Public Domain Movies

Dynamite is a 1929 American pre-Code drama film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Conrad Nagel, Kay Johnson, Charles Bickford, and Julia Faye. Written by Jeanie MacPherson, John Howard Lawson, and Gladys Unger, the film is about a convicted murderer scheduled to be executed, whom a socialite marries simply to satisfy a condition of her grandfather's will. Mitchell Leisen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

Plot
Coal miner Hagon Derk is sentenced to hang for murder. His only concern is for his young sister Katie, who will be left all alone. Meanwhile, frivolous socialite Cynthia Crothers will not inherit her grandfather's millions and will be penniless if she is not married by her twenty-third birthday (a month away). She is "engaged" to Roger Towne, but he is married to Marcia. Marcia has her own lover, Marco, and is willing to grant Roger a divorce ... for the right price. The women settle on $100,000 behind Roger's back.

Hagon, desperate to provide for Katie, offers his body for $10,000 in a newspaper ad. Cynthia offers him the money in exchange for him marrying her. He accepts. Just minutes before Hagon's execution though, the real killer is goaded into attacking a man with a gun and is fatally shot. He confesses before dying, and Hagon is released.

Hagon goes to see his stunned wife. When her friends show up to party the night away, he sees Cynthia writing a $25,000 check as a down payment to Marcia and discussing their agreement. Hagon grabs the check and shows it to Roger. Roger tells Cynthia that if she gives Marcia the check, they are through. Cynthia rips up the check. She then announces that she is married. When Hagon reveals he is her husband, Cynthia is made a laughingstock. Hagon throws out the partygoers. When Cynthia locks herself in her room, Hagon breaks down her door. After a brief confrontation, Hagon flings $10,000 at her and leaves.

When Cynthia is informed that she must be living with her husband on her birthday, she drives to his mining town. He refuses to go back to her apartment, so she persuades him to let her stay with him. He agrees on condition that she cook and clean, and locks up her fancy car in his tool shed. Her first attempt at cooking is a dismal failure. Katie helps out and keeps it a secret from Hagon, but Cynthia confesses. Hagon tells her it is the first honest thing he has seen her do.

The next day, while shopping, Cynthia buys a gift for a young boy. His mother objects, but the child runs away with his present and is hurt in a traffic accident. The doctor says that only a brain specialist in the city can save him, but the boy only has hours to live. Cynthia breaks into the tool shed, speeds away in her car and returns with the specialist. The child is saved.

Hagon returns from work to find the door of his shed demolished and learns that Cynthia withdrew $2,000 from the bank (to pay the specialist). He assumes that she got tired of his way of life and went to see Roger. When Hagon demands an explanation, Cynthia is too disheartened to reply. She telephones Roger to come for her. However, the child's mother tells Hagon what Cynthia has done.

When Roger shows up, he insists on seeing Hagon before leaving. They go down into the mine to find him. A cave-in traps the trio with only fifteen minutes worth of air. Hagon finally confesses he loves Cynthia. Then he realizes there is a way out. He quickly packs a stick of dynamite into a wall; there is another chamber on the other side with enough air to sustain them until they can be rescued. However, without a fuse cap, someone will have to strike the dynamite with a sledgehammer to set it off. The two men toss a coin for the privilege. Roger "wins", but Hagon wrestles the sledgehammer away from him. After Cynthia whispers something to Roger, he tells Hagon that Cynthia wants to say goodbye to him. Hagon asks Cynthia to say what she needs to say. Confused, she reveals that she said she loves him. With the two safely out of the way, Roger detonates the dynamite and is killed. As Hagon carries Cynthia into the opened chamber, he tells her that he was wrong about Roger.

Cast
Conrad Nagel as Roger Towne
Kay Johnson as Cynthia Crothers
Charles Bickford as Hagon Derk
Julia Faye as Marcia Towne
Muriel McCormac as Katie Derk
Joel McCrea as Marco
Robert Edeson as First Wise Fool
William Holden as Second Wise Fool
Henry Stockbridge as Third Wise Fool
Leslie Fenton as Young "Vulture" Firing Gun
Barton Hepburn as Young "Vulture" Confessing Crime
Ernest Hilliard as Good Mixer
June Nash as Good Mixer
Judith Barrett as Good Mixer
Neely Edwards as Good Mixer
Marjorie Zier as Good Mixer
Rita La Roy as Good Mixer
Tyler Brooke as The Life of the Party
Clarence Burton as Police Officer
Jim Farley as Death Row Police Officer
Robert T. Haines as The Judge
Douglas Scott as Bobby Smith
Jane Keckley as Bobby's Mother
Blanche Craig as Neighbor (Mrs. Johnson)
Mary Gordon as Neighbor at Store
Ynez Seabury as Neighbor (Mrs. Johnson's daughter)
Scott Kolk as Radio Announcer
Fred Walton as Doctor Rawlins
Wade Boteler as Mine Foreman (uncredited)
Randolph Scott as Coal Miner (uncredited)