I Can't Escape (1934) User Reviews

Not great but at least it's different

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 29 December 2010]

This is a low-budget B-movie—and an interesting one at that. What I mean by the term 'B-movie' is that it's a film that was designed as a second and lesser film in a double-feature. Like so many of them, this film was made by a tiny independent studio.

Steve Nichols is a man who was just released from prison on parole. He claims that he was set up for a an investment fraud scheme and soon begins shacking up with a prostitute. While none of this is explicitly stated, it is easy to see that this is indeed the case. This sort of film plot is one that only could have been made before the film industry's Production Code was strengthened in 1934—as prostitution and the like are topics taboo under the new system.

At first Nichols has a hard time getting a job because of his past. However, a shady investment firm offer him a job—figuring Nichols will make an excellent fall-guy! Soon after this a guy named Tom shows up looking for Nichols. His family was ruined in the original stock scheme that sent Nichols to prison—and he wants revenge. Nichols feels sorry for him and invites him to stay and even gets him a job with his new firm. In the process, Tom has no idea his benefactor is Nichols. When Tom learns that his new friend is Nichols, he assumes the worst and doesn't realize that once again Nichols is being set up for something he didn't do. When Nichols does find out, he tries to stop his bosses from absconding with the money.

I know this all sounds very confusing—and it is. Perhaps the film could have used a re-write to make this all come off as a bit more believable…but at least it is different. As for the acting, it's a mixed lot—some very good and some noticeably poor. While it's not a film to rush out to see, at least it's never boring.

Pretty Good Poverty Row Drama

[boblipton · 5/10 · 28 November 2021]

A dapper-looking Onslow Stevens meets up with Lila Lee. They fall in love and get married. He's on parole as the fall guy of a stock-swindle scheme, trying to go straight, but no one will give him a chance. Finally, Hooper Atchley and Otis Harlan hire him as a salesman for their investment house. They figure when they abscond with their clients' money, he'll take the rap.

It's directed by Otto Brower briskly, to the point of brusqueness, but Stevens and Miss Lee are quite charming in their scenes, as is Russell Gleason, searching for Stevens for ruining his father and driving him to suicide, searching for revenge. Clara Kimball Young shows up to acquit herself well as a widow whom Stevens unwittingly swindles, and while it's not a great movie, its short length keeps it watchable throughout.

Graceful, Socially Concerned Quickie

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 30 March 2017]

This earnest little quickie has the usual opening sequence in a nightclub and a climax set at an airfield to end the film with a wallop, and in between contrives to take a sober look at the problems faced by a young Onslow Stevens as an ex-con out on parole without references. It's sufficiently compelling to have you wondering how on earth its increasingly involved plot can possibly be resolved happily, and manages a conclusion that is contrived but satisfying. Released just days after the introduction of the new Production Code at the beginning of July 1934, it still retains the cheerful amorality and social conscience of that lost era, with the profession of the faded but still gorgeous Lila Lee being immediately obvious.

Supremely boring!

[JohnHowardReid · 3/10 · 16 November 2017]

Onslow Stevens (Steve Nichols), Lila Lee (Mae), Russell Gleason (Tom Martin), William Desmond (Donovan, parole officer), Hooper Atchley (Harley, the broker), Otis Harlan (Bonn, the partner), Richard Cramer (Joe, the bartender), Kane Richmond (Bob, a college boy), Clara Kimball Young (Mrs Wilson), Eddie Gribbon ("legal" cop), Nat Carr (Watson).

Director: OTTO BROWER. Screenplay: Faith Thomas. Story: Jerry Sackheim, Nathan Ash. Photography: Jerome Ash. Film editors: Frederic Knudtson, Louis Sackin. Art director: Fred Preble. Production manager: Sam Wiesenthal. Assistant director: Charles S. Gould. Associate producer: Peter Kassler. Producer: Max Alexander.

Not copyright by Beacon Productions, Inc. U.S. release: 5 July 1934. U.K. release: 5 January 1935. Never theatrically released in Australia. 60 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Paroled convict settles down to domestic bliss with a good-time girl he meets in a nightclub. Unfortunately, due to harsh parole regulations, he is unable to find a job until he is hired by a couple of investment brokers, who are actually swindlers whose knowledge of the law is so slight they innocently presume the police will pin the rap on the convict when they abscond with the proceeds of their trust fund.

COMMENT: In two words: supremely boring. Any hope that Mr. Brower, a noted action and 2nd unit specialist, is going to show off those aspects of his talent are quickly dashed. All we get are a couple of shots of speeding cars and a mild melee at a nightclub.

The talent-less direction is compounded by nondescript players and minimal production values.

True, the screenplay has a few harsh words to say about parole rules, but they are lost in the movie's relentless atmosphere of penury.

A man's reputation hanging around his neck like an albatross

[myriamlenys · 6/10 · 5 September 2023]

Just released from prison, a man happens to meet with an escort looking for a more honest way of life. Falling in love, they quickly turn into an admirably tender and devoted couple. The man tries to find a respectable job, but that is far from easy for a person who can't produce the necessary credentials...

"I can't escape" is probably best described as a mix of (melo)drama and thriller. The initial touches of wit and irony get more rare as the plot thickens. (Watch out for a fine joke, in the very beginning, about the evening clothes making the man.) The movie is characterized by a slow and comprehensive build-up which, suddenly, turns into an ultra-rapid finale plus resolution rushing by at Formula One speed.

The "all's well that end's well" denouement is not particularly convincing.

