The quick flashback scene showing how Richard Walters (Howard Phillips) got arrested and convicted for murder certainly led to a dirty rotten deal (for him). It lent support to the notion that capital punishment may not be justified, since there's the outside chance that some prisoners might actually be innocent. Then the picture goes entirely in the other direction, when Warden Lewis (Frank Sheridan) adamantly opposes a deal with the prisoners, led by Killer John Mears (Preston Foster). Who was more innocent than the four hostages taken by the prisoners, especially Father O'Connor (Alec B. Francis)? I think you can be a hard nosed prison warden without sacrificing some of your men. So none of this gives rise to any easy answers.
For an early Thirties flick, this one's pretty good, with decent production values and a story with fine continuity. I particularly liked the character of Jackson, the black inmate who had some interesting perspective on the hereafter. He believed there was a separate heaven and hell for black and white folks, in keeping with a segregated society on Earth. I never thought about that before. It was unusual to see him singing a spiritual among his fellow prisoners. There are other films where men in jail sing, but the atmosphere is generally lighter in tone. Roy Rogers did it (1939 - "In Old Caliente"), as did Dean Martin in "Rio Bravo". However those situations weren't as grim as they were for the convicts here.
On another note, the picture seemed to dismiss an early concept when Killer Mears introduced the other inmates to Walters by their cell numbers. Once that was mentioned, it seemed like the men referred to each other's names quite regularly. The idea reminded me a little of war movies where soldiers refer to each other by where they came from instead of by name. In any event, it's probably difficult to maintain entirely impersonal relationships within the confines of an institution that keeps it's inhabitants so close together.
As for the resolution, I had only the slightest misgivings that Walters wouldn't be declared innocent and offered a pardon by the time it was all over. He could have blown it though with a greater degree of participation in the jail break. In retrospect, that was probably one of the weaker elements of the picture. The film could have gotten a lot more mileage in it's quest for sympathy by giving it an "Angels With Dirty Faces" ending, but then an innocent guy might have had to be executed.
For an early Thirties flick, this one's pretty good, with decent production values and a story with fine continuity. I particularly liked the character of Jackson, the black inmate who had some interesting perspective on the hereafter. He believed there was a separate heaven and hell for black and white folks, in keeping with a segregated society on Earth. I never thought about that before. It was unusual to see him singing a spiritual among his fellow prisoners. There are other films where men in jail sing, but the atmosphere is generally lighter in tone. Roy Rogers did it (1939 - "In Old Caliente"), as did Dean Martin in "Rio Bravo". However those situations weren't as grim as they were for the convicts here.
On another note, the picture seemed to dismiss an early concept when Killer Mears introduced the other inmates to Walters by their cell numbers. Once that was mentioned, it seemed like the men referred to each other's names quite regularly. The idea reminded me a little of war movies where soldiers refer to each other by where they came from instead of by name. In any event, it's probably difficult to maintain entirely impersonal relationships within the confines of an institution that keeps it's inhabitants so close together.
As for the resolution, I had only the slightest misgivings that Walters wouldn't be declared innocent and offered a pardon by the time it was all over. He could have blown it though with a greater degree of participation in the jail break. In retrospect, that was probably one of the weaker elements of the picture. The film could have gotten a lot more mileage in it's quest for sympathy by giving it an "Angels With Dirty Faces" ending, but then an innocent guy might have had to be executed.