Todeszelle 2455

I saw this for the first time recently n was pleasantly surprised. This movie is fast paced, with good amount of car chases, lottuva robberies, suspense n an amazing sub plot of that of a kidnapper/rapist.

Although a B film with B actors and production values, this film is fairly interesting. Guys on death row seem to fall into two distinct categories; those who deserve capital punishment, and those who don't. This one may have deserved life, but not the death penalty.

William Campbell does a very nice job of playing a young lifetime criminal who thinks he has all the answers. He doesn't.

He is guilty of a myriad of crimes, but most of them are armed robbery. He was an accessory to the murder of a policeman, however, and for this crime, he deserved life. The film goes into detail of how he went from reform school to an out-of-control full-time hood. What I don't get is how he was still alive after heisting money from the syndicate; nobody ever gets away with that without swimming with the fishes. Other than that obvious mistake, the film is pretty insightful. Worth viewing.

Caryl Chessman was a career criminal who was sentenced to death*. What was unusual is that he didn't kill anyone and the death penalty was given for non-lethal kidnappings. However, instead of just waiting for his execution, Chessman became a 'prison lawyer'....filing all sorts of appeals as well as penning several books. One of the books, "Cell 2455, Death Row" is the basis for this film. Oddly, however, they changed his name in the story. The film also says the usual prologue about the story not being about anyone living or dead...even though it was from his autobiography! My assumption is that since Chessman was NOT a reliable guy and the book was self-serving, they decided to add the statement just in case the 'facts' aren't true.

I was surprised by the film because it did NOT portray 'Whitman' very sympathetically. He was a career criminal with attitiude and Campbell is great as this surly and very cocky con. But it also sanitized some of his crimes...such as the sex crimes which are barely mentioned in the film. Overall, it is a very enjoyable crime film...mostly due to Campbell and his excellent narration.

*After a LONG stint on Death Row, Chessman was finally executed in 1960.

True story of Caryl Chessman, here under the name "Whit" Whittier (Whittier being Chessman's real middle name), played by William Campbell, a juvenile delinquent who got worse and worse and worse... He eventually ends up in death row, where we are introduced to him, and his life up to that point is recounted.

Campbell does a nice job here, if not a little hammy at times. (but that's just the way he is naturally, it seems) There are other familiar faces and everyone does well, but this is really Campbell's time to shine. Knowing the events were real, the movie being based on Chessman's book of the same name, it was interesting to follow, especially knowing his became his own lawyer and basically added years to his life by studying law books.

Interestingly, this movie came out while he was on death row and is based on the first of four books he'd write, so things were still very much up in the air in the end! His wiki article is worth a look if you want to know how things turned out for him. Overall, this was pretty good. Definitely engaging. Certainly not one of those movies where you kinda secretly cheer for the fictional bad guy inside (know what I mean?), though, as he was a real, really bad guy.

Fred F. Sears directed this adaptation of Death Row inmate Caryl Chessman's memoirs of being the first criminal ever to be sentenced to death without actually murdering anyone (he fell under the Little Lindbergh Law, kidnapping with bodily harm to the victim). For unexplained reasons, screenwriter Jack DeWitt has changed Chessman's name here to Whit Whittier (!), but the film pulls no punches in detailing his crimes, from boyhood to hard-bitten adult. These episodes, in and out of the slammer, are like a textbook for pulpy B-movies, yet Sears never gets glossy (this is no film-noir). Still, the hammering we get is exhausting (even at 75 minutes, the picture feels lengthy). Crime-buffs will be impressed; others not enamored of the genre might get restless. Vince Edwards has a small part as one of Whittier's later cohorts, six years before his TV fame as "Ben Casey" (and he never gets a close-up!). ** from ****