Humphrey Bogart (Frank Wilson), Billy Halop (Johnnie Stone), Gale Page (Madge Stone), John Litel (Attorney Carey), Henry Travers (Pop), Harvey Stephens (Fred Burke), Harold Huber (Scappa), Joseph Sawyer (Red), Joseph Downing (Smitty), George E. Stone (Toad), Joseph King (keeper), Joseph Crehan (warden), John Ridgely (gas attendant), Herbert Rawlinson (D.A.), "Rochester" (convict), Louis- Jean Heydt (motorcycle cop), Frank Faylen (announcer), Mantan Moreland (Sam), Tom Dugan.
Directed by LEWIS SEILER. Screenplay by Robert Buckner, Don Ryan, and Kenneth Gamet. Based on the play Chalked Out by Warden Lewis E. Lawes and Jonathan Finn. Director of photography: Sol Polito. Music by Heinz Roemheld. Film editor: James Gibbon. Dialogue director: Jo Graham. Assistant director: William Kissel. Art director: Hugh Reticker. Gowns by Milo Anderson. Associate producer: Samuel Bischoff.
Copyright 29 April 1939 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. New York opening (Strand): 24 March 1939. U.S. release: 20 May. 78 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Johnnie Stone embarks on a career of crime under the tutelage of Frank Wilson, a petty crook. (A 10/10 Warner DVD).
NOTES: "Chalked Out" opened at the Morosco on 25 March 1937, but fizzed out after only 12 performances. Antoinette Perry directed Tom Tully and Frank Lovejoy.
COMMENT: You don't have to be a genius or even a confirmed cinema buff to accurately predict the ending of this implausible and contrived prison melodrama.
Still, it must be admitted that the film is quite suspenseful in its working out. In part this is due to the power of the original stage play (which takes over after about 20 or 30 minutes of commendable "opening up") and in part to the finely communicated nervous agitation Billy Halop works up in his role.
Bogart gives his usual gangster impersonation speaking such lines as "This is not crime, kid, it's a business!" with his usual relish.
Gale Page is okay as the heroine, as is Harvey Stephens as the unhappy hero.
Despite his prominence in the cast list, Litel has only one scene, but Travers as usual chews up the scenery for what seems like hours.
Other roles are small and not particularly important, but are competently played. And what's a lot more important, director Lewis Seiler makes effective use of fluid camera-work.
Directed by LEWIS SEILER. Screenplay by Robert Buckner, Don Ryan, and Kenneth Gamet. Based on the play Chalked Out by Warden Lewis E. Lawes and Jonathan Finn. Director of photography: Sol Polito. Music by Heinz Roemheld. Film editor: James Gibbon. Dialogue director: Jo Graham. Assistant director: William Kissel. Art director: Hugh Reticker. Gowns by Milo Anderson. Associate producer: Samuel Bischoff.
Copyright 29 April 1939 by Warner Bros Pictures, Inc. New York opening (Strand): 24 March 1939. U.S. release: 20 May. 78 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Johnnie Stone embarks on a career of crime under the tutelage of Frank Wilson, a petty crook. (A 10/10 Warner DVD).
NOTES: "Chalked Out" opened at the Morosco on 25 March 1937, but fizzed out after only 12 performances. Antoinette Perry directed Tom Tully and Frank Lovejoy.
COMMENT: You don't have to be a genius or even a confirmed cinema buff to accurately predict the ending of this implausible and contrived prison melodrama.
Still, it must be admitted that the film is quite suspenseful in its working out. In part this is due to the power of the original stage play (which takes over after about 20 or 30 minutes of commendable "opening up") and in part to the finely communicated nervous agitation Billy Halop works up in his role.
Bogart gives his usual gangster impersonation speaking such lines as "This is not crime, kid, it's a business!" with his usual relish.
Gale Page is okay as the heroine, as is Harvey Stephens as the unhappy hero.
Despite his prominence in the cast list, Litel has only one scene, but Travers as usual chews up the scenery for what seems like hours.
Other roles are small and not particularly important, but are competently played. And what's a lot more important, director Lewis Seiler makes effective use of fluid camera-work.