That our heroine has to continue to fend off sleazebags who bring to mind the Metoo movement and Harvey Weinstein (that's who I immediately thought of while fighting nausea watching the gross warden/jailer of the island),not to mention some of the less contemptible denizens of the story.My favorite acting was by Jones,the lawyer played admirably by Charles Middleton.Dorothy Mackaill was excellent as the wronged woman,forced to flee NOLA due to believing she's killed the man who forced her into prostitution,Piet played by Ralf Harolde,the squirmy doctor from Night Nurse in 1930.Surprised at "Gramps" character turning out to be a killer,he seemed so mild-mannered in comparison to Vic Varconi's General Gomez,John Wray's Egan,and the nastiest character,the jailer-if I'd face hanging vs jail to provide him with benefits,I'd choose suicide,never give him the satisfaction of pawing me as he lowers the noose.

I liked Dorothy Mackaill in this film; her acting feels natural and her character is feisty when fending off the unwanted advances of men. She's a prostitute, but the back story revealed is that she was once a secretary who was raped by her boss, and it was discovered by his wife. Instead of that resulting in trouble for the boss, she was summarily let go, and then the two of them prevented her from getting work elsewhere, so she resorted to selling herself. He then has the nerve to turn up and ask for her as a client. The two struggle and she accidentally kills him. Her old boyfriend (Donald Cook) turns up at the right time, and the two of them flee for a Caribbean island known for its lack of extradition laws. Whew, and that's just in the first 10 minutes or so.While the story may sound like it's sympathetic to the plight of this poor woman, I found it to be misogynistic and loathsome. The men on the island are all aroused by "the only white woman on the island", and when they're not ogling her or man-spreading (in one scene, almost comically, with chairs all facing her room), they take turns trying to get her into bed. She is expected to remain faithful to Cook, who had to leave her. When one finds out about her past and that she's not a virgin, he feels as if she's played him for a fool and betrayed him by turning her down. (The nerve of her!)The religious morality messages are also heavy-handed. To the horror of being forced into prostitution, the message is trust that God has a plan. To being left alone with a bunch of sex-starved criminals, the message is to keep the faith, and remain chaste. The undercurrent is that the burden is always on this woman, even when she kills someone to prevent being raped. I'm all for pre-code raciness, but the sentiment behind this one just isn't all that pleasant. On top of that, the script is lazy, and the production quality is low. There are far more enjoyable pre-code films, even if one constrains oneself to those directed by William A. Wellman in 1931 (see 'Night Nurse' and 'The Public Enemy'). Frankly, the highlight of the movie was the African-American characters of Nina Mae McKinney and Clarence Muse, who play the innkeeper and porter. They are presented to us as intelligent, playful, and articulate, which was a real rarity in films from this era. Their dialogue was apparently originally written in "Negro dialect", but happily they got away with not performing it that way. McKinney also sings a nice little number, "When It's Sleepy Time Down South".

Basically "Safe in Hell" is a movie about a woman whose life has gone wrong and keeps going from bad to worse. Dorothy Mackaill plays a prostitute who kills the man responsible for her troubles. With the help of her boyfriend she flees to an island where there are no extradition treaties but does have a a sadistic constable and a group of lecherous men. Perhaps it seems "silly" but you have to put yourself in the mind set of that time. Let me clarify the nuances, first of all she didn't go into the business because she wanted to. It seems it was her only recourse. Keep in mind how limited choices were for women at that time.Then her boyfriend isn't even aware of her trade and when he finds out he threatens to leave her. Later on the island she tries to protect what remains of her "virtue" from the band of sex starved men. These three points show the mind set of the time when women were chastised for having premarital sex and punished emotionally and socially for their loose morals.That's why this precode film depicts how Dorothy Mackaill's character is stuck between a hard rock and a sword as she tries to keep a low profile while she waits for her sailor and hopes for a better future. It was a jaw dropping film. I highly recommend it, I should know, I am a die hard movie classics fan.

Robert Osborne talked about this being one of Wild Bill Wellman's pre-code classics, so naturally, it immediately got my attention. But I wasn't prepared for this. An amazing story of a hooker played by Dorothy Mackaill who is sucked into "the life" by one of the most vicious, but underrated movie villains ever on screen. The quirky, psycho, delicious Ralf Harolde.The story is unusual. Gilda the hooker falls in love with a sailor. He accepts her warts and all. She gets into confrontation with Ralf Rotten and thinks she killed him. Her sailor boyfriend helps her lam out to an island to hide out. They marry in a private ceremony and he ships out. Meanwhile, she is left to fend for herself on this island, surrounded by a half dozen lecherous criminals. She holds her own until Ralf suddenly shows up by accident. It seems he didn't die after all, but had to lam out himself after pulling off a scam. In an ironic twist, he tries for a rematch and she actually does kill him. Up till now, the story was almost poetic, but the last twenty minutes had my head spinning. She is about to be found innocent when she finds the Jefe de Policia is going to frame her for another crime and ravish her in his prison. In order to be true to her "husband" she convinces the court that she, in fact, is guilty of murder so she can be hanged. Her line to El Jefe is something like: "The only time you will touch me is when you put the noose around my neck." I've seen lots of pre-code movies. Mostly WB, and they can be pretty raunchy, but this one leads the pack. Dorothy Mackaill puts in an "A" performance in a decidedly "B" movie. It has the feel of the movie "Rain", but it seems less stylized and more authentic. I recommend it for a lot of reasons, but keep your eyes open for Ralf Harolde. Once you've seen him, I think you are going to want more.