The Big House
1929 Nominee

100 Words
The big house is not a home, even though you can bet your cigs on bug races and talk to your buddy when he’s your solitary neighbor. Kent Marlowe’s pretty sis takes a liking to an escaped con (in 30 seconds flat), the trouble being that Kent himself is pathetic. Machine Gun Butch Schmidt can’t read, but he can fend for himself in a place like prison with a warden who knows that the state’s continued cutting of funds will make for a shakedown that the papers dub an “Orgy of Murder.” Even the bad guys sometimes save the day.