Having seen "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" recently, that film came to mind soon after Hell's Highway began. The similarities were obvious-- chain gangs, road work, harsh guards, escape, pursuit and capture. Even the music was similar-- worksong spirituals sung in rich harmony by black male choruses. But where "O Brother" wove humor and comedy throughout the story, "Hell's Highway" was hard, gritty, and definitely humor-less. You're told at the beginning this film is on the bandwagon of penal reform that must have existed at that time, showing the abuses and brutality and the efforts to stop it. It does this quite well, even with the corny (by today's culture)"Oh gosh, gee whillickers, Ma" script and acting that appeared occasionally. Producer David O. Selznick must have been a closet pyromaniac--a powerful scene in which the prison camp burns certainly called to mind the burning of Atlanta in "Gone With the Wind." This Depression-era film showed that even decent folks could find themselves behind the 8-ball of life. Overall, an excellent insight into one aspect of early 20th century American culture. Ignore the outdated-ness of the film and you'll learn a lot.
30 Reviews
Working On A Chain Gang
bkoganbing11 June 2007
Warner Brothers classic I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang coming from a bigger studio as it did overshadowed RKO's Hell's Highway. That's a pity because the fact that the two films came out around the same time robbed this one of the attention it deserves.
Richard Dix and Tom Brown play the Ellis Brothers, a pair of convicts in a southern state prison of unknown name. Dix is a hardened convict, a lifer who's about to have it made official because he was convicted of his fourth offense and falls under the habitual criminal act.
Dix has a hero worshiping younger brother in Brown who gets himself tossed in the slam because he decides to even the score for Dix by shooting someone who ratted his brother out. Dumb kid, he's lucky he missed otherwise it would be a very long stretch.
As in I Am a Fugitive From a Chang Gang the emphasis is on the horrible conditions in these prisons, they are every bit as gruesome as they are in the Warner Brothers film. The highlight of the film is a mass escape when the entire compound goes up in a kerosene fire. Even though these guys are in there for God knows what, your sympathies are with them as the local populace goes on a hunting expedition for the convicts. It's like everyone participating in Leslie Banks's sport of hunting The Most Dangerous Game which also came out that year by RKO.
I was pleasantly surprised by the depths of Richard Dix's performance. Usually he's a pretty straight arrow hero in his film in a classic Victorian era style of acting. His part here is the best work I've ever seen him do, though I can honestly say I haven't seen that many of his films.
You'll see good performances also by Stanley Fields as the head guard and by Charles Middleton, the philosophical bigamist in the joint for the same.
Catch this film if it is ever run again by TCM.
Richard Dix and Tom Brown play the Ellis Brothers, a pair of convicts in a southern state prison of unknown name. Dix is a hardened convict, a lifer who's about to have it made official because he was convicted of his fourth offense and falls under the habitual criminal act.
Dix has a hero worshiping younger brother in Brown who gets himself tossed in the slam because he decides to even the score for Dix by shooting someone who ratted his brother out. Dumb kid, he's lucky he missed otherwise it would be a very long stretch.
As in I Am a Fugitive From a Chang Gang the emphasis is on the horrible conditions in these prisons, they are every bit as gruesome as they are in the Warner Brothers film. The highlight of the film is a mass escape when the entire compound goes up in a kerosene fire. Even though these guys are in there for God knows what, your sympathies are with them as the local populace goes on a hunting expedition for the convicts. It's like everyone participating in Leslie Banks's sport of hunting The Most Dangerous Game which also came out that year by RKO.
I was pleasantly surprised by the depths of Richard Dix's performance. Usually he's a pretty straight arrow hero in his film in a classic Victorian era style of acting. His part here is the best work I've ever seen him do, though I can honestly say I haven't seen that many of his films.
You'll see good performances also by Stanley Fields as the head guard and by Charles Middleton, the philosophical bigamist in the joint for the same.
Catch this film if it is ever run again by TCM.
Great little film
artroraback7 October 2002
This is an entertaining film despite containing all the cliches one could expect to fine in a chaingang movie. Well worth seeing for any movie buff. Richard Dix gives a great performance as Duke Ellis,the leader of the chain gang. His brother Johnny,who idolizes him ,is the newest prisoner on the chain gang for trying to kill the man who ratted on his brother. Duke does all he can to help his younger misguided brother. Despite all the cliches it is entertaining just the same.
Needs more to sing its praises
clore_229 November 2003
This film isn't well known enough, and its reputation pales beside that of "I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang." That being said, it should be noted that this film was released first and actually received fairly good notices. One can even speculate that Mervyn LeRoy may have seen it - there's one shot of chains being pulled through the shackles that is common to both films.
Hell's Highway opens with newspaper stories depicting chain gang abuses - and unlike most films, it uses real newspapers such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Richard Dix is "Duke" - a hardened criminal, not an innocent victim of injustice, but it's never mentioned if he's committed any crimes worse than bank robbery. Dix is better here than in some other films in which I've seen his over-emoting - such as "Cimarron" which I've found almost unwatchable.
Early scenes in the film have Charles Middleton as Matthew - Ming the Merciless - as a character who seems to predate John Carradine's "Casey" in "The Grapes of Wrath" in being a rather touched preacher. He even resembles the lanky Carradine and coincidentally, Middleton also happens to appear in 1932's most famous chain gang film. Duke involves Matthew in a plan to aid his escape, but Duke turns back when he sees his younger brother Johnny (played by Tom Brown) has just arrived in the holding pen. While Duke tries to keep his sibling on the straight and narrow, he receives the wrath of his fellow prisoners who think that he's sold out to the screws. C. Henry Gordon, so memorable in a number of Charlie Chan films, is the primary villain, although Oscar Apfel's "Billings" - a contractor relying on convict labor is really the one setting policy. Wonder if he's the one who decided to have the prisoners wear large circular targets on their shirt backs, he's sure proud of his sweat box used for discipline.
Although the story may now seem by-the-numbers, it must have been fresh in 1932 being the first film to depict the horrors of the chain gang. Although not as hard hitting as the Warner film, it's hardly as "viewer friendly" as the much later "Cool Hand Luke." RKO's film may not have broken a thousand chains as did the Warner classic, but it makes a great companion piece, and is one of the best examples of a rival studio attempting to tread on Warner territory. There are some quick cuts, which combined with the running time of only 62 minutes, that give the impression that the film may have been longer before release - Dix was too big a property for a programmer.
Hell's Highway opens with newspaper stories depicting chain gang abuses - and unlike most films, it uses real newspapers such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Richard Dix is "Duke" - a hardened criminal, not an innocent victim of injustice, but it's never mentioned if he's committed any crimes worse than bank robbery. Dix is better here than in some other films in which I've seen his over-emoting - such as "Cimarron" which I've found almost unwatchable.
Early scenes in the film have Charles Middleton as Matthew - Ming the Merciless - as a character who seems to predate John Carradine's "Casey" in "The Grapes of Wrath" in being a rather touched preacher. He even resembles the lanky Carradine and coincidentally, Middleton also happens to appear in 1932's most famous chain gang film. Duke involves Matthew in a plan to aid his escape, but Duke turns back when he sees his younger brother Johnny (played by Tom Brown) has just arrived in the holding pen. While Duke tries to keep his sibling on the straight and narrow, he receives the wrath of his fellow prisoners who think that he's sold out to the screws. C. Henry Gordon, so memorable in a number of Charlie Chan films, is the primary villain, although Oscar Apfel's "Billings" - a contractor relying on convict labor is really the one setting policy. Wonder if he's the one who decided to have the prisoners wear large circular targets on their shirt backs, he's sure proud of his sweat box used for discipline.
