Richard Hemingway) was so stricken by her beauty he told the judge that she was his fiance and she was given to practical jokes. The judge, for unclear reasons, decided the two should get married.
Right then and there!
So, in a criminal court, the judge married them. The same thing happened in "Slightly Married" aka "Strange Marriage" (1932). It was dumb then and it was dumb in 1934.
The only thing dumber than the criminal court marriage was the murder mystery. It was such a convoluted mess I'm still doing mental gymnastics trying to figure it out.
All I can say is that a woman named Jane Merrick (Lola Lane) was shot and presumed killed. Barbara was arrested for her murder because... well... check this out.
Barbara was snooping outside of Jane's apartment and we don't know why. She saw Jane get shot. Barbara's next move was to go inside the apartment and PICK UP THE GUN that the killer dropped for some unknown reason. Soon after Barbara picked up the gun Jane's neighbor entered the apartment and saw Barbara standing there--dead body at her feet and gun in her hand.
Now, we know from experience that Barbara cannot be the murderer. The murderer is never the most obvious person regardless of how guilty they appear. So, who was the murderer and why was Barbara offering no explanation for her actions?
Apparently, Barbara's illogical actions were all part of an elaborate plot to catch the real gunman. Instead of simply stating who the gunman was, Barbara pretended to be guilty to lure the real gunman out of hiding. It was a lame brain trick that has no business being in a movie, and judging by the movie's rating, audiences thought so too.
Free on Odnoklassniki.