Dante's Inferno (1935)

A ruthless carnival barker (Spencer Tracy), blinded by ambition, keeps a fair exhibit open despite warnings from an inspector (Willard Robertson) that the structure is unsafe and dangerous. When tragedy ensues, he doesn't learn his lesson and it will take a second disaster to humble him. Directed by Harry Lachman (CHARLIE CHAN IN RIO). Inspired by the classic 14th century poem by Dante Alighieri, this is an unsubtle moralistic melodrama suggesting mankind often makes its own hell on Earth. The film is most famous for a stunning, surrealistic sequence running almost ten minutes depicting Hell with sweaty nude bodies amidst the flames of Hell being tortured. It's stunning and still holds up. Footage from this scene has been borrowed frequently for other films. There's another spectacular sequence of a gambling ship on fire disaster that is also impressive. These two sequences justify the movie's existence and gets us through the heavy handed preaching. With Claire Trevor, Rita Hayworth, Scotty Beckett, Lynn Bari and Henry B. Walthall.