Although the story may now seem by-the-numbers, it must have been fresh in 1932 being the first film to depict the horrors of the chain gang. Although not as hard hitting as the Warner film, it's hardly as "viewer friendly" as the much later "Cool Hand Luke." RKO's film may not have broken a thousand chains as did the Warner classic, but it makes a great companion piece, and is one of the best examples of a rival studio attempting to tread on Warner territory. There are some quick cuts, which combined with the running time of only 62 minutes, that give the impression that the film may have been longer before release - Dix was too big a property for a programmer.
A really surprising find...
planktonrules22 August 2010
What surprised me about "Hell's Highway" more than anything else was that it addressed the abuses of the chain gang system two months before the much more famous "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang" debuted. So why is the latter film a super-famous film for its social commentary and "Hell's Highway" is pretty much forgotten? Well, the biggest reason is focus. In "Hell's Highway", while the system is bad, the movie ALSO focuses on the inmates--and shows them, in most cases, as a bunch of bad folks. Killers, thieves, cut-throats and homosexuals seem to make up most of the prisoners--so at the time the message of reform was somehow lost. The public no doubt was torn between hating the prisoners and the system that mistreated them.
The film stars Richard Dix in an unusual role. He plays perhaps the toughest of all these prisoners--a guy respected yet feared by everyone. Only when his young brother is also committed to this same chain gang is Dix's toughness challenged. Amidst this strange family reunion is the purpose of this chain gang--not to rehabilitate but to provide cheap labor for a jerk trying to produce a road and make himself rich in the process.
The film excels due to pretty good acting and an exciting script. While it's not as timeless and important as "I Am a Fugitive...", it is, nonetheless, well worth seeing and might surprise you at the film's quality and strength.
sign language gibberish
The film stars Richard Dix in an unusual role. He plays perhaps the toughest of all these prisoners--a guy respected yet feared by everyone. Only when his young brother is also committed to this same chain gang is Dix's toughness challenged. Amidst this strange family reunion is the purpose of this chain gang--not to rehabilitate but to provide cheap labor for a jerk trying to produce a road and make himself rich in the process.
The film excels due to pretty good acting and an exciting script. While it's not as timeless and important as "I Am a Fugitive...", it is, nonetheless, well worth seeing and might surprise you at the film's quality and strength.
sign language gibberish
HELL'S HIGHWAY (Rowland Brown, 1932) ***
Bunuel197610 March 2011
A film noted for having anticipated the much more (justly) renowned I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG from the same year in promoting a plea for prison reform. Being essentially a 'B' movie, this does not really have the necessary qualities to compete with that classic film (lesser star, greater sentimentality, leaner running-time, etc.) but, taken on its own terms, it has reasonable merit and is certainly punchy enough to make whatever points were intended.
Richard Dix is a legendary(!) convict whose hold over the chain gang is softened with the unexpected arrival of his idolizing younger brother (for killing the man who "ratted" on his sibling!). Dix's ripe acting has not worn well the passage of time (truth be told, neither has Paul Muni's from the rival film but the latter's was generally put at the service of better movies, so one tends to accept it more readily!) – even his Oscar-nominated turn in CIMARRON (1931), a Best Picture Oscar winner no less, is apt to raise a chuckle nowadays! That said, of the number of several unwatched efforts of his that I own, I look forward to the 1929 version of the much-filmed 'old dark house' comedy-thriller SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE, the 1932 Hollywood satire THE LOST SQUADRON (with Erich von Stroheim more or less playing himself!), the early British sci-fi THE TUNNEL from 1935, and his seven appearances in the noir series of the 1940s THE WHISTLER.
Anyway, the prisoners here are utilized in the building of roads (hence the title) and the severe treatment of them stems from slackening that could jeopardize meeting the deadline. To this end, the contractor involved purchases a sweat-box (subsequently made famous by David Lean's THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI [1957]) where hot-tempered convicts can be isolated to 'cool off' – however, the confined space and even more restricting shackles sometimes result in the occupant strangling himself to death (the film, in fact, starts off with real-life newspaper headlines reporting just such an incident)! After Dix's brother himself does a stretch in it, the hero is forced to compromise: if he simmers down the unrest, thus finish the road on time, the younger man is transferred to an office job with the warden but, of course, the other prisoners begin to taunt him thereafter for being "yellow"!
Eventually, the kid learns that his sibling has been made a lifer and determines to free him – the situation, however, escalates into a mass break-out and the cells themselves set on fire! When the authorities close in for the hunt, naturally, they blame everything on the two brothers! In the end, the convicts are all apprehended, with Dix going back of his own accord and carrying his injured brother (he had actually been shot with an airgun by some local children!). The contractor then screams for Dix's blood, but the kindly warden promptly produces evidence of the man's guilt in the sweat-box scandal (a happy ending which, again, is a far cry from the bleakly haunting one devised for I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG)! Moreover, there is an oddly paradoxical coda in which bible-thumping/bigamist prisoner Charles Middleton (whose wonderful performance anticipates Boris Karloff's and John Carradine's in two John Ford classics, THE LOST PATROL [1934] and THE GRAPES OF WRATH [1940] respectively!) is asked by Dix why he did not join them in the getaway when he had the chance – and the deadpan reply comes that one can escape from jail but not from (juggling between) three wives!
Richard Dix is a legendary(!) convict whose hold over the chain gang is softened with the unexpected arrival of his idolizing younger brother (for killing the man who "ratted" on his sibling!). Dix's ripe acting has not worn well the passage of time (truth be told, neither has Paul Muni's from the rival film but the latter's was generally put at the service of better movies, so one tends to accept it more readily!) – even his Oscar-nominated turn in CIMARRON (1931), a Best Picture Oscar winner no less, is apt to raise a chuckle nowadays! That said, of the number of several unwatched efforts of his that I own, I look forward to the 1929 version of the much-filmed 'old dark house' comedy-thriller SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE, the 1932 Hollywood satire THE LOST SQUADRON (with Erich von Stroheim more or less playing himself!), the early British sci-fi THE TUNNEL from 1935, and his seven appearances in the noir series of the 1940s THE WHISTLER.
Anyway, the prisoners here are utilized in the building of roads (hence the title) and the severe treatment of them stems from slackening that could jeopardize meeting the deadline. To this end, the contractor involved purchases a sweat-box (subsequently made famous by David Lean's THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI [1957]) where hot-tempered convicts can be isolated to 'cool off' – however, the confined space and even more restricting shackles sometimes result in the occupant strangling himself to death (the film, in fact, starts off with real-life newspaper headlines reporting just such an incident)! After Dix's brother himself does a stretch in it, the hero is forced to compromise: if he simmers down the unrest, thus finish the road on time, the younger man is transferred to an office job with the warden but, of course, the other prisoners begin to taunt him thereafter for being "yellow"!
Eventually, the kid learns that his sibling has been made a lifer and determines to free him – the situation, however, escalates into a mass break-out and the cells themselves set on fire! When the authorities close in for the hunt, naturally, they blame everything on the two brothers! In the end, the convicts are all apprehended, with Dix going back of his own accord and carrying his injured brother (he had actually been shot with an airgun by some local children!). The contractor then screams for Dix's blood, but the kindly warden promptly produces evidence of the man's guilt in the sweat-box scandal (a happy ending which, again, is a far cry from the bleakly haunting one devised for I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG)! Moreover, there is an oddly paradoxical coda in which bible-thumping/bigamist prisoner Charles Middleton (whose wonderful performance anticipates Boris Karloff's and John Carradine's in two John Ford classics, THE LOST PATROL [1934] and THE GRAPES OF WRATH [1940] respectively!) is asked by Dix why he did not join them in the getaway when he had the chance – and the deadpan reply comes that one can escape from jail but not from (juggling between) three wives!
