In The Criminal Code the bywords of District Attorney Walter Huston is that where there is a crime, someone has to pay. Or if you can't do the time, don't do the crime as a later philosopher named Tony Baretta opined. And it's Huston's job to set the price when he prosecutes.

But Huston recognizes that young Phillips Holmes with a proper criminal defense attorney might do little time or even be acquitted. He smashed some poor guy's head in with a full bottle of bootleg hooch when he thought he was going for a gun. Still Holmes is convicted and he gets a ten year sentence.

Fast forward several years and Huston is no longer the District Attorney, he's now the warden of the prison that Holmes is incarcerated. Huston gives Holmes a chance and he makes him a trustee. Huston's daughter Constance Cummings even falls for Holmes.

But they have a different code among the convicts in prison and the biggest commandment is thou shalt not rat. When Boris Karloff does a particular rat in Holmes almost takes the fall for it because of that code.

The leads do a fine job in this, but the performances of Boris Karloff as the hardened convict and Clark Marshall as his victim really do stand out in The Criminal Code. Marshall especially, you can really feel his fear in his performance.

Beginning originally as a Broadway play, The Criminal Code was remade twice by Columbia Pictures, Harry Cohn not being one to let a good property go to waste. The two remakes are Penitentiary with Walter Connolly and John Howard and Convicted with Broderick Crawford and Glenn Ford.

The film holds up very well because the themes are eternal. Criminals have to pay the price when caught and rats are just as unpopular as ever.

Absolutely loved the idea for the story, which sounded suspenseful and intriguing. Howard Hawks did a lot of fine films, especially in screwball comedy and westerns. Walter Huston was a great actor, my first exposure to him being in Rene Clair's 'And Then There Were None' but my favourite performance of his is in 'Dodsworth'. Also have always liked Boris Karloff a lot since the 'Frankenstein' films and there are some fine prison films, including the film that this has been compared to 'The Big House'.

'The Criminal Code' on the whole was a good film, it was intriguing, suspenseful, well made and acted. Part of me did feel though that it could have been even better than it was with not everything coming off completely successfully, this did have potential to be a great film considering what it was seen for by me but ended up being a strong good one. Which is good enough, one can say.

Plenty of good things here in 'The Criminal Code' here. The two big pluses being the performances of Huston and Karloff. Huston has such a powerful presence and plays his part with dignity and eloquence. Karloff mesmerises even more, not many actors achieve a mix of menacing and moving and not only balance them beautifully but excel at each individually but Karloff does this and one of the best at the time at this. Hawks directs slickly and the film is stylishly and atmospherically made.

Script flows very well, makes one think and has tension on the most part. The story gets bogged down a little at times, but it often intrigues, the more menacing moments are suspenseful and it all feels plausible. Nicely scored too.

Not much wrong here actually. Phillips Holmes and Constance Cummings don't fare as well as Huston and Karloff. Cummings does fare better as she is charming and touching, her problem is that she doesn't have a lot to work with. Holmes however struck me as rather bland.

Likewise with the central romance, which is fairly underdeveloped and can tend to slow the film down.

Drawbacks aside, on the whole as said this was to me a good film. 7/10

When I was in the middle of watching this film, I realized I'd seen it before but with an all-new cast. "Convicted" (1950) is one of the better prison movies ever made so it was nice to finally see the original film and compare them.

A young knucklehead (Phillips Holmes) is provoked into a fight at a dance club. Unfortunately, he hits the other guy with a bottle and he soon dies. The district attorney (Walter Huston) feels a bit sorry for the guy since he isn't criminally-oriented--just some guy who made a very bad choice. But he does his job and convicts Holmes--sending him to prison for 20 years (which does seem excessive). Later, the D.A. becomes the warden at the same prison where this young guy has been for six years and Huston feels sorry for him--and wants to help him make parole. However, before he can do this, there is a murder and Holmes may have witnessed it. And, since the code of prison is that you NEVER squeal, Holmes' refusal to talk puts his freedom in jeopardy. If he talks, he could soon be a free man--but he could also be killed just like that dirty squealer! To make things harder for Huston, his daughter has fallen in love with Holmes and she pressures him to act.

The film has a lot going for it. Its style is simple, tough, straight-forward and effective. It also doesn't hurt that there is a very nice supporting performance by Boris Karloff--in one of his best non-horror roles of his career. He's particularly good at the finale. Overall, it's one of the best prison films I've seen--with only a very few select films (such as "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Brute Force") coming to mind that are better.