Safe in Hell / Party Husband
- This is a past program
The UCLA Film & Television Archive presents classic film and contemporary cinema in the Hammer's Billy Wilder Theater.
Part of the series To Heck with Your Don’ts and Be Carefuls.
Safe in Hell
Gilda (Dorothy Mackaill) is a New Orleans sex worker who, after clocking her pimp with a bottle and setting his apartment ablaze, flees to a Caribbean isle where booze is legal and criminals live without recourse. All fairly standard, racy, pre-Code fare; what sets it apart from others is the innovative camerawork from director William Wellman, as well as Nina Mae McKinney and Clarence Muse, two African American actors who embody sympathetic, dynamic characters. Preserved by the Library of Congress. (1931, dir. William A. Wellman, 35mm, black and white, 73 min.)
Party Husband
In this early talkie, former Ziegfield Girl Dorothy Mackaill lands herself in an open, thoroughly modern marriage with Jay (James Rennie), much to the dismay of their traditional families and friends. While the couple remains cavalierly convinced by this modern way of love, their inability to communicate—what this picture asserts really matters in a relationship—lands the pair in a series of destructive affairs. Preserved by the Library of Congress. (1931, dir. Clarence Badger, 35mm, black and white, 74 min.)