O' Lord please help me carry this load
sol-kay12 June 2007
Warning: Spoilers
**SPOILERS**Explosive exposure of the brutal prison system in the south circa 1932. With the use of chain gangs and sweat boxes to keep the inmates in line and in order but where in many cases these brutal practices are used as medieval torture devices. By the sadistic guards and their overseers, the big boss men, who worked prisoners almost to, and many times passed, the point of death.
We get to see what's happening at the prison camp when one of the new inmates Carter,John Arledge, who's unable to keep up with his fellow prisoners at the rock pile is thrown into the notorious sweat-box. Put in a stress-position the poor young man, who's almost dehydrated already, is left there for hours in the broiling sun where he eventually dies and his death is reported to be by the corrupt master of the guards Skinner, C. Henry Gordon, a suicide.
It soon becomes apparent that the prisoners are not being there in the name of Justice but are there to be used as slave labor in building a road, the aptly named Hell's Highway, for this local construction magnet Billings, Oscar Apfel, who's paying off the Boss Man, Skinner, to get the job done even if he has to work them all to death to do it. It the mist of all of this chaos and human degradation there's the hardened and unapologetic Duke Ellis, Richard Dix, the toughest guy in the joint who's planning to stage a break out. Ellis later gets cold feet at the very last moment not because of the fear of death but because he spots his kid brother Johnny, Tom Brown, in the prison camp who was just brought there for trying to gun down the stool pigeon who ratted on him.
Tough guy Duke always wanting his brother Johnny to look after their mom and Johnny's sweetheart Mary Ellen there and then decided to go straight in not starting any trouble with both the prisoners and guards and look after young Johnny. Ellis tries to get him off this tough guy act in trying to imitate himself and end up in the same position, a lifer with no chance of parole, instead of him being able to get out on parole in less then a year.
Things aren't as easy as Duke thought they would be with the hot headed Johnny getting into a fight with one of the prisoners, who stole his photo of Mary Ellen, and at the same knocking down a guard who tried to brake it up ending up in the sweat-box. Duke blackmailing Pop-eye, Warner Richmond, the captain of the guards in getting Johnny out of the sweat-box with the threat of proving that it was he not the two escaped prisoners, who were later shot dead, who murdered his old lady. This happened when he, thanks to prison fortune teller Matthew (Chas Middleton), caught her in bed with another man.
Getting Johnny a job at the prison office Duke thought that would keep his nose clean until he's let out on parole but it has the opposite effect on Johnny, feeling that he'll be considered a rat by the other prisoners, not wanting to be a pampered office boy but a hardened criminal like his big brother Duke. In order to prove himself Johnny stages another break out that goes completely haywire with the entire poison camp being burned down. During the confusion Johnny saved the entire contingent of prison guards from burning to death interrupting his getaway. On eh run Johnny ends up getting shot in the back ,not by the guards or fellow prisoners, by this group of mutes out hunting in the country who somehow mistook Johnny for a wild animal.
Hard hitting and thought-provoking motion picture about brutality behind prison bars with only the ending being a bit too hard to take. Both Duke and Johnny not only survive their ordeal by fire but also get the goods on both Billings and his paid off butt-kissing Boss Man Skinner. The really out of touch with reality, and the law, Billings incriminated himself by sending an official letter to the prison administration. In the letter he praised what a good job Skinner and is boys did in installing the sweat-box that put fear and terror into the hearts of the prisoners and at the same time got them to work harder in building his notorious Hell's Highway. The letter implicating him, as well as Boss Man Skinner, in the brutal and torture murder of inmate Carter as well.
P.S For the first and last time in his life Duke was more then willing to play the part of a stool pigeon, the worst thing a prisoner could do, in being the one person to testify in open court against the unscrupulous Billings and sadistic Skinner; and you know what! not a single one of his fellow inmates will hold it against him for doing that.
We get to see what's happening at the prison camp when one of the new inmates Carter,John Arledge, who's unable to keep up with his fellow prisoners at the rock pile is thrown into the notorious sweat-box. Put in a stress-position the poor young man, who's almost dehydrated already, is left there for hours in the broiling sun where he eventually dies and his death is reported to be by the corrupt master of the guards Skinner, C. Henry Gordon, a suicide.
It soon becomes apparent that the prisoners are not being there in the name of Justice but are there to be used as slave labor in building a road, the aptly named Hell's Highway, for this local construction magnet Billings, Oscar Apfel, who's paying off the Boss Man, Skinner, to get the job done even if he has to work them all to death to do it. It the mist of all of this chaos and human degradation there's the hardened and unapologetic Duke Ellis, Richard Dix, the toughest guy in the joint who's planning to stage a break out. Ellis later gets cold feet at the very last moment not because of the fear of death but because he spots his kid brother Johnny, Tom Brown, in the prison camp who was just brought there for trying to gun down the stool pigeon who ratted on him.
Tough guy Duke always wanting his brother Johnny to look after their mom and Johnny's sweetheart Mary Ellen there and then decided to go straight in not starting any trouble with both the prisoners and guards and look after young Johnny. Ellis tries to get him off this tough guy act in trying to imitate himself and end up in the same position, a lifer with no chance of parole, instead of him being able to get out on parole in less then a year.
Things aren't as easy as Duke thought they would be with the hot headed Johnny getting into a fight with one of the prisoners, who stole his photo of Mary Ellen, and at the same knocking down a guard who tried to brake it up ending up in the sweat-box. Duke blackmailing Pop-eye, Warner Richmond, the captain of the guards in getting Johnny out of the sweat-box with the threat of proving that it was he not the two escaped prisoners, who were later shot dead, who murdered his old lady. This happened when he, thanks to prison fortune teller Matthew (Chas Middleton), caught her in bed with another man.
Getting Johnny a job at the prison office Duke thought that would keep his nose clean until he's let out on parole but it has the opposite effect on Johnny, feeling that he'll be considered a rat by the other prisoners, not wanting to be a pampered office boy but a hardened criminal like his big brother Duke. In order to prove himself Johnny stages another break out that goes completely haywire with the entire poison camp being burned down. During the confusion Johnny saved the entire contingent of prison guards from burning to death interrupting his getaway. On eh run Johnny ends up getting shot in the back ,not by the guards or fellow prisoners, by this group of mutes out hunting in the country who somehow mistook Johnny for a wild animal.
Hard hitting and thought-provoking motion picture about brutality behind prison bars with only the ending being a bit too hard to take. Both Duke and Johnny not only survive their ordeal by fire but also get the goods on both Billings and his paid off butt-kissing Boss Man Skinner. The really out of touch with reality, and the law, Billings incriminated himself by sending an official letter to the prison administration. In the letter he praised what a good job Skinner and is boys did in installing the sweat-box that put fear and terror into the hearts of the prisoners and at the same time got them to work harder in building his notorious Hell's Highway. The letter implicating him, as well as Boss Man Skinner, in the brutal and torture murder of inmate Carter as well.
P.S For the first and last time in his life Duke was more then willing to play the part of a stool pigeon, the worst thing a prisoner could do, in being the one person to testify in open court against the unscrupulous Billings and sadistic Skinner; and you know what! not a single one of his fellow inmates will hold it against him for doing that.
Forgotten Crime Classic
Ron Oliver10 July 2003
The leader of a chain gang work force struggling to build the Liberty Road (HELL'S HIGHWAY) finds his escape plans thwarted when his younger brother becomes a prisoner, too.
Hard hitting & gritty, this neglected little drama is fascinating in its detailed portrayal of a tough subject. Road gang prisoners were still being systematically abused in 1932 and this film helped to shine a light into some very dirty corners, while at the same time delivering a compelling human interest story.
