Thunderbolt (1929 film)

Thunderbolt
File:ThunderBolt.jpg
Directed by	Josef von Sternberg
Written by	Charles Furthman Jules Furthman Herman Mankiewicz
Produced by	B. P. Fineman
Starring	George Bancroft Fay Wray Richard Arlen Tully Marshall Eugénie Besserer
Cinematography	Henry W. Gerrard
Edited by	Helen Lewis
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	July 20, 1929 (1929-07-20) (U.S.)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Thunderbolt is a 1929 American Pre-Code proto-noir film which tells the story of a criminal, facing execution, who wants to kill the man in the next cell for being in love with his girlfriend. It stars George Bancroft, Fay Wray, Richard Arlen, Tully Marshall and Eugenie Besserer.

The movie was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Joseph L. Mankiewicz (titles) and Josef von Sternberg from the story by Charles Furthman and Jules Furthman. It was directed by Sternberg.

Bancroft was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Synopsis

Thunderbolt Jim Lang, wanted on robbery and murder charges, ventures out with his girl, "Ritzy," to a Harlem nightclub, where she informs him that she is going straight. During a raid on the club, Thunderbolt escapes. His gang shadows Ritzy and reports that she is living with Mrs. Morgan, whose son, Bob, a bank clerk, is in love with Ritzy. Fearing for Bob's safety, Ritzy engineers a police trap for Thunderbolt; he escapes but is later captured, tried, and sentenced to be executed at Sing Sing. From the death house, he successfully plots to frame Bob in a bank robbery and killing. Bob is placed in the facing cell, and guards frustrate Thunderbolt's attempts to get to his rival. When Ritzy marries Bob in the death house, Thunderbolt confesses his part in Bob's conviction. He plots to kill the boy on the night of his execution, but instead at the last minute his hand falls on Bob's shoulder in a gesture of friendship.

Production

A pressbook for this film calls it "a story of a hard-fighting man who lives outside the law in the hidden places of the Negro district." Quoting director Josef von Sternberg on casting for the Harlem scenes, the pressbook continues, "we were fortunate that Los Angeles has a miniature Harlem of its own in its Central Avenue district. A thorough search gave us scores of Negroes who have really lived in Harlem. Harlem, which extends from 125th to 140th streets, New York, brings heart-beats of southern plantations to metropolitan civilization. Sensation-seeking Broadwayites make these cafs possible, coming to dance shoulder-to-shoulder with habitues of this black metropolis to the beat of staccato jazz."

External links

• Thunderbolt at IMDb
• Thunderbolt at AllMovie