User Reviews

This is certainly not a great film. In fact, in some ways I felt a bit silly for watching it because the movie was so jam-packed full of over-the-top melodrama and impossible situations. BUT, it was so darn exciting to watch and entertaining. So, it's a bit of a guilty pleasure. Like so many of the Pre-Code films, this film does not avoid adult topics or try to be subtle!

The film begins with the leading lady (Ruth Chatterton) being married to a man who her mother did NOT approve of but she grudgingly came to the ceremony. Not too surprisingly, the mother turns out to be correct--the man was a bum--a very evil bum. And so, Ruth is left alone and pregnant but also unwilling to go home and admit Mama was right. Her friend, a hopeless drunk but nice guy (Frank McHugh) offers to marry her to legitimize the baby and she reluctantly agrees. They certainly aren't in love and it appears as if they never even consummate the marriage. The marriage is also quite ironic, as when the baby comes it is still-born. So Ruth is trapped in a marriage with no passion and her new man is a drunk.

Ruth and Frank work together with a traveling patent medicine show and while the living isn't easy, they have enough to eat and their lives are adequate. In this troop is a strange German strong man (Robert Barrat) who is infatuated with Ruth--the problems are that she's already married and she doesn't love Barrat. But, since Barrat seems a bit "odd", he doesn't take 'no' for an answer. In fact, it turns out he's insane and is eventually taken away to the mental hospital! Wow, this is a LOT of stuff--but at this point, the movie is only at the half-way point! To replace Barrat, they hire George Brent (who just doesn't look right for the part--handsome, maybe, but certainly NOT a strong man). Soon, Ruth and George fall in love--even though they always seem to have her hubby in tow. Eventually, they plan on running off together--after all, Frank is a hopeless drunk and she never has had a real marriage with him.

HOWEVER, at the same time, Barrat breaks out of his mental hospital (which looks more like a prison) and runs amok--looking for Ruth. When Frank McHugh sees him and tries to protect Ruth, for his trouble he is tossed out a window and Barrat is finally apprehended. McHugh is mangled and his spine is broken but he's still alive. Ruth, out of pity, decides not to run away with Brent and she stays by his side as the movie ends.

Wow--talk about a lot of melodrama and plot elements!! There's really enough for two films--not a film that lasts only a little over 60 minutes! While this fast and "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to the film makes for a totally unbelievable and silly film (in places), it certainly holds your attention with all its salacious and sensationalistic story elements. Not a film for the refined connoisseur, but still an exciting and interesting film worth seeing.

Lilly is a distant relative to Gilda ,the "safe in Hell " heroine:both are victims of a macho society.But whereas Gilda's fate is sealed as soon the movie begins -she's asked to keep company to a man by some kind of madam -,Lilly's family displays a good background and we can wonder why she does not come back to them when she discovers who her first hubby really is.what did she do that was wrong ? Lilly and Gilda have no future when both movies end:Gilda is about to be hanged and Lilly will have to live the rest of her life with a disabled husband ( the doctor's diagnosis);and just when they had an opportunity to know true love.

Both "Lilly Turner" and "safe in Hell" are unusual melodrama;the former depicts the world of a charlatan ,a doctor whose book may cure any disease on earth and give you the body you've always dreamed of.When you see the commercials on TV today ,you realize how much Wellman was ahead of his time .The German muscled man becomes crazy about Lilly just as the men of the seedy hotel where Gilda hides.And I mean crazy.

Wellman,like Borzage ,fought for the dignity of man (and woman);That was hardly surprising he made the first western where women played a prominent part for the first time :" westward the women" .

For admirers of early Hollywood talkies this movie fields an impressive cast list; Ruth Chatterton, George Brent, Guy Kibbee, Frank McHugh and an uncredited Mayo Methot for good measure. It is, of course, pure meller and crammed with plot and subplot that shows just how anaemic today's johnny-one-note plots are. Director Wellman keeps the whole thing bubbling so that the absurdities don't have time to take root. To nutshell it Chatterton falls for a wronggo, marries him and lives to regret it; he ankles one step ahead of the sheriff leaving her pregnant; all this is against the backdrop of a carney where they all work. With hubby out of the picture lush Frank McHugh offers marriage, she accepts and loses the child. Enter George Brent representing True Love but before they can walk off into the sunset McHugh is badly beaten (don't ask) so the plays the martyr card. End of story. interesting rather than memorable.

Ruth Chatterton was one of a handful of Paramount stars poached by Warners - she was becoming more despondent at the films Paramount was asking her to do and when she saw how much money the studio was spending promoting Marlene Dietrich she let it be known that she was thinking of signing with Warners. Which was considered bad form as she still had two movies left!! The Warner movies weren't much better although their reputation has been much enhanced over the years and MGM who were very interested in her lost interest!! William Wellman saw something there - he used her in "Frisco Jenny" and "Lilly Turner". As a play "Lilly Turner" had opened on Broadway in 1932 and ran for 24 performances - which should have rang alarm bells!! Ruth Chatterton just cemented her reputation as an actress who, no matter what was thrown at her, could turn a sow's ear into a silk purse.

Here she initially plays a starry eyed newly wed who should have listened to her mother as she finds herself facing life and motherhood alone when her husband skips out!! Worse, she finds out she was never married when police arrive at the door to charge him with bigamy!! Far from the bright lights of New York he had promised her, they had been working in a seedy carnival and the sadder but wiser Lilly is quickly married to the drunken but kindly Dave (Frank McHugh in a very sensitive role). The film takes a dramatic turn as Fritz, the "loose cannon" strong man goes completely bonkers when his beseeching advances are rejected by Lilly. (Robert Barratt, usually playing cool, calm and collected types pulls out all stops with this one - he has the time of his life).

This leaves the way clear for George Brent (still married to Ruth at the time but soon to be divorced) - he plays affable Bob, a taxi driver but because of his strength in calming Fritz is very soon roped in to take his place as the carny strong man. Both he and Lilly fall for each other but there is surprising opposition in the person of Marjorie Gateson as the carnival manager's (Guy Kibbee) wife - she doesn't see why Lilly should be the lucky recipient of Bob's affections.

It's not a great Warner's movie but Chatterton gives her scenes emotion and depth.

This one's a real lu-lu, the tale of a hard-luck gal that depression era audiences ate up on the screen. Going from a bigamous marriage to one of convenience while traveling with a carnival, she gets a seedy reputation that obviously occurred through fate and deals with a psychopathic weight lifter obviously sexually obsessed with her. Then along comes George Brent as her possible savior from all of this melodrama. Happiness Ahead for Chatterton? Hell, no!

Chatterton is every inch the pre-code shady dame, originally part of a fairly respectable carnival, later totally monotone as she describes her former ugliness and what turned her into a lovely young woman. It should be mentioned too that Chatterton was far from the 20 something she claims to be here. Frank McHugh is the drunken second husband who ends up with a shocking fate. Robert Barrat is repulsive as the animalistic brute, a character that nightmares are made of.