Richard Dix gives a typically fine performance as Duke Ellis, a bad guy with a good heart. He's able to dominate the other prisoners until his kid brother (very well played by Tom Brown) reveals his soft spot. Dix was a strong, virile actor who survived the transition from Silents to Talkies in good form and easily projected a persona of raw intensity. It is a shame that he is nearly forgotten today.
Although she receives third place billing, lovely Rochelle Hudson, as young Brown's girlfriend, has very little to do in her only scene. Of much more interest is elderly Louise Carter, as the distraught mother of Dix & Brown. In her few moments of screen time she delivers a terrific performance of a good woman barely holding on to her emotional balance. Her participation in the film alone would make it worth watching.
A handful of character actors also add to the movie's distinction: beefy Stanley Fields as a sympathetic prison officer; Charles Middleton as a mystic, other-worldly prisoner; C. Henry Gordon as the sadistic violin playing warden; Sandy Roth as a violent, nearly blind, prisoner; and Warner Richmond as a guard who fears he may also be a cuckold.
Clarence Muse & Fuzzy Knight have small roles as prisoners. Movie mavens will spot an uncredited Louise Beavers as Muse's visiting sweetheart.
An intriguing aspect of the film is how the black prisoners are used as a kind of Greek Chorus, their songs making ironic comment upon the action. Their 'Frankie and Johnny' parody sequence in particular is a quietly brilliant moment of film-making in how it encapsulates, in a very short time, a key plot twist.
Hard hitting & gritty, this neglected little drama is fascinating in its detailed portrayal of a tough subject. Road gang prisoners were still being systematically abused in 1932 and this film helped to shine a light into some very dirty corners, while at the same time delivering a compelling human interest story.
Richard Dix gives a typically fine performance as Duke Ellis, a bad guy with a good heart. He's able to dominate the other prisoners until his kid brother (very well played by Tom Brown) reveals his soft spot. Dix was a strong, virile actor who survived the transition from Silents to Talkies in good form and easily projected a persona of raw intensity. It is a shame that he is nearly forgotten today.
Although she receives third place billing, lovely Rochelle Hudson, as young Brown's girlfriend, has very little to do in her only scene. Of much more interest is elderly Louise Carter, as the distraught mother of Dix & Brown. In her few moments of screen time she delivers a terrific performance of a good woman barely holding on to her emotional balance. Her participation in the film alone would make it worth watching.
A handful of character actors also add to the movie's distinction: beefy Stanley Fields as a sympathetic prison officer; Charles Middleton as a mystic, other-worldly prisoner; C. Henry Gordon as the sadistic violin playing warden; Sandy Roth as a violent, nearly blind, prisoner; and Warner Richmond as a guard who fears he may also be a cuckold.
Clarence Muse & Fuzzy Knight have small roles as prisoners. Movie mavens will spot an uncredited Louise Beavers as Muse's visiting sweetheart.
An intriguing aspect of the film is how the black prisoners are used as a kind of Greek Chorus, their songs making ironic comment upon the action. Their 'Frankie and Johnny' parody sequence in particular is a quietly brilliant moment of film-making in how it encapsulates, in a very short time, a key plot twist.
Solid pre-code prison film
gbill-748774 January 2019
Joe Arpaio was born the same year this film was released, and perhaps it's where he got some of his backward ideas. "I don't believe in coddling prisoners," says the warden (C. Henry Gordon), as he has them whipped, starved, and tortured in order to utilize them as slave labor to build a road for a state contractor. The film is a wee bit heavy-handed in its call to end prison conditions which "though a throw-back to the Middle Ages, actually exist today", but there are several little things I liked about it:
I was less enamored with a few comments about women, one of which being that a lot of crime is done on behalf of women, and another that prison is a good way to escape being married to three women, since, you know, women are such balls and chains themselves. "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang", also from 1932, is a better film with more emotional power, but this one is worth seeing too.
- The headlines in the opening sequence are from real newspapers, and refer to the Arthur Maillefert case which shocked the nation. On June 3, 1932, Maillefert was put in a shed similar to the one we see in the movie, with a chain wrapped around his neck and wooden stocks around his feet, and he died within an hour. The first article shown is from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Prison Guards Accused of Murder As Tortured Youth Dies Chained In Sweat Box", and if you search for the next one, "Dark Age Tortures Revealed in Prison Camp Death Quiz", you'll see it's on the front page of the San Francisco Examiner from July 10, 1932. Filmmakers moved quickly; this movie was released September 23, 1932.
- The moment when a guard is about to whip the main character (Richard Dix), but hesitates. The camera pans down and we see a large tattoo on his back with the American flag, and the words "42nd Machine Gun Co. 167th Inf." We don't know much else about this guy and the film doesn't describe too much about his crimes, except that they're numerous and he's "habitual", destined for a life sentence - but finding out that he's a veteran humanizes him, and also points out that criminals have also done positive things in their lives. Given the horrifying outcome of the 'Bonus Army' encampment in Washington D.C. in July, 1932, this image would likely have resonated even more with filmgoers at the time.
- During the jail break the deaf prisoner is hiding in the tall grass, and doesn't see a couple of guys come up behind him. They tell him to "put 'em up", and of course he doesn't because he can't hear them, so they shoot him. It's another case of not knowing everything about someone else, and either misinterpreting or not understanding their actions as a result.
- I loved the treatment of African-American in the film. One wisely comments that the guards are more concerned with the way mules are treated than convicts, because mules cost money and the men are free. Another says to his visiting wife that "Sweetheart, you don't how tired a man does get when he don't get no loving," which in a simple way helps us empathize. I also loved the scenes where we hear groups singing the blues, and during one of them, an artist drawing a few funeral scenes.
- Lastly, something about seeing C. Henry Gordon trying to learn the violin at night using the "E-Z Method" made me smile; perhaps despite his inhumane ways, the film tries to point out he's human too.
I was less enamored with a few comments about women, one of which being that a lot of crime is done on behalf of women, and another that prison is a good way to escape being married to three women, since, you know, women are such balls and chains themselves. "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang", also from 1932, is a better film with more emotional power, but this one is worth seeing too.
This Movie Was the First.....
kidboots27 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers
....only because legal ramifications and accusations held up Warner's "I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang". If there was anyone who could write a realistic crime drama, that person was Rowland Young for the reason being his association with gangsters ("Bugsy" Siegel etc). He came up through the ranks, first as a gag writer for Reginald Denny, then working on a Hoot Gibson western. He had written an unproduced play, "A Handful of Clouds" which in 1930 was turned into "Doorway to Hell", the first of the three ground breaking gangster films. Within the year Young was directing and even though he only directed three films they were all highly distinctive. "Hell's Highway" his second was an expose of prison labour camps which happened to be released a few months in advance of the better publicized "I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang". The gangster movie vogue was almost finished. It was being pushed to one side by new novelties such as reporters, gossip columnists and the next "big thing" the social conscience movie.
This movie definitely doesn't have the brutality and rawness of the far more ambitious "I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang". It is not until young punk Johnny Ellis (Tom Brown in another winning performance) is recruited to the chain gang that you actually find out why his big brother "Duke" (Richard Dix) is there. So for a good part of the film "Duke" doesn't have the audience sympathy because you don't know anything about him. As in each of Young's directed films there is the odd character or two - in this one C. Henry Gordon as the sadistic guard, Blacksnake Skinner, who plays the violin while the camp burns to the ground, Charles Middleton ("Ming the Merciless") as a bigamous prisoner who bamboozles the stupid guards with his "ability" to see into the future and Stanley Fields playing against type as an undercover guard!!!!
