Six years of hard labor in the prison jute mill has taken its toll on young Graham, convicted of manslaughter after a drunken brawl. The penitentiary's doctor and psychiatrist recommends that he be offered a change of duties before psychological damage become irreversible. When the warden recalls that it was he, as district attorney, that helped put him behind bars, he makes him his valet. Graham enjoys the change, especially the company of the warden's pretty young daughter, Mary. One of Graham's cellmates tries to escape with two others but one is a stool pigeon and inadvertently gives away the plan. The guards shoot dead one escapee. Ned Galloway, Graham's other cellmate, vows to avenge this death, planning to murder the informer and warning Graham to stay away from him. However, Graham walks in on the crime. Despite finding him with the body, the warden believes that Graham is not the murderer but knows who is. Promising him parole, the warden demands the name of the killer. Graham remains loyal to the Prisoner's Code of silence so the warden sends him to "the hole," hoping it will change his mind. Mary returns from a trip and is shocked when she finds out Graham has been punished. She proclaims her love for him and urges his release. The warden promises to do so but meanwhile Captain Gleason is putting pressure on Graham to confess. Galloway is grateful that Graham has stayed true and arranges to be sent to the hole and protect him by killing Gleason, for whom he had a longstanding grudge.
The Criminal Code, based on a successful play by Martin Flavin. The Criminal Code was adapted for the screen by Seton I. Miller and Fred Niblo, Jr., son of director Fred Niblo. The original play by San Francisco Bay Area native author and playwright Martin Flavin was produced on Broadway in 1929 at the Belasco Theater. Boris Karloff, who delivered a strong performance in the stage play, is recast here as Galloway. This film accelerated his career: though appearing in dozens of pictures during the 1920s, he had mostly been cast in bit parts. The Criminal Code was the first of Hawks' four collaborations with Harry Cohn, the others being Twentieth Century, Only Angels Have Wings and His Girl Friday. It is Hawks' only picture with Frank Fouce, who produced only five films, all released in 1931. Hawks worked with screenwriter Seton Miller several times in the late 1920s and early 1930s. This is the only occasion he worked with Niblo, Jr. Stock footage from the film was used by Columbia in the following year's Behind the Mask, which also featured Cummings and Karloff, but in different roles.
Analysis
Though an early talkie, The Criminal Code makes a sophisticated use of sound. The intercourse is at times rapid and Hawks uses the emerging technique of overlapping dialogue. Like other prison films of the 1930s, such as San Quentin and Each Dawn I Die, The Criminal Code encouraged its viewers to question the contemporary American legal and penal systems. Hawks exploits the prison genre to illustrate the male friendship and 'group as an organic force' themes often present in his works. This is most apparent in the scene in which Brady starts his first day of work as warden, greeted by a prison yard full of men booing him as if they were but one man. The warden peer down on them from the office window. Constance Cummings represents the typical strong and stoic Hawksian woman. She inhabits a masculine world yet prefers to stay and live at the penitentiary.
A Spanish-language version entitled El código penal was directed by Phil Rosen, which stars Barry Norton, María Alba, and Carlos Villarías. It had its world premiere in Mexico City on February 19, 1931, followed by its American opening in San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 14, and the New York opening on April 14, 1931. A French version entitled Criminel was produced in 1932 by Forrester-Parant Productions, and directed by Jack Forrester. It stars Harry Baur and Jean Servais, and made use of certain scenes from the English-language version.
