Friday, March 15, 2019

I Can't Escape (1934)

Steve Nichols (Onslow Stevens) has just got out of prison for an investment scam and ends up in a brawl in a nightclub while defending Mae (Lila Lee) an ageing good time girl. Steve shacks up with Mae but struggles to get a good job because of his record.

Eventually he lucks on a job with some investment brokers but they want to use him as the fall guy in the scam, exactly what got him into this trouble in the first place. Though their scam is rather flimsy and for an ex-con Steve is a bit naive...

Although a bit slow and clumsy it isn't a bad film, Onslow and Lila play good roles with plenty of chemistry. The main problem is the film makes little sense. Tom Martin (Russell Gleason) turns up looking for Steve to get revenge for the death of his father due to Steve's crimes. However he doesn't know what Steve looks like so Steve is able to pretend to be someone else but keeps Tom in his house to keep him under control. Tom somehow doesn't find it suspicious near strangers seem obsessed with keeping him under their roof.