Film Review : I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG * * * *

Submitted by jblack on Sat, 03/24/2001 - 06:57
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I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932)

CAST Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vincent

DIRECTOR Mervin LeRoy

Mervin LeRoy's "I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang", does not suffer from some of the aging problems that most older films acquire. Today, it stands as strong, if not stronger, than it did sixty-nine years ago when it was released. A strong story with strong points to make about the conditon of our criminal justice system, and how it can be a burden as opposed to a help for rehabilitating criminals.

The film stars Paul Muni as James Allen, a wrongley convicted man who is put on a chain gang in a penitentiary. The brutalities he endures along with other prisoners is cruel and inhumane. He proceeds to get fed up and he makes an escape. He travels to Chicago where he changes his name to Allen James. He gets a job as a laborer for a construction company and makes a good impression. He gets raises and promotions rapidly until he becomes the superviser for the company. All this time he is renting a room from a possesive woman named Marie Woods, played by Glenda Farrell. She falls in love with Allen while he does not feel the same about her.

Marie finally discovers the secret about Allen and bribes him in to getting married to her, using the information against him. They have an argument and she turns him in. The warden promises him a pardon if he spends ninety days back in prison. He excepts the offer and goes back to prison.

Come to find out he is railroaded and doesn't get his pardon and he is treated even more unfairly, causing him to escape again. The final scene in the film is one of the most powerful in cinema and it stays with you long after viewing it. LeRoy's direction is true to the time and the conditions of our country during the great depression. Paul Muni's performance is one of the greatest ever filmed. He shows many different emotions and reactions that justly fit the condition of his life. This movie shows the honest brutality of the chain gangs, and is deeply moving and socially conscience. A landmark film that has stood the test of time.