I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang ***** (1933, Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Preston Foster, Allen Jenkins) – Classic Movie Review 7441

Director Mervyn LeRoy’s justly famous, hard-hitting 1933 Warner Bros’ crusading drama I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang stars Paul Muni as James Allen, an innocent man turned criminal who goes on the run after he has been sentenced to working on a Southern chain gang and victimised by evil warders. It was nominated for three Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Sound, Recording (Nathan Levinson).

Perhaps the best film of both Muni and director LeRoy, it is inevitably dated and slightly faded now. But nevertheless its power still comes pulsating through as concerned, intelligent socially aware entertainment. And Muni is electric.

It also stars Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Preston Foster and Allen Jenkins.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang goes to show that popular entertainment can also be about something and have ideas on its mind. It can be, but then this film dates from 1933.

It is only a movie, but it is incredible that this is how life on the chain gang must actually have been and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang shows that vividly. The screenplay by Howard J Green, Sheridan Gibney, Brown Holmes and Robert E Burns is based on an autobiography by Robert E Burns.

Also in the cast are Edward J McNamara, Berton Churchill, Noel Francis, Edward Ellis, David Landau, Sally Blane, Louise Carter, Willard Robertson, Robert McWade, Robert Warwick, William LeMaire, Erville Alderson, Edward Arnold, Irving Bacon, Reginald Barlow, James Bell, Everett Brown, Frederick Burton, Wallis Clark, G Pat Collins, George Cooper, Jack Curtis, Douglass Dumbrille, J Frank Glendon, Roscoe Karns, Edward Le Saint, Walter Long, Charles Middleton, Hale Hamilton, Dennis O’Keefe, William Pawley, Charles Sellon, Lee Shumway, Sheila Terry, Fred Toones, Harry Woods and John Wray.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7441

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com