Perhaps "I can't escape" works best as a condemnation of the ex-convict's plight. Society is forever admonishing the ex-convict to change his wicked ways, but that same society bans and bars him from legitimate sources of income. Under these circumstances everything becomes a torturous slog : finding a job, obtaining a credit, achieving a fixed address, founding a family.

You can't escape from a decent movie, no matter how low the budget is.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 7 May 2019]

At just an hour, it's pretty surprising that this early Roosevelt era B feature is as good as it is. It is combination crime drama, love story and an examination of retribution. It is also a film where you root for an ex-con to make good in a world that seems to reject him at every turn. Newly released from prison, Onslow Stevens pounds the pavement looking for honest work only to find rejection on every corner. He's given the same schpiel, that companies have a policy not to hire people without references, a hidden message that they don't hire anybody with a criminal record. At a former speakeasy, now a posh nightclub, he meets party girl Lila Lee who was first rejects him for not having any money. But when he saves her from a masher, the sparks begin to fly and they are soon man and wife. Being respectable doesn't make finding a job any easier, that is until he applies at an investment firm where the two partners are on the verge of scamming a wealthy widow out of her fortune, making him the perfect fall guy.

Another former con, Kane Richmond, seeks him out for help and Steven's bosses somehow convince him that Steven's is the man who framed his father for embezzlement, ruining his life. Richmond seeks revenge not only by going after Lee but determined to prove that Steven's is up to no good even though his identity was given to him only to make his involvement in the investment more believable. It's up to Stevens to prove that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and bring the real criminals to justice.

While this is definitely filled with some major plot holes, it is aided mainly by terrific performances and a great screenplay. Every step that Stevens takes seems truly real, and the crime he finds himself involved in innocently is deviously plotted in a realistic manner. Otis Harlan and Hooper Atchley are terrific as the seemingly sympathetic employers who agree to give Stevens a chance. The scene where one of the two men tell Stevens how they appreciate his honesty becomes all the more disturbing because of the intentions and that makes everything that happens in this film make you root for Stephens all the more. In spite of minor creakiness, the film still moves at a steady pace, keeping you intrigued the entire time.

A first-rate B movie

[MikeMagi · 8/10 · 5 June 2016]

"I Can't Escape" is a perfect example of a good 1930s "B" movie -- short (about 65 minutes,) stylish, well-acted and frequently surprising. The star is Osgood Stevens who had the looks of a Gable but a weakness for booze which short-circuited his career. Opposite him -- and every bit as good -- is Lila Lee, thinly disguised as a prostitute until she meets Stevens and settles into happy domesticity. After getting out of jail and pounding the pavements, Stevens encounters a pair of swindlers who are happy to hire him as the perfect fall guy when they take off with their clients' cash. How he avoids another prison stretch is ingeniously plotted, excitingly filmed. In short, "I Can't Escape" is a fine example of what's meant by the phrase, "they don't make 'em like that anymore."

Onslow Stevens is Terrific - As Usual!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 8 July 2014]

This film treads a very fine line as far as the production code goes. The code became enforced on the 13th June, 1934 with the provision being that any film released after 1st July had to follow a strict code of conduct - so there would be no more "Baby Face", "Millie" - even "Betty Boop" had to cover up!!! Maybe the fact that it was released by obscure Beacon Pictures may have been the reason it sneaked through on the 5th of July. By 1934 films were starting to look to wholesomeness and family values - Lila Lee's earlier film was "Stand Up and Cheer" featuring a future star who would lead the purity parade - Shirley Temple!! But in "I Can't Escape" Lila played a prostitute! In fact it is obvious in this film that she and Steve are living together and when he first goes back to her flat he tries to give her money and she says something like "another time, when I've earned it" - a shocking plot line even for the early thirties!

Things have changed since Steve Nichols (Onslow Stevens) has been "inside" - for one thing liquor is now legal and when "good time girl" Mae (Lila Lee) is sent to his table by mistake he realises that even free people have their own prisons. This is a compelling look at how hard it was in the depths of the depression to go straight - once you had a prison record. As one hirer says "It's hard enough to place men with references"!! Of course everything is tidied up in under an hour, still it was a brave effort by a little poverty row studio to attempt to highlight an unsung problem.

References are something that all the money in the world won't buy for Steve. He and Mae have decided to make a go of it together and after much wearing out of shoe leather, he finally scores the demeaning job of a billboard man. Just as he is about to give up hope he is suddenly employed by a pair of investment brokers - they know of his past but they are planning their own "dirty deed" and need an unsuspecting fall guy - exactly what he was in prison for in the first place!! He foolishly doesn't question their willingness to employ him - he just knows he has been given a rare chance to make good!!

The same night, a young man, Thomas Martin, arrives on their doorstep: he is looking for Steve Nichols (who he has never seen) the man he feels is responsible for his father's death by selling him phoney stock. Steve, who does feel responsible - even though he was just as much in the dark, wants to keep Tom at the flat so his new job isn't jeopardized. The crunch is soon coming - the shonky investors have found a grieving widow (Clara Kimball Young) and want Steve to convince her to invest her life savings in the firm - the crooks can then collect and leave Steve to face the police alone.

Back on the home front, Mae is fighting off the love struck kid's advances but does she make the ultimate sacrifice to see that Steve has a free hand to chase down the baddies before they board the plane?

Onslow Stevens is great as usual - with his rugged handsomeness and beautiful smooth speaking voice he had the goods to be a threat to Clark Gable - just maybe not the charisma. Charles King's name is on the credits but I can't find him in the movie as all the actors are accounted for, right down to old silent favourite Willam Desmond as the kindly parole officer.