Laughter in Hell never seems to figure out just what kind of a movie it is. Is it a romance, a revenge story, a jail picture? It hops around willy-nilly without sufficient binding in between. Some of the scenes are incredibly awkward too, especially the one where Pat O'Brien reveals to his father that he has just murdered his arch rival, the man who had been sleeping with his wife. The father doesn't react. He just keeps rocking back and forth in his rocking hair, with his back to the camera. Then O'Brien continues; he has also killed his wife. The father pops up with a start! "You did what?!?" As if it is fine to have a murderous son, as long as he isn't murdering women.

In the very first scene, Barney Slaney's (Pat O'Brien) Ma dies. Things go downhill for Barney from there, as he apparently has two kinds of luck; no luck and bad luck. He grows up and marries a woman who cheats on him and eventually gets sent to jail for killing her lover. But since this is Tennessee in the 1900's, it is not exactly jail - he has been sentenced to life at hard labor on a chain gang."Laughter in Hell" is a pre-code picture and the main objection must have been the harsh treatment convicts would receive, including whippings and poor living conditions. There is also a scene in which his wife is brazenly conducting her affair in their own bedroom, although there is no in flagrante delicto footage.But the picture is a downer from start to finish, and the prison scenes have the feel of an expose on conditions therein. Our hero finally finds deliverance from his misery in the lovely form of Gloria Stuart, who is luminous as the kind soul who takes him in after his escape. The film ends on a note of hope for the desperate Slaney, with the expectation of a new life as he and Stuart cross the border via wagon and mule team to a neighboring state.Acting is good all around and it is O'Brien who makes the movie go, with good support from Douglas Dumbrille in a hateful role as the prison warden, and from Clarence Muse as his best friend behind bars. See it only to bring out your inner masochist. Shown at Cinefest, Columbus, O., 5/13.