The public are up in arms about the callous treatment of chain gang prisoners, especially a method of punishment known as a "sweat box" - a small shed of corrugated iron in which the prisoners are manacled and left, often dying before guards remember they are there!!! So far so good but there is just not enough raw emotion in the characters for me. Toward the end Middleton's character says "Prison's a picnic - compared to what I have back home" and that seems to sum it up well!! The night Johnny arrives at the camp happens to be the night "Duke" is planning to break out. Seeing Johnny he decides to stay behind to look out for his kid brother but when his brother is put into the "sweat box" "Duke" makes a deal with the guards -in return for better treatment for his brother (which includes a cushy job in the office) he agrees to keep the men in order. Aside from a few grumbles from the other prisoners "Duke" isn't on the receiving end of any harsh treatment (imagine what would have happened to Paul Muni if he had tried that in his movie). He is stripped down to be flogged but when the guard sees a Marine tattoo on his back he suddenly doesn't have the heart. There is a scene in which Field's accuses a guard named Popeye of recruiting vicious locals as prison guards but it is not expanded upon. On paper it may have looked like a telling role that Dix could put across but unfortunately it was not to be.
Rochelle Hudson, the most exquisite of ingenues, had yet another thankless role for all her co-star billing as Johnny's sweetheart Mary Ellen. Thank heaven dignified Clarence Muse was around to lead in some spiritual folk singing that seemed to link the stories.
Recommended.
This movie definitely doesn't have the brutality and rawness of the far more ambitious "I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang". It is not until young punk Johnny Ellis (Tom Brown in another winning performance) is recruited to the chain gang that you actually find out why his big brother "Duke" (Richard Dix) is there. So for a good part of the film "Duke" doesn't have the audience sympathy because you don't know anything about him. As in each of Young's directed films there is the odd character or two - in this one C. Henry Gordon as the sadistic guard, Blacksnake Skinner, who plays the violin while the camp burns to the ground, Charles Middleton ("Ming the Merciless") as a bigamous prisoner who bamboozles the stupid guards with his "ability" to see into the future and Stanley Fields playing against type as an undercover guard!!!!
The public are up in arms about the callous treatment of chain gang prisoners, especially a method of punishment known as a "sweat box" - a small shed of corrugated iron in which the prisoners are manacled and left, often dying before guards remember they are there!!! So far so good but there is just not enough raw emotion in the characters for me. Toward the end Middleton's character says "Prison's a picnic - compared to what I have back home" and that seems to sum it up well!! The night Johnny arrives at the camp happens to be the night "Duke" is planning to break out. Seeing Johnny he decides to stay behind to look out for his kid brother but when his brother is put into the "sweat box" "Duke" makes a deal with the guards -in return for better treatment for his brother (which includes a cushy job in the office) he agrees to keep the men in order. Aside from a few grumbles from the other prisoners "Duke" isn't on the receiving end of any harsh treatment (imagine what would have happened to Paul Muni if he had tried that in his movie). He is stripped down to be flogged but when the guard sees a Marine tattoo on his back he suddenly doesn't have the heart. There is a scene in which Field's accuses a guard named Popeye of recruiting vicious locals as prison guards but it is not expanded upon. On paper it may have looked like a telling role that Dix could put across but unfortunately it was not to be.
Rochelle Hudson, the most exquisite of ingenues, had yet another thankless role for all her co-star billing as Johnny's sweetheart Mary Ellen. Thank heaven dignified Clarence Muse was around to lead in some spiritual folk singing that seemed to link the stories.
Recommended.
Not as good as "I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang" but not bad at all
preppy-312 June 2007
Movie made showing the inhuman conditions of a chain gang. Duke Ellis (Richard Dix) is ready to escape until he sees his younger brother Johnny (Tom Brown) is being sent to the same prison. He decides to stay and protect him...but Johnny has a quick temper...
The acting is just so-so (Dix is the worst offender), the dialogue and violence are pretty tame and this is very dated but it's still a good drama. It deals fairly realistically with the terrible conditions and doesn't hold back. Racism is dealt with and there's even an obviously gay prisoner! There's nothing shocking or new here by today's standards but this must have packed quite a punch back in 1932. The only really bad part is the ridiculously happy ending that was so improbable that I was almost laughing! Still, this is worth catching. A 7.
The acting is just so-so (Dix is the worst offender), the dialogue and violence are pretty tame and this is very dated but it's still a good drama. It deals fairly realistically with the terrible conditions and doesn't hold back. Racism is dealt with and there's even an obviously gay prisoner! There's nothing shocking or new here by today's standards but this must have packed quite a punch back in 1932. The only really bad part is the ridiculously happy ending that was so improbable that I was almost laughing! Still, this is worth catching. A 7.
Targets on Their Backs!
movingpicturegal12 June 2007
Well done chain gang movie - a short film, but packed with enough prison movie clichés to hold my interest for an hour including prisoners working in the hot sun with pick axes to build a highway under the supervision of mean, whip-wielding guards, the "sweat box" where prisoners get punished (sometimes to the death), bad chow (of course), black inmates singing spirituals, blackmail, murder, prison escapes, and two brothers - one the older, cocky, hardened bank robber (Richard Dix), the other a kid (Tom Brown) who seems to look up to his older brother almost like a father-figure and gets put in the prison for taking a shot at the "squealer" who sent his brother to the slammer. And to add a little color to the mix of men here - there's also a gay cook, a deaf inmate, and a prisoner who "reads the stars" and tells fortunes. There's also a bit about prison reform too, as a man is sent there to inspect the reason for the latest "sweat box death".
This is quite a good film, nicely photographed in almost what I might call an early noir style with lots of dark shadows and close-ups. Richard Dix gives a really, quite good performance here - I usually think he seems a bit hammy, but this role really seemed to suit him. A young Rochelle Hudson appears here as Tom Brown's girlfriend - though her part is very, very, very brief. All in all, I found this film to be quite interesting and entertaining - well worth seeing.
This is quite a good film, nicely photographed in almost what I might call an early noir style with lots of dark shadows and close-ups. Richard Dix gives a really, quite good performance here - I usually think he seems a bit hammy, but this role really seemed to suit him. A young Rochelle Hudson appears here as Tom Brown's girlfriend - though her part is very, very, very brief. All in all, I found this film to be quite interesting and entertaining - well worth seeing.
Dix on a Chain Gang
wes-connors20 March 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Burly bank robber Richard Dix (as Frank "Duke" Ellis) is about to proclaim "I am a fugitive from a chain gang!" when he sees little brother Tom Brown (as John "Johnny" Ellis) has been sentenced to a similar fate. In order to protect handsome young Mr. Brown from the abusive system, Mr. Dix elects to remain behind. Good thing, too, as his accomplices end up dead. Having witnessed John Arledge (as Joe Carter) die in the "Sweat-Box" makes Dix bargain with sadistic guards to keep Brown out of the death chamber.
Brown, who received a relatively light sentence for confronting Dix' informer with a deadly weapon, is given a cushy office job. When he learns Dix is to be sent to prison for life, Brown decides to plan his brother's escape, putting both in danger...
This RKO effort beat the similarly-themed Paul Muni picture to the box office punch, but eventually took second place on the "Chang Gang" circuit. "Hell's Highway" suffers in comparison, but holds up well on its own. Note, the studio altered the ending to leave their heroic star in a better place, after initial audiences balked at Dix' fate. But, some of the hard stuff remained. The wife of the "Pop-Eye" character played by Warner Richmond is likely whoring after several men. And, cook Eddie Hart (as Burgess) is obviously homosexual, and possibly servicing C. Henry Gordon (as "Blacksnake" Skinner).
******* Hell's Highway (9/23/32) Rowland Brown ~ Richard Dix, Tom Brown, Charles Middleton, John Arledge
Brown, who received a relatively light sentence for confronting Dix' informer with a deadly weapon, is given a cushy office job. When he learns Dix is to be sent to prison for life, Brown decides to plan his brother's escape, putting both in danger...
