One of the Depression era’s strongest social protest films, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang was based on the true story by Robert E. Burns, published as “I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang.”
Grade: A (***** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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Mervyn Le Roy directed in a taut, straightforward mode, propelled by a compelling narrative penned by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes.
A social problem picture indicting social injustices, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang exposed the inhuman conditions on the chain gangs in Southern prison camps.
Paul Muni stars as James Allen, a hometown boy returning from WWI, honored with medals, hut carrying huge dissatisfaction.
He finds his old factory job stultifying and can’t adjust to his small town’s life.
Allen had decided to leave home and find a more rewarding life. However, unable to find a job, he is forced to stay with other unemployed veterans.
One of the guys tries to rob a diner and in the process kills its owner. The police arrive and the gunman is shot.
Though innocent, Allen is arrested, convicted and sent to a brutal prison farm. Later on, he manages to escape up North, changes his name, and finds job as a construction worker.
On his way to becoming a respected engineer, Allen marries Marie (Glenda Farrell), a “bad girl” whose vulgarity causes him burden and embarrassment.
He then falls in love with a=the more elegant woman Helen (Helen Vinson), who urges him to return to prison.
The authorities assure Allen that his cooperation will earn him a pardon, but later, the pardon is refused and his appeals rejected. Betrayed, Allen escapes a second time, and blows up a bridge.
Muni excels as a man committed to prison for a crime he did not commit, where he endures barbaric treatment by the sadistic guards. After making a desperate escape, Allen lives in constant fear of being captured and forced to return to Hell.
Many critics felt that that was Munis top performance, far superior to the characters he would play in Warner’s biopics, “The Story of Louis Pasteur” (1936) and “The Life of Emile Zola” (1937).
This social protest film shattered audiences with its harrowing depiction of the brutalities perpetuated by guards attached to a prison chain gang. For its time, it presented an explosive indictment and condemnation of the type of brutality and sadism that resulted in convicts being indiscriminately beaten.
The film contains many harrowing scenes, including the one that depicts Allen trying to pawn his congressional medal of honor.
However, the most endurable image comes at the end of the picture, when Allen is asked how he lives, and he responds simply with only two words, “I steal!” It’s a harsh line and unusual ending that could have only existed before the imposition of restrictions by the Production Code, which was installed a year later, in 1934.
I have shown the picture in various classes, where it unfailingly continues to exert its powerful spell. Viewers of all generations remember and discuss long after watching the film.
Produced by Hal B. Wallis, the picture was commended for its courage, artistic integrity, dramatic vigor, and particularly relevant social message.
Greeted with excellent reviews, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang was hugely popular, occupying the third position of the year’s top-grossing pictures, after the musicals Gold Diggers of 1933 and Forty-Second Street.
My Oscar Book:
Oscar Alert
Oscar nominations: 3
Picture, produced by Hal B. Wallis
Actor: Paul Muni
Sound Recording: Nathan Levinson
Oscar Awards: None
The winners in 1933 were: “Cavalcade” (Best Picture), Charles Laughton (Best Actor, for “The Private Life of Henry VIII”) and Harold C. Lewis (Sound Recording for “A Farewell to Arms”).
Cast
Paul Muni as James Allen
Glenda Farrell as Marie
Helen Vinson as Helen
Noel Francis as Linda
Preston Foster as Pete
Allen Jenkins as Barney Sykes
Berton Churchill as the Judge
Edward Ellis as Bomber Wells
David Landau as the Warden
Hale Hamilton as Rev. Allen
Sally Blane as Alice
Louise Carter as Mrs. Allen
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Credits:
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Screenplay by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes, based on I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! 1932 book by Robert E. Burns
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Cinematography Sol Polito
Edited by William Holmes
Music by Bernhard Kaun
Production company: The Vitaphone Corporation
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date: November 10, 1932
Running time: 93 minutes
Budget $228,00
Box office $1,599,000
