# Laughter in Hell > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Laughter_in_Hell > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Laughter_in_Hell.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter_in_Hell > Source revision: 1351478256 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 1933 film by Edward L. Cahn Laughter in Hell Directed by Edward L. Cahn Written by Tom Reed Based on Laughter in Hell by Jim Tully Produced by Carl Laemmle, Jr. Starring Pat O'Brien Gloria Stuart Cinematography John Stumar Edited by Philip Cahn Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date January 12, 1933 (1933-01-12) Running time 70 minutes Country United States ***Laughter in Hell*** is a 1933 American [pre-Code](/source/Pre-Code_Hollywood) [drama film](/source/Drama_film) directed by [Edward L. Cahn](/source/Edward_L._Cahn) and starring [Pat O'Brien](/source/Pat_O'Brien_(actor)). The film's title was typical of the sensationalistic titles of many Pre-Code films.[1] Adapted from the 1932 novel of the same name by [Jim Tully](/source/Jim_Tully), the film was inspired in part by *[I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang](/source/I_Am_a_Fugitive_from_a_Chain_Gang)* and was part of a series of films depicting men in [chain gangs](/source/Chain_gang) following the success of that film.[2] O'Brien plays a railroad engineer who kills his wife and her lover in a jealous rage and is sent to prison.[3][4] The movie received a mixed review in *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)* upon its release.[5] Although long considered lost, the film was recently preserved and was screened at the [American Cinematheque](/source/American_Cinematheque) in [Hollywood, Los Angeles](/source/Hollywood%2C_Los_Angeles), in October 2012. The dead man's brother ends up being the warden of the prison and subjects O'Brien's character to significant abuse.[4] O'Brien and several other characters revolt, killing the warden and escaping from the prison. The film drew controversy for its [lynching](/source/Lynching) scene where several black men were hanged. Contrary to reports, only blacks were hanged in this scene, though the actual executions occurred off-camera (we see instead reaction shots of the guards and other prisoners). The *New Age* (an African American weekly newspaper) film critic praised the scene for being courageous enough to depict the atrocities that were occurring in some southern states.[4] ## Plot O'Brien plays an Irish mine worker, Barney Slaney. Later Barney gets a job as a fireman on the local train for an engineer named Mileaway. He gets married, but finds his wife having an affair with Grover Perkins, a childhood nemesis. Barney loses control and kills them both. He turns himself in and receives a life sentence of hard labor. Barney quickly finds out that the brother of the man he killed, Ed Perkins, will be in charge of his chain gang, and the brother bullies him repeatedly. While the prisoners dig graves, Barney knocks Ed unconscious and drops him into one of the open graves. He then escapes during the ensuing mayhem, in which the warden is killed. He breaks out of the police dragnet, and hides at a farm which recently had a pestilence infection. He meets a woman named Lorraine, and they run away together.[3][4] ## Cast - [Pat O'Brien](/source/Pat_O'Brien_(actor)) as Barney Slaney - Tommy Conlon as Barney as a boy - [Gloria Stuart](/source/Gloria_Stuart) as Lorraine - [Berton Churchill](/source/Berton_Churchill) as Mike Slaney - [Merna Kennedy](/source/Merna_Kennedy) as MaryBell Evans - [Douglass Dumbrille](/source/Douglass_Dumbrille) as Ed Perkins - [Dick Winslow](/source/Dick_Winslow) as Ed Perkins as a boy - Arthur Vinton as Grover Perkins - [Tom Brown](/source/Tom_Brown_(actor)) as Barton - [Lew Kelly](/source/Lew_Kelly) as Mileaway - [Clarence Muse](/source/Clarence_Muse) as Abraham Jackson - [Noel Madison](/source/Noel_Madison) as Brownfield - [Tom Ricketts](/source/Tom_Ricketts) as Judge - [William H. Turner](/source/William_H._Turner_(actor)) as I.N. Tree ## Production The railroad scenes were filmed on the [Sierra Railroad](/source/Sierra_Railroad) in [Tuolumne County, California](/source/Tuolumne_County%2C_California).[6] ## Pre-Code uncensored scenes A controversial lynching scene where several black men were hanged, gained headlines after the film was released. The *[Motion Picture Herald](/source/Motion_Picture_Herald)* expressed concern that the events depicted could be very difficult for some African Americans to watch. Writing in *New Age* (an African American weekly newspaper) Vere E. Johns praised the producers for depicting the scene and in so doing, publicizing the atrocities that were happening in some southern states.[4] Johns also disagreed with the initial reports in the *Herald* which stated that only blacks were lynched, Johns stated (erroneously) that both blacks and whites were lynched in the picture.