This RKO effort beat the similarly-themed Paul Muni picture to the box office punch, but eventually took second place on the "Chang Gang" circuit. "Hell's Highway" suffers in comparison, but holds up well on its own. Note, the studio altered the ending to leave their heroic star in a better place, after initial audiences balked at Dix' fate. But, some of the hard stuff remained. The wife of the "Pop-Eye" character played by Warner Richmond is likely whoring after several men. And, cook Eddie Hart (as Burgess) is obviously homosexual, and possibly servicing C. Henry Gordon (as "Blacksnake" Skinner).
******* Hell's Highway (9/23/32) Rowland Brown ~ Richard Dix, Tom Brown, Charles Middleton, John Arledge
Cliché Highway
AAdaSC28 August 2019
It's a prison film with all the annoying clichés you can think of. Richard Dix (Duke) is top dog and planning his escape. Actually, he's carrying it out when he spots his younger brother Tom Brown (Johnny) in the jail and decides to stay behind to look after him. How nice of him. But how annoying. The relationship between the two brothers just continues in this annoying way with younger brother giving out hero worship to his big brother whilst big brother is dragged back by an unconditional love to help his younger brother. Yawn. Just let them get on with things without all this brother namby-pamby stuff. Anyway, the prison conditions are harsh and we get some black prisoners in fine voice singing their way through their sufferance in perfect harmony. Very nice to listen to but a bit racist. There is a jailbreak, strict wardens and all the usual stuff. Rochelle Hudson is second billed - God knows why. I can only remember her in one scene and I'm not sure she even said anything. She must have been boning the director. Still, it's an ok film and gets the ok as it was probably one of the first films to portray this type of story. It's just a bit predictable these days.
Another Rowland Brown Gem
dougdoepke27 October 2011
The story follows events in a southern chain-gang.
Catch those rolling cages the convicts are kept in. They'd even be sub-standard for wild animals in a circus. But then, this is a down and dirty look at a chain-gang work crew, circa 1932, where shooting a con is made easier by the bull's eye on their backs. And if a con misbehaves, like not working fast enough to make the road contractor more money, it's a time in the sweat box, which is like doing time in an upright coffin-- you walk in, they carry you out. Now all this might sound like a lefty screenwriter's fevered dream, but the prologue assures us that the abuses are based on fact.
Then too, the cons are toiling in the middle of one ugly nowhere, and when the place catches fire, it's big enough to take down Chicago. No wonder the cons are looking to escape, and being a prison movie, they do. In my book, the best scene is the luckless deaf guy who never hears the bullet coming. I hope his last minute mumbo-jumbo was enough to get him past the pearly gates—it's a moving and inspired moment.
Then too, Dix makes a convincing boss con, as does C. Henry Gordon as the brutal boss muleskinner. But my money's on the cadaverous Charles Middleton (the hermit) who's on prison vacation from three wives and apparently dabbles in the black arts as when he foresees doom in the stars. His graveyard voice and grim reaper demeanor are like no other and can chill you to the proverbial bone.
Of course, being a Rowland Brown directed film, there are passing references to homo-erotic behavior, (see especially his Blood Money {1933}). All in all, he manages to blend the diverse story elements, including the black men's chorus, into a forcefully memorable whole. Too bad his directing career was so brief. He was that rarest bird in old Hollywood—a genuinely independent spirit.
It's a bang-up 60-minutes from struggling little RKO that takes no prisoners, so to speak. More importantly, there's something topical about tax-supported labor being used to enrich private contractors, as in the movie. Too bad, this over-looked little gem was assigned to pre-Code oblivion.
Catch those rolling cages the convicts are kept in. They'd even be sub-standard for wild animals in a circus. But then, this is a down and dirty look at a chain-gang work crew, circa 1932, where shooting a con is made easier by the bull's eye on their backs. And if a con misbehaves, like not working fast enough to make the road contractor more money, it's a time in the sweat box, which is like doing time in an upright coffin-- you walk in, they carry you out. Now all this might sound like a lefty screenwriter's fevered dream, but the prologue assures us that the abuses are based on fact.
Then too, the cons are toiling in the middle of one ugly nowhere, and when the place catches fire, it's big enough to take down Chicago. No wonder the cons are looking to escape, and being a prison movie, they do. In my book, the best scene is the luckless deaf guy who never hears the bullet coming. I hope his last minute mumbo-jumbo was enough to get him past the pearly gates—it's a moving and inspired moment.
Then too, Dix makes a convincing boss con, as does C. Henry Gordon as the brutal boss muleskinner. But my money's on the cadaverous Charles Middleton (the hermit) who's on prison vacation from three wives and apparently dabbles in the black arts as when he foresees doom in the stars. His graveyard voice and grim reaper demeanor are like no other and can chill you to the proverbial bone.
Of course, being a Rowland Brown directed film, there are passing references to homo-erotic behavior, (see especially his Blood Money {1933}). All in all, he manages to blend the diverse story elements, including the black men's chorus, into a forcefully memorable whole. Too bad his directing career was so brief. He was that rarest bird in old Hollywood—a genuinely independent spirit.
It's a bang-up 60-minutes from struggling little RKO that takes no prisoners, so to speak. More importantly, there's something topical about tax-supported labor being used to enrich private contractors, as in the movie. Too bad, this over-looked little gem was assigned to pre-Code oblivion.
RKO's answer to "I Was A Fugitive from a Chain Gang" is effective...
Doylenf11 June 2007
By 1932 standards, this must have been a hard-hitting film at time of release during the big Depression. It still packs a punch with some grim vignettes on a chain gang with RICHARD DIX as a "Cool Hand Luke" kind of guy opposing the stiff opposition of sadistic warden C. HENRY GORDON.
The story starts with a grim "sweat box" scene with JOHN ARLEDGE (as Carter) unable to perform on the chain gang and put into the infamous torture chamber. When he dies, it builds from there to rebellion among the prisoners. TOM BROWN is Dix's kid brother. He gets into a scrape on the chain gang and ends up in the sweat box too. But Dix manages to get him an office job to keep him out of future scrapes.
However, the story builds to an escape by most of the convicts and punishment too for some of the authority figures. It's all over in a brief one hour and four minutes so the plot never gets too complicated but deals mostly with the brutal treatment some of the men have to endure. ROCHELLE HUDSON has a brief scene but is given virtually nothing to do but look winsome as a prison visitor.
Effectve, but certainly not one of the best prison films, all of which came much later and reached their peak during the '40s.
The story starts with a grim "sweat box" scene with JOHN ARLEDGE (as Carter) unable to perform on the chain gang and put into the infamous torture chamber. When he dies, it builds from there to rebellion among the prisoners. TOM BROWN is Dix's kid brother. He gets into a scrape on the chain gang and ends up in the sweat box too. But Dix manages to get him an office job to keep him out of future scrapes.
However, the story builds to an escape by most of the convicts and punishment too for some of the authority figures. It's all over in a brief one hour and four minutes so the plot never gets too complicated but deals mostly with the brutal treatment some of the men have to endure. ROCHELLE HUDSON has a brief scene but is given virtually nothing to do but look winsome as a prison visitor.
Effectve, but certainly not one of the best prison films, all of which came much later and reached their peak during the '40s.
An Appetizer
view_and_review11 February 2024
I'm all for movies that point out inhumane conditions even if they're in prison. "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" (1932) was an excellent movie that pointed out the inhumane conditions at prison camps in the south. "Hell's Highway" isn't too bad either.
