Mervyn LeRoy, Glenda Farrell, I'm a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) ( I'm a Fugitive from a Chain Gang ), Helen Vinson, Preston Foster, David Landau, Edward Ellis, Hale Hamilton, Noel Francis, Berton Churchill, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), Paul Muni, Allen JenkinsSee more
Spain released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), Spanish ( Subtitles ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: Returning veteran James Allen, rejecting a return to the old factory grind, degenerates into a hobo. Innocently involved in robbery, he is railroaded onto an incredibly brutal chain gang. Finally escaping, he makes his way to Chicago, where he finds success in the construction industry...and grasping girlfriend Marie, who threatens to expose him if he doesn't marry her. When he meets and falls for Helen, things go from bad to worse. SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Oscar Academy Awards, ...I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) ( I'm a Fugitive from a Chain Gang )
Product details
Aspect Ratio
:
1.33:1
MPAA rating
:
Unrated (Not Rated)
Package Dimensions
:
7.64 x 5.43 x 0.63 inches; 2.82 ounces
Director
:
Mervyn LeRoy
Media Format
:
Import, PAL
Run time
:
122 minutes
Actors
:
Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis, Preston Foster
Dubbed:
:
Spanish
Subtitles:
:
Spanish
Producers
:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) ( I'm a Fugitive from a Chain Gang ), I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), I'm a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Language
:
Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
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A drifter enters a flop house and meets a friendly man who invites him to have a cup of coffee on him at a local Cafe. While drinking his cup, his new fiend pulls a gun and holds up the owner. Both men are forced to make a run for it, but are caught by the police. Under police questioning, the robber frames the innocent man. The drifter is convicted and sent to a chain gang prison for 13 years. He suffers inhumane treatment and fed food not fit to eat. During the night, the prisoners are shackeled together to their ankle chains while they are in bed. Each morning they carry a iron ball attached to chains on there ankles to walk. Each day they are forced to rise early and work hard labor jobs until late at night. They are beaten and kicked unconscious for any slow down or illiness. Some die. The corrupt prison officials rent out inmates to local companies as slave labor. Unable too stand any more, the man escapes and locates a ex-inmate in the city, who provides a place of safety in the Bawdy House he"s running. He changes his name and later finds a good job. One of the loose ladies learns his secret that he is hunted man. She blackmails him to marry her so she can live off his money. While he is at work, she entertains many men at home and spends his money lavishly. Finally he throws her out. She seeks revenge by tipping off the police where they can find him. He is sent back to the Chain Gang, reneging on their promise to him to receive a few months, then release and a pardon. Treated brutely again. After three months, he escapes again. He is now in fear again as a hunted man. The showing of this movie resulted in the shut down of the chain gang system in some southern states. This powerful story.
I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang is a classic in the prison genre and the most influential of all time. It might be a little slow for today's audience and less rough than what's out there today but it wasn't at all for it's time. It came out in the early 1930s during the pre-code era and was one of the most controversial movies for it's time. It was actually based on a true story of Robert Burns who was wrongly convicted. James Allen (Paul Muni) has returned from WWI who has changed since and finds his job boring. He leaves home to find a job in Chicago but can't find anything. Soon sinking lower into poverty and staying at a homeless shelter in Georgia, he gets unintentionally involved in a robbery. Allen is wrongly convicted, sentenced to prison and put on a chain gang. He decides to escape after being mistreated and beaten by the warden. When he gets out, he goes by the name Allen James so he can get a job without anyone knowing. This time his work is appreciated and he gets promoted, making it back to the top eventually. It comes back to haunt him though when his landlord Marie (Glenda Farrell) finds out an blackmails him. Paul Muni (Life of Emile Zola, Scarface) was a great actor and gives his best role to date. Glenda Farrell (Little Caesar, Mystery Of The Wax Museum) gives a great supporting role, a little different from her usual but believable. I Am A Fugitive was ahead of it's time and holds up well for 1932, not to mention it's iconic final scene.
