The Hole in the Wall (1929)

Synopsis
Claudette Colbert and Edward G. Robinson both made their talking-picture bows in Paramount's The Hole in the Wall. Based on a play by Fred Jackson, the story is set in motion when Jean Oliver (Colbert), seeking vengeance against the wealthy dowager who had her sent to prison, poses as a fortune teller named Mme. Mystera and charms her way into the dowager's home. It is Jean's plan to kidnap the old woman's granddaughter Marcia (Marcia Kagno) and teach the young girl to be a thief. But this insidious scheme is complicated when The Fox (Edward G. Robinson), a dapper but ruthless gangster, falls in love with Jean. When Jean spurns his advances, The Fox spitefully kidnaps Marcia and ties the poor child to a railway-dock pillar, leaving her at the mercy of the tide. In the process, the Fox is himself drowned, leaving Marcia's fate in the hands of crusading reporter Gordon Grant (David Newell) -- who also is in love with Jean! For years, Edward G. Robinson dismissed Hole in the Wall as a disaster and refused to watch it, until his co-star Claudette Colbert caught the film on TV and convinced Robinson that it wasn't so bad after all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide