Noel Madison

A 1930 pre-Code crime drama and the film debut of James Cagney, who reprises his Broadway role from the play Penny Arcade by Marie Baumer. Directed by John G. Adolfi for Warner Bros., the film is set at a Coney Island penny arcade run by Ma Delano (Lucille La Verne). When her son Harry (Cagney) gets involved in a bootlegging operation run by Mitch McKane (Warren Hymer), a fatal shooting on the darkened pier sets off a tense family drama. Joan Blondell also makes her film debut, repeating her stage role as Myrtle. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama

A 1943 Poverty Row mystery-horror film directed by Sam Newfield and produced by Sigmund Neufeld for Producers Releasing Corporation. On a stormy night, a group of strangers—including an eloping couple, an embezzling bank teller, and a gangster—take shelter at the Black Raven inn, run by the mysterious Amos Bradford (George Zucco), known in the underworld as "The Raven." When a murder occurs and the roads wash out, the trapped travelers begin to suspect each other. The film co-stars Wanda McKay, Robert Livingston, and Charles Middleton. The film is in the public domain.

Mystery · Crime · Horror

Preston Foster plays "Killer" Mears, a condemned man leading a death-row breakout in this adaptation of the Broadway prison play that made stars of its stage leads. The escape attempt goes wrong in stages — a hostage guard, a machine gun turned on the tier — and the film's final act is essentially one long, escalating riot. An early talkie prison drama from Sono Art-World Wide that set the template for every death-row picture that followed. The film is in the public domain.

Crime · Drama