President John F. Kennedy, embarrassed by his inability to "Stop Communism" in a small country (Cuba), brought the world close to nuclear catastrophe. Still wishing to appear Macho, he chose Viet Nam as his next target to "Stop Communism" in a small country. That turned out poorly also, if one wishes to count the American and foreign corpses and maimed. Obama;s primary preoccupation as President may, or may not have been, launching his drones against over 5,000 human "targets." I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a political movie, as well as a great character study, of James Allen (Paul Muni) condemned to hard labor for an indeterminate time "for looming at a hamburger.," as the movie says. Allen was hoping for a free hand-out, a hamburger--he was starving when a third man botched a five-dollar robbery from the cafe.. This1932 movie entertains and is food for thought about how America would eventually turn its violence inward (and, in my own opinion, not just outward against small foreign countries). I voted for our current President, and will again because, although not a stereotype, he is essentially a man of peace.
A good solid film that's a little melodramatic, even for the time it was made, but is still highly provocative even though it has a kind of plain flavor to it. Even if the visuals aren't all that interesting in the begining the film picks up as as we follow Muni's character from one slice of life to the next, until we come upon the episode that starts the core story of what the film is billed to be about.
Remember folks, this is old fashioned film making. The actors are introduced, the music is functional (when it's there), the performances are a bit over the top from some of the supporting cast, but overall this is a solid drama from the 1930's. This film caused so much uproar that reforms were taken to do away with the chain gang concept and laws and agreements between states regarding extradition.
After you watch this, if you can find it, check out the documentary where you will see the real Jame Allen talk to a Movietone News movie camera while he was still on the run, proclaiming his innocence and the support of loved ones to keep him going.
Both feature film and the documentary I mention here in this review are heartbreaking.
See this film and learn from a dramatic rendering about some of the worst prisoner treatment in all of American history.
Truthfully, I have yet to view the movie. Reason: Summertime. The weather is too good to be ignored. However, the book which I read(White Trash-Nancy Isenberg) recommended it highly as a movie which reinforced the substance of her narrative. Hence my expectation is high come some stormy night this autumn when a movie is the one thing to fit the ticket. As for your service in getting it here-thumbs-up.
One of the great, pre-code films of the 30s, “Chain Gang” helped change the system in America and provided Paul Muni with one of his most celebrated roles.
Based on the true story of Robert E. Burns, Muni plays decent ex-soldier James Allen, who finds himself in the nightmare predicament of a 10-year sentence on a Southern chain gang. He subsequently escapes and becomes a successful engineer until his blackmailing spouse informs on him and he finds himself back on the gang with a false promise of pardon. Even at this distance in time, the film has a real power; the social injustices of the 30s were very real and the portrayals of them in the film were pretty true; the drama is effective and Muni – one of the most respected and dedicated screen actors of the day – is totally convincing in the role. The movie has aged well and should still hold the attention of the diligent modern viewer who appreciates classic cinema. Although the film has the status of being preserved in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, this DVD release isn't the best it could be. The picture is quite sharp in some scenes, but has a fairly grainy quality in others; sound quality is good for a film of this age. It is certainly acceptable enough until someone gets around to releasing a full-digitally re-mastered edition – though don't hold your breath on that one.
The DVD has subtitles in English, Spanish and French; extras are a trailer, a commentary by Film Historian Richard b. Jewell and a forgettable short sending up the movie which may once have been funny, but otherwise is in poor taste.
Es una buena película de estilo carcelario. A pesar de ser a de principios de los años 30, para nada se te hace una película antigua. La inerpretación de Muni es fantástica y la dirección, increíble. Hay escenas que se te quedan grabadas por su gran belleza visual y plástica. Si todo esto no fuera suficiente para animarte a verla, has de saber que te muestra las duras condiciones de las cárceles de principios del siglo XX y que te hace reflexionar sobre la justicia en general. Merece la pena verla
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