Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Wyatt There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

bkoganbing Ronald Colman's second talkie feature film was Condemned and for that and Bulldog Drummond he received his first Oscar nomination. He lost in that second Oscar sweepstakes for Best Actor to Warner Baxter for In Old Arizona. Nevertheless Condemned holds up very well in this story set in the infamous French Devil's Island penal colony.In the story Colman's a convict and since it's Ronald Colman he's going to have a bit of polish more than the others there like fellow new inmate Louis Wolheim. The warden's wife Ann Harding is unhappily married to warden Dudley Digges who insists that she get herself a house servant from the group. Colman is a bit less threatening so he's chosen.The inevitable happens as Colman is better company than her lout of a husband. That's when they planned to escape.Dudley Digges who also doubled as dialogue director for this new fangled talking picture said that stage trained actors like both Colman and Ann Harding were a pleasure to work with. Both grasped that a bit more subtlety in technique had to be used. Both also emoted well when that was called for.According to Citadel Film series book on Ronald Colman, Colman said how grateful he was that sound came along and what a boon it was to him and other players like William Powell who was both staged trained and a good friend of Colman's. Powell also did well in his talkie debut in one of the Philo Vance films he made. The depiction of Devil's Island was outstanding. Condemned still holds up well for today's audience.

Leofwine_draca CONDEMNED! is an early talkie prison film for screen star Ronald Colman, then riding high after the success of BULLDOG DRUMMOND. Colman would go on to cement his suave reputation with his turn as RAFFLES the subsequent year. This film is set on the notorious Devil's Island prison, a place where Colman's slightly smarmy thief is sent. It doesn't take long for him to begin an ill-fated romance with the governor's wife, and of course his sights are soon set on escape.For an early talkie, CONDEMNED! is acceptable enough fare. It has dated somewhere in the subsequent decades and fans of prison movies will be hard pressed to enjoy the slow-moving and over-obvious antics on display here. The romantic sub-plot really serves to drag things down considerably although things pick up towards the climax.

axeldahl No story value here but worth for Ronald Colman - always emotional in his own restrained way.I have alas never seen this obscure early talkie with a fair 35mm print but the 16mm used for the french VHS Samuel Goldwyn 1990 edition allows to see that the sets and photography of this "Condemned" were of absolute first rate : William Cameron Menzies (sets), George S. Barnes & Greg Toland (photography) make for quite a team !A bit like Susan Lenox two years later and its magnificent William H. Daniels lighting/framing and Cedric Gibbons angled sets : script-wise a very passable and previsible film but visually a true feast for the eyes.The 16mm print/edition is also mushy, unfocused and the video transfer is at least 6 stops below... Hopefully a proper 35mm original still exists somewhere - if only for the end sequence in the train station.

Equinox23 First of all I have to contradict my fellow reviewer.Colman's character Michel is far from being innocent, in fact he is convicted for being a thief and trying to rob a bank. The anguish that the convicts encounter on their journey to devil's island is among the most impressive scenes of this early talkie.Another is when Michel has to endure solitary confinement because of his alleged liaison with the warden's wife. These depictions of the prisoners' conditions on devil's island -though they may seem rather mild nowadays- together with the book by Blair Niles had such a strong impact on the public opinion that it led to public protest in the USA and eventually helped to enlighten the conditions of the real-life prisoners.