Condemned (1929 film)

Condemned is a 1929 American pre-Code melodrama, directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Ronald Colman, Ann Harding, Dudley Digges, Louis Wolheim, William Elmer, and Wilhelm von Brincken. The movie was adapted by Sidney Howard from the novel by Blair Niles.

Set against the oppressive backdrop of Devil’s Island in French Guiana, the film follows Michel (Ronald Colman), a newly arrived prisoner facing a lengthy sentence in the notoriously brutal penal colony. Michel, however, is no typical inmate; his relaxed demeanour and easy charm quickly ingratiate him with fellow prisoners, including the affable Jacques (Louis Wolheim), and eventually earn him a privileged position as houseboy to the camp’s warden, Vidal (Dudley Digges). Vidal is a deeply possessive man, particularly when it comes to his much younger wife (Ann Harding), whom he treats less as a partner and more as a symbol of status. Isolated and emotionally stranded, Madame Vidal finds herself drawn to Michel’s charisma, sparking a doomed romance that inevitably attracts the warden’s suspicion. Once their affair is uncovered, Michel is thrown into solitary confinement, escapes, and ultimately becomes the target of a desperate manhunt through the island’s humid, treacherous jungle terrain.

• Ronald Colman - Michel
• Ann Harding - Madame Vidal
• Dudley Digges - Vidal
• Louis Wolheim - Jacques
• William Elmer - Pierre
• Wilhelm von Brincken - Vidal's orderly (as William Vaughn)
• Albert Kingsley - Felix
• Constantine Romanoff - Brute Convict
• Harry Ginsberg - Inmate
• Bud Sommers - Inmate
• Stephen Selznick - Inmate
• Baldy Biuddle - Inmate
• John George - Inmate
• John Schwartz - Inmate

This film was also released in a silent version running 9,000 feet.^[1] In 1930, Colman was nominated for an Academy Award in the Acting category for his work in this film and in Bulldog Drummond (1929). Condemned was the first of eight films written by Sidney Howard for producer Samuel Goldwyn, the last of which was Raffles (1939).

Note: this list is incomplete

• "Song of the Condemned", written by Jack Meskill and Pete Wendling

The film is known by a variety of other names, including: Condenado in Portugal and Spain, Condemned to Devil's Island in the U.S. reissue, Condenado a Isla del Diablo in Argentina, Flucht von der Teufelsinsel in Austria, and L'isola del diavolo in Italy.

• List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

• Condemned at IMDb
• Condemned at Cine.gr (in Greek)
• Condemned at TCM
• Condemned at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films