

The Big House
Timely! Tremendous! Thrilling! Drama of Love and a Jail-Break!
Convicted of manslaughter for a drunken driving accident, Kent Marlowe is sent to prison, where he meets vicious incarcerated figures who are planning an escape from the brutal conditions.
TMDB
6.6/10
56 votes
IMDb
7.1/10
2,676 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
75%
Tomatometer
Metacritic
74/100
Metascore
- Status
- Released
- Budget
- —
- Box office
- —
- Language
- English
- prison
- prison cell
- inmate
- pre-code
- manslaughter
- incarceration
- prison break attempt
Top billed cast

















Behind the camera
Where to watch
All optionsAvailability for United States. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.
Gallery









Videos
No extra videos are listed for this title yet.
Awards & recognition
- Oscar wins
- 2
- Total wins
- 2
- Total nominations
- 2
- Won 2 Oscars
- 2 wins
- 2 nominations total
Awards data for The Big House provided by OMDb.
Release dates
United StatesUS
- PremiereMinneapolis, Minnesota7 Jun 1930
- TheatricalNR14 Jun 1930
Frequently asked questions
The Big House was released on 14 June 1930.
- C7/10
CinemaSerf
10/12/2025
This is one of my favourite early examples of the dog-eat-dog world in prison as the young “Marlowe” (Robert Montgomery) is sent down for a decade after a road accident led to a fatality. Not surprisingly, he’s as anxious as hell - not least when he learns that he is to share facilities with “Morgan” (Chester Morris) and convicted murderer “Butch” (Wallace Beery). The governor (Lewis Stone) is broadly sympathetic, as…
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