Frank 'Duke' Ellis (Richard Dix) and others were convicts in a prison labor camp. They were tasked with finishing a highway that a soulless contractor named William Billings (Oscar Apfel) was building with prison labor. The contractor didn't have direct control of the prison labor, but he could lean on the prison guards to make them force the prisoners to work harder and faster.
One of the main tools of "reform" that the guards used was the sweatbox. If you've seen "Emperor Jones" (1933) or "Django Unchained" (2012) then you know what it is. It's an outhouse sized shed with no windows or ventilation and it's a death trap. Guards happily killed prisoners in such devices if they worked too slow, were insubordinate, or any one of other offenses.
Duke, the main character, had plans to break out of prison until his brother Johnny (Tom Brown) was put into the same prison. If Duke left, who would look out for the young fool?
As much as "Hell's Highway" showed, it didn't show enough. I think the movie could've gone even deeper and showed even more how sinister of an operation most, if not all, prison labor camps were. For more appreciation of the injustice of the system and the inhumanity of the camps, see "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang." "Hell's Highway" is just an appetizer.
Free on Plex.
Frank 'Duke' Ellis (Richard Dix) and others were convicts in a prison labor camp. They were tasked with finishing a highway that a soulless contractor named William Billings (Oscar Apfel) was building with prison labor. The contractor didn't have direct control of the prison labor, but he could lean on the prison guards to make them force the prisoners to work harder and faster.
One of the main tools of "reform" that the guards used was the sweatbox. If you've seen "Emperor Jones" (1933) or "Django Unchained" (2012) then you know what it is. It's an outhouse sized shed with no windows or ventilation and it's a death trap. Guards happily killed prisoners in such devices if they worked too slow, were insubordinate, or any one of other offenses.
Duke, the main character, had plans to break out of prison until his brother Johnny (Tom Brown) was put into the same prison. If Duke left, who would look out for the young fool?
As much as "Hell's Highway" showed, it didn't show enough. I think the movie could've gone even deeper and showed even more how sinister of an operation most, if not all, prison labor camps were. For more appreciation of the injustice of the system and the inhumanity of the camps, see "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang." "Hell's Highway" is just an appetizer.
Free on Plex.
One of the best prison pictures of its period
MOscarbradley11 August 2018
This pre-code movie about life on a chain-gang is brilliant and extremely hard-hitting. The director was the underrated Rowland Brown and he certainly doesn't pull any punches in showing the horrors of prison life at the time. Richard Dix is the prisoner who leads the revolt against the treatment meted out by the authorities. If the acting in general is mostly crude it's very much in keeping with the sensational material and if this prison picture isn't as well known as, say, "The Big House", it's every bit as good even if the gay caricature, (why did there always have to be one), is somewhat offensive.
Vivid Protest Film with Documentary Qualities...and Merciless Ming!
museumofdave28 February 2017
I found this gem in the Warner Archive "Forbidden Hollywood" collection, a series of several dozen pre-code films; this one's from Volume 9, and it dazzled my eyes from start to 62-minute later finish, plunging at once into headlined stories concerning poor prison conditions, and then wasting no time depicting those conditions; as the film opens, a new prisoner whose hands are bleeding from using a pick axe and collapses from overwork, is put into "the sweatbox," a crenelated metal enclosure--to teach him a lesson.
The camera continues a barrage of brilliantly made images edited with speed and expertise, built around the main character, Richard Dix (a hugely popular star for a short period of time), in for bank robbery, and dismayed when his younger brother ends up in the same camp.
Unlike many RKO melodramas, this film has a strong documentary feeling, with some persuasive touches seldom seen in a fast-moving prison film-- during one mother's visit to the prison, the camera pauses in close-up just long enough to see a grown man feel the touch of his mother's palm. The prison supervisor is normally a unfeeling chilly individual--but in an intimate quiet scene is shown tuning up his violin and sitting down to play some music while the convicts are chained in a cage.
And for those of you who are Flash Gordon devotees, Charles "Ming The Merciless" Middleton essays the prison mystic, crucial to several plot developments, and often very funny in a space of his very own. There is much to notice in the film, such as the black prisoner's chorus with a refrain that encapsulates another plot development, and the effeminate cook treated as something other than another Hollywood stereotype. Hell's Highway is one of those gems that make digging around in the old stuff worthwhile.
The camera continues a barrage of brilliantly made images edited with speed and expertise, built around the main character, Richard Dix (a hugely popular star for a short period of time), in for bank robbery, and dismayed when his younger brother ends up in the same camp.
Unlike many RKO melodramas, this film has a strong documentary feeling, with some persuasive touches seldom seen in a fast-moving prison film-- during one mother's visit to the prison, the camera pauses in close-up just long enough to see a grown man feel the touch of his mother's palm. The prison supervisor is normally a unfeeling chilly individual--but in an intimate quiet scene is shown tuning up his violin and sitting down to play some music while the convicts are chained in a cage.
And for those of you who are Flash Gordon devotees, Charles "Ming The Merciless" Middleton essays the prison mystic, crucial to several plot developments, and often very funny in a space of his very own. There is much to notice in the film, such as the black prisoner's chorus with a refrain that encapsulates another plot development, and the effeminate cook treated as something other than another Hollywood stereotype. Hell's Highway is one of those gems that make digging around in the old stuff worthwhile.
Terrific pre-Code obscurity
ofumalow14 April 2018
One of only three films (all of them apparently very good) by Rowland Brown, who had more success as a screenwriter, this was released the same year as "I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang," and apparently its studio had to make some changes in order to avoid potential plagiarism litigation from Warner Brothers. But beyond also being set in a Southern prison work camp, it's very much its own distinctive film in story and style.
The once highly popular, now largely forgotten Richard Dix is fine as the tough veteran convict dismayed when his hero-worshipping younger brother turns up as a fellow inmate, having glamorized his older sibling's outlaw machismo and severely under-estimating the potentially fatal hardships of being sentenced to such an establishment. Eventually there's an escape attempt, but that doesn't happen until late; most of "Hell's Highway" is concerned with everyday life in the prison camp, and despite its very economical running time, does an impressive job representing the diversity of personality/racial/et al. types amongst both convicts and staff. There's room for humor as well as blunt indictment (of an abusive for-profit prison labor system that's all too relevant today).
It's one of those striking vintage movies that packs an unbelievable amount of well-thought-out ideas and drama into a compact package that seldom seems rushed or over-simplified. The only viewers who might be disappointed are those who are here for Rochelle Hudson--though second-billed, she only has one scene in a standard ingenue role, which makes sense this movie takes place in a brutal, self-contained world that has no use for women.
The once highly popular, now largely forgotten Richard Dix is fine as the tough veteran convict dismayed when his hero-worshipping younger brother turns up as a fellow inmate, having glamorized his older sibling's outlaw machismo and severely under-estimating the potentially fatal hardships of being sentenced to such an establishment. Eventually there's an escape attempt, but that doesn't happen until late; most of "Hell's Highway" is concerned with everyday life in the prison camp, and despite its very economical running time, does an impressive job representing the diversity of personality/racial/et al. types amongst both convicts and staff. There's room for humor as well as blunt indictment (of an abusive for-profit prison labor system that's all too relevant today).
It's one of those striking vintage movies that packs an unbelievable amount of well-thought-out ideas and drama into a compact package that seldom seems rushed or over-simplified. The only viewers who might be disappointed are those who are here for Rochelle Hudson--though second-billed, she only has one scene in a standard ingenue role, which makes sense this movie takes place in a brutal, self-contained world that has no use for women.
