Convicted Felon Tommy Connors gets 5-30 years in stir where he learns he is no longer King of the Hill, but just another maggot in the flock. Michael Curtiz’s sharp direction with brutal and unflattering performances between Spencer Tracey (Convict, Tommy Connors) and his nemesis Arthur Byron (Warden, Paul Long) make this story of moral conflict absolutely entertaining, even if your disbelief needs more than suspending...but murdered outright!
Tommy is sent up the Hudson River to the brutal gulag of Sing Sing for Robbery, Assault, and various other violations of the Crimes Code, especially when they occur on a Saturday. A gangster with a violent history who is used to getting his own way through intimidation and force, he is brought back down to Earth (and his cell) by the Warden who runs his prison with a steel fist (but kind heart). Throw in sleazy lawyer Joe Finn (Louis Calhern) and Tommy’s adorable gal Fay Wilson (Bette Davis), and you have a war upon two fronts! Tommy eventually bends his will (and knee) to his overseer, and both earn each other's grudging respect. When Fay is fatally injured in a traffic accident (she actually attempted suicide), the Warden allows Tommy a 24-hour release on his honor, to return to Sing Sing after he pays his last respects to his gal. But Tommy and his attorney no longer see eye to eye (more like fist to fist), and during the brawl, Joe is shot dead by the bedridden Fay. Of course, Tommy grabs the gun and takes the fall. Headlines denounce the Warden and his “scouts honor” approach to rehabilitation while Tommy remains at large, but the Warden holds steadfast in his judgment of Tommy and awaits his return, even though it means the chair, as in the kind you plug in. Tommy returns on his own, Fay’s body heals but her heart is broken, and he faces electric consequences not for his behavior...but hers! I suppose no one would believe the truth, that she killed her abuser Joe Finn in defense of Tommy and herself.
The great DP Barney McGill films in an almost documentary style seemingly on location which adds verisimilitude to the narrative. McGill captures the claustrophobia of prison life, the crowded yet lonely existence of the inmates, as their regimented pantomime belies the soul-crushing despair they all must feel. After the credits where numbers announce each inmate's sentence (I suppose this equals 20,000), we get an airplane shot of a train racing towards its destination. This isn’t a miniature composition and is one of the first establishing shots via airplane I can remember in a Pre-Code drama! There is an exciting jail break sequences that involves murdered guards, tear gas and an intricate lock-picking mechanism built with stolen parts from the machine shop. Since it’s Saturday, Tommy doesn’t partake of the rumble and therefore earns his 24-hour vacation though his sentence is eventually the same as the conspirators.
Overall, a decent film that may minimize the reality of contemporary prison abuses and presents lengthy incarceration and Capital Punishment as deterrent and redemptive consequences. And if you’re wondering, a group of maggots is a rumble, not a flock.
Final Grade: (B)