[4] Although Universal Pictures released *Laughter in Hell* with the lynching scene intact, like many American films of the time the film was subject to cuts by [city and state film censorship boards](/source/Film_censorship_in_the_United_States). Several censorship boards including New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Chicago removed the lynching scene, allowing only indications that a hanging was about to take place.[7] ## Reception Mordaunt Hall, writing for *The New York Times* praised the acting, the characterizations, action sequences, and some of the banter, but was not impressed with the storyline.[5] ## References **Notes** 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Doherty. pg 103 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Doherty. pg. 162 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-tcm_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-tcm_3-1) [Laughter in Hell](https://web.archive.org/web/20110913153841/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/81001/Laughter-in-Hell/), tcm.com, accessed October 12, 2010. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-DH167_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-DH167_4-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-DH167_4-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-DH167_4-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-DH167_4-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-DH167_4-5) Doherty. pg 167 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-NYT_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-NYT_5-1) [Hall, Mordaunt](/source/Mordaunt_Hall). [Laughter in Hell (1933) - A Chain-Gang Melodrama.](https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9506E7D71F38EF3ABC4A53DFB7668388629EDE), *The New York Times*, January 2, 1933, accessed October 12, 2010. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Jensen, Larry (2018). [*Hollywood's Railroads: Sierra Railroad*](https://books.google.com/books?id=c-RNswEACAAJ&q=Hollywood%27s+Railroads). Vol. Two. Sequim, Washington: Cochetopa Press. p. 10. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780692064726](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780692064726). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Scott, Ellen C. (2015). [*Cinema Civil Rights: Regulation, Repression, and Race in the Classical Hollywood Era*](https://books.google.com/books?id=27fQBQAAQBAJ&q=%22gritty+laughter+in+hell%22&pg=PA1722). Rutgers University Press. pp. 14–15. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8135-7136-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8135-7136-2). **Bibliography** - Doherty, Thomas Patrick. *Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934*. New York: Columbia University Press 1999. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-231-11094-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-231-11094-4) ## External links - [*Laughter in Hell*](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024247/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) v t e Films directed by Edward L. Cahn The Homicide Squad (1931) Law and Order (1932) Radio Patrol (1932) Afraid to Talk (1932) Emergency Call (1933) Laughter in Hell (1933) Death Drives Through (1935) Confidential (1935) Bad Guy (1937) Redhead (1941) The Omaha Trail (1942, uncredited) Main Street After Dark (1945) Dangerous Partners (1945) Born to Speed (1947) The Gas House Kids "in Hollywood" (1947) The Checkered Coat (1948) I Cheated the Law (1949) Prejudice (1949) The Great Plane Robbery (1950) Destination Murder (1950) Experiment Alcatraz (1950) Two-Dollar Bettor (1951) Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) Betrayed Women (1955) Silent Fear (1956) Girls in Prison (1956) The She-Creature (1956) Shake, Rattle & Rock! (1956) Runaway Daughters (1956) Flesh and the Spur (1957) Voodoo Woman (1957) Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) Dragstrip Girl (1957) Motorcycle Gang (1957) Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) Jet Attack (1958) Suicide Battalion (1958) Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) Hong Kong Confidential (1958) The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959) Guns, Girls and Gangsters (1959) Inside the Mafia (1959) Invisible Invaders (1959) Pier 5, Havana (1959) Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959) A Dog's Best Friend (1959) Vice Raid (1960) Cage of Evil (1960) Gunfighters of Abilene (1960) The Music Box Kid (1960) Noose for a Gunman (1960) Oklahoma Territory (1960) Three Came to Kill (1960) Twelve Hours to Kill (1960) The Walking Target (1960) Boy Who Caught a Crook (1961) Frontier Uprising (1961) Five Guns to Tombstone (1961) Police Dog Story (1961) Operation Bottleneck (1961) Gun Fight (1961) The Gambler Wore a Gun (1961) When the Clock Strikes (1961) You Have to Run Fast (1961) Secret of Deep Harbor (1961) Gun Street (1962) The Clown and the Kid (1962) Incident in an Alley (1962) Beauty and the Beast (1962) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Laughter in Hell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter_in_Hell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter_in_Hell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.