WHAT A FILM!! WHAT AN IMPACT!!! Please View..
olddiscs7 December 2003
To me this film shown on TCM @ 2 wks ago early am! (end of NOV. 03) left such an impact. on me Never Heard or seen before!! . wow..better than I AM A Fugitive From A Chain Gang!! before the code was in progress.. A prison drama depicting the harsh realities & also the racial & sexual innuendoes which awhile later would have been censored: WATCH!!! Observe the cook in the Prison..obviously gay or "Pansy" being slapped on the behind by one of the male wardens.. & later talking about a funeral which he'll never forget, where the Pansies were sooo large"!! & the immortal Louise Beavers visiting her boyfriend in same prison"rolling her eyes" & making it clear that she wishes her "Handy Man" was free.. so she could feel so much better!!!& he sees her & states he"aint well since he ain't had no 'sugar"...wow could not believe my eyes & ears !!& the relationship between the imprisoned brothers..THIS FILM SHOULD BE ON DVD/and or VHS has a lot to say about prisons of the South at that time (early 1930s) & sexual mores & racial attitudes way back then.. should not be missed !an Historic Document!!! How did we let this one pass?? & Rochelle Hudson? gorgeous & beautiful Want to see again..Thanks TCM once more
Pre-Code, Hard-Edged Realism When Movies Could Have Such A Message
LeonLouisRicci26 January 2015
The Chain Gang, Mostly in the South, was a Reality and the Depictions in this Expose and Other Movies are Accurate. It is and was a Black Mark on Society and Finally Got Abolished After Many Prisoners Died from Abuse and Public Outraged Forced Politicians to Reform the System.
The Fact that Inmates were Used as Cheap Labor for Capitalists, in this One its Building Highways, Unfortunately is Still With Us Today and Our Prison System Still Needs Some Reforms, but the Film at Hand is From 1932 when there were "Sweat Boxes" and Guards with Whips Full of Inhumane, Sadistic Tendencies.
Richard Dix Stars with a Lineup of Some Fine Character Actors Playing Interesting and Offbeat Characters, Like a Deaf and Dumb Inmate, a Flaming Homosexual that Likes "Pansies this big!", a Bible-Quoting Bigamist, a Violin Playing Guard, a Near Blind Prisoner, and More.
It's a Hard-Edged "Message Movie" with Pre-Code Sensibilities that would Vanish in a Couple of Years, but in the Pre-Code Years it was OK to be In Your Face with a Realism and Resonance that was Welcomed Before Free Speech was Locked Up Behind the Guise of "Morality" and Community "Standards".
The Fact that Inmates were Used as Cheap Labor for Capitalists, in this One its Building Highways, Unfortunately is Still With Us Today and Our Prison System Still Needs Some Reforms, but the Film at Hand is From 1932 when there were "Sweat Boxes" and Guards with Whips Full of Inhumane, Sadistic Tendencies.
Richard Dix Stars with a Lineup of Some Fine Character Actors Playing Interesting and Offbeat Characters, Like a Deaf and Dumb Inmate, a Flaming Homosexual that Likes "Pansies this big!", a Bible-Quoting Bigamist, a Violin Playing Guard, a Near Blind Prisoner, and More.
It's a Hard-Edged "Message Movie" with Pre-Code Sensibilities that would Vanish in a Couple of Years, but in the Pre-Code Years it was OK to be In Your Face with a Realism and Resonance that was Welcomed Before Free Speech was Locked Up Behind the Guise of "Morality" and Community "Standards".
A Sweat Box
whpratt125 January 2006
When viewing this film, you have to remember it was made in 1932, when Chain Gangs existed in the Southern section of our country. This is a very realistic depiction of what criminals had to face and the horrible treatment. Sing Sing is a picnic compared to what was portrayed in this film, and all the actors were great Classic performers on the Silver Sceen. Richard Dix,(Frank 'Duke' Ellis),"The Thirteenth Hour",'47, was a great star in the 1920's, 30's and 40's. Duke Ellis winds up with this chain gag and becomes the leader of the criminals. However, his son, Tom Brown,(John, Ellis),"The Choppers",'61 winds up in the same place as his father. The picture shows how the men are chained down at night and if they act up, they are put into a SWEAT BOX, which is something like what our Vetnam Vets had to endure. Great Classic film which is really hard to criticize, since it was made in 1932 !
A film that blows you away
leftistcritic24 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
After being unable to find a good copy of the 1932 film, The Crash, I decided on this film, in part because of its short length. The film is, on the surface, a criticism of the brutality of chain gangs and prison horrors. But there is much more there, in this Pre-Code classic. Not only are there Black actors signing spirituals about what has happened, but there is a presumably homosexual cook, a person who has three wives and is in prison to avoid them (the religious one), and the wife of a guard is having an affair, who is later killed for it! There are also the themes like greed and working people to death, with the prison warden (played by C. Henry Gordon) working the convicts, who have literal targets on their backs which has multiple meanings, to the breaking point while the contractor wants to finish the road and get the work done. At the same time, the fact that the legal system is unfair is also highlighted as well. Even so, the warden who mistreated the men is, at the end of the film, arrested for his misdeeds as the way the prison camp is operating, the conditions they are under is illegal.
In this film, Richard Dix plays the protagonist, Duke Ellis, a repeat offender, and has to choose between escape and helping his brother, Johnny, played by Tom Brown. The prisoners are not passive, despite what one of them wants to do, engaging in a food fight against the cook when they aren't given food and refusing to work until they are given food. Later on, they stage a mass riot, which burns the whole place down, and they escape. But Johnny still sets the guards free for whatever reason, perhaps because he is selfish, thinking of his own welfare and not that of others.
One preeminent film critic adds on his website that the film, at the end, reaffirms Duke's "prison life as a formality for now" is a different treatment than the film, I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, as it is a more conventional drama "built around honor and family." This same critic adds that this fiom artfully contrasts "the humanness of its characters with their degrading situation," with the awfulness the convicts experience "learned and taught through degradation and fear." This critic ends by saying that the film's real villain is the "way capitalists abuse labor and treat people worse than the dirt they're shoveling" and that people can endure. The arguments of this critic are undoubtedly valid and add to my review up to this point.
With this, this film definitely deserves a 10 out of 10 and, without a question, blows you away!
In this film, Richard Dix plays the protagonist, Duke Ellis, a repeat offender, and has to choose between escape and helping his brother, Johnny, played by Tom Brown. The prisoners are not passive, despite what one of them wants to do, engaging in a food fight against the cook when they aren't given food and refusing to work until they are given food. Later on, they stage a mass riot, which burns the whole place down, and they escape. But Johnny still sets the guards free for whatever reason, perhaps because he is selfish, thinking of his own welfare and not that of others.
One preeminent film critic adds on his website that the film, at the end, reaffirms Duke's "prison life as a formality for now" is a different treatment than the film, I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, as it is a more conventional drama "built around honor and family." This same critic adds that this fiom artfully contrasts "the humanness of its characters with their degrading situation," with the awfulness the convicts experience "learned and taught through degradation and fear." This critic ends by saying that the film's real villain is the "way capitalists abuse labor and treat people worse than the dirt they're shoveling" and that people can endure. The arguments of this critic are undoubtedly valid and add to my review up to this point.
With this, this film definitely deserves a 10 out of 10 and, without a question, blows you away!
Short but Entertaining Prison "Muckraker" from the 30's
Sleepy-1713 March 2000
It's hard to tell whether this was an "A" or a "B" flick, since it's got a post-Cimarron Richard Dix (presumably a big star), but dives directly into the sensationalism of its topic (chain gangs). Most of the characterizations are sharp and the Walker-Evans style photography is often brilliant. Charles Middleton (Ming the Merciless) is great as a cagey wacko/spiritualist. Unusually enlightened treatment, for the time, of racial interaction and muted homosexuality (the sissy cook is not unsympathetic). Not a great film, but quite entertaining for its 62 minutes. Makes you curious about director Roland Brown, who only made a handful of films and wrote a few more.
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