They All Come Out

This was on TCM for the first time in years the other day, and at first I was surprised at how much it seemed like a documentary - specifically one of the "Crime Does Not Pay" shorts MGM did. Actually, it started out that way and Louis Mayer liked it so much he asked that it be expanded into a feature film. Tom Neal stars as Joe Cameron, made an unemployable vagrant by a wounded hand that made him unfit for manual labor and with him not knowing a trade, on the road he went, often picked up by the police for not having a dollar. Hungry, he orders a big meal at a diner that he knows he can't pay for and is bailed out of his troubles by gun moll Kitty Carson (Rita Johnson). This is how he winds up entangled with Reno Madigan's gang, with the job of driving for them whenever they pull jobs.

At first they live it up, but they are eventually captured. But not before Reno and Joe hide 33K in stolen loot but do not tell the others about it. The rest of the film is about how the federal prison system treats each one of the gang - even operating on Joe's hand and teaching him a trade. The lesson seems to be that the feds know who is redeemable and who isn't, and if you're not it's off to "The Rock" - Alcatraz. Before their capture, Joe and Kitty seem to have an understated romance going, and during their imprisonment they are allowed to write letters where this romance seems to blossom. But against them when they get out is their record, local papers looking for sensational stories, and then there is still Reno inside prison expecting Joe to help spring him with the 33K they hid. And Reno has friends on the outside.

I doubt that the federal prison system was ever that good, and even if it was, I doubt a prison psychiatrist could just talk a seemingly crazy man out of believing he had women in his pockets and cure him with talk alone.

imdb currently rates this as a 6/10, but knowing its roots as a short/documentary, I'd give it a 7/10. The leads give real depth to their rather rushed performances, and it is an interesting tale.

Director Jacques Tourneur's first feature is the polar opposite of edgy Prison Noirs since THEY ALL COME OUT is unapologetic propaganda of the U. S. Correctional System, even more than FBI-backed Noirs like THE STREET WITH NO NAME or G-MEN wherein hard-boiled crime fare plays out from beginning to end following a sparse introduction...

Here it's half-and-half starting with the usual Depression-era gangsters robbing banks where Rita Johnson's Kitty makes a terrific femme fatale... but with a soft side... working for no-nonsense gang boss Bernard Nedell as Reno, who leads muggy thugs and a young handsome driver that the dame actually discovered: Enter future DETOUR actor Tom Neal displaying genuine toughness... yet there's some good in him too...

And just as the rudimentary rugged crime flick picks up violent steam, the girl and men are captured and thrown into various prisons. But Tourneur keeps the stories interesting, even when the propaganda kicks into high gear...

As affable officials decide upon what's best for their inmates sans cinema-cliché sadistic wardens, bullying guards and shiv-shoving inmates, THEY ALL COME OUT maintains a pulpy page-turning cadence, keeping the viewer intrigued about how things'll turn out despite being fairly obvious.

"They All Come Out" is a most unusual film from MGM. In some ways, it's a traditional crime drama but about midway through the picture it changes to a pseudo-documentary about the prison system and how it sorts prisoners according to their willingness to be rehabilitated.

When the story begins, Joe (Tom Neal) is out of work and hungry. When he meets Kitty (Rita Johnson) he thinks his luck is improving, as she buys him some food and takes him with her on a cross-country drive. However, she works for Reno Madigan, a career criminal who runs a gang who robs banks. Soon, Joe is their driver and soon after that, the gang is captured.

The next portion of the story shows a very detailed account about how federal prisons operated back in the day. Much time in the film is spent showing how the prisoners are sorted according to their likelihood of being rehabilitated. Joe is a first-time offender, and they offer his job training and more. Reno, naturally, is NOT an ideal candidate and his behaviors soon result in his being sent to Alcatraz. But there's much more to it than this...as well as an exciting and satisfying finale.

Despite the film seeming a bit overly idealistic at times, it never is dull and first time director Jacques Tourneur did a great job with this B-movie. It also helped that despite being a B, the budget was bigger than usual and allowed for filming at various penitentiaries across the nation. Worth your time.

Apparently Louis Mayer liked the CRIME DOESN'T PAY short in progress so much that he had director Jacques Tourneur expand it into his first American feature -- he had directed a couple in France in the early 1930s. It's about how Rita Johnson picks up tramp Tom Neal and gets him a job .... as driver for the gang of bank robbers she is a member of. They are caught by the Feds and sent to prison, whereupon the story shifts to show how they fare in prison, some being rehabilitated, some sinking into permanent incarceration.

It's an early and well-directed piece by Tourneur, primary because of the clipped manner in which the dialogue is directed. It's an outgrowth of the shorts series, and Tourneur keeps the pace up, with people going about their work fast and eficiently, with some nice camerawork by Paul Vogel and Clyde de Vinna. Neal is shown being trained in a machine shop and I think that that dramatic lighting, including some shots that are illuminated largely by oxy-acetylene torch, are by de Vinna.

A quasi-documentary that starts as a crime caper and ends as a dramatized tutorial on the American penal system, this film is fairly comprehensive in explaining the options available to prisoners, depending upon their histories and attitudes. It especially emphasizes the differences between correctional or reform facilities and those dedicated to penitence or punishment.

The problem with the film is its one-sided view of things. In the real world, every guard, warden and board member is not so altruistic or benign. And politics can interfere with good intentions. Still, it paints a picture of a model prison system that is worth keeping in mind.

The film also minimizes the extent to which anti-social inmates and their social structures make meaningful reform (of individuals) extremely difficult. In today's world, this film might be considered naïve.

But the concept of justice is at the heart of the film and it rings just as true today.