20,000 Years in Sing Sing

Like so many films made during Hollywood's classic era, this one was re-made just a few years later as "Castle on the Hudson" (with John Garfield). Both are quite good but I prefer this original film...slightly.

The film begins with Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) arriving at Sing Sing. He's cocky and assumes that with his connections he'll get all sorts of special privileges. The warden (Arthur Byron) puts Tommy in his place...and informs him that if he doesn't want to work or wear a prison uniform, he didn't have to...even if that meant going outside in the winter in rags! Eventually, Tommy gets with the program and develops a grudging respect for the warden...and vice-versa. So how does this new-found respect end up backfiring for both of them? Watch the picture.

The acting in this one is simply wonderful. Tracy, as usual, is great but so is the supporting cast. The script also is quite nice...and make for an enjoyable viewing experience.

Great Pre-Code prison flick from Warner Bros. stars Spencer Tracy as an arrogant hoodlum sent to prison where he learns he's not the big shot he thought he was. Gradually he's humbled by a stern but fair warden and we learn he's not such a bad guy after all underneath all that tough talk. Tracy's good in an early role. The fine cast backing him up includes Bette Davis, Louis Calhern, Lyle Talbot, and Arthur Byron. This was the only screen pairing of Tracy and Davis. Bette's likable and pretty here with one nice scene to display her melodramatic acting chops. This might be the first prison movie to use the plot device of a convict being granted 24-hour leave for but doesn't return on time for one reason or another. It would be used in other prison dramas in the years to come. I'm not certain this is the first but I think it might be. It's also notable for having many scenes filmed on location in Sing Sing. It's solid entertainment that any fan of the types of crime dramas WB was known for in the '30s will enjoy.

20,000 Years in Sing Sing is directed by Michael Curtiz and adapted to screenplay by Wilson Mizner, Brown Holmes, Courtney Terrett and Robert Lord from the book written by Warden Lewis E. Lawes. It stars Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Lyle Talbot, Arthur Byron, Grant Mitchell and Warren Hymer. Music is by Bernhard Kaun and cinematography by Barney McGill.

Cocksure hoodlum Tom Connors (Tracy) enters Sing Sing Prison and is instantly disrespectful towards those in authority. Could it be that the tough - but compassionate for reform - warden can put Connors on the right road?.

Out of Warner Brothers, this crime/prison melodrama manages to rise above its social conscience heart to become gutsy entertainment. This is due in most part to a committed turn from Tracy, the real location photography, the use of real prisoners for key prison scenes and the sense of realism brought about by the adaption from real life Sing Sing Warden Lawes' literature source. Curtiz manages to keep it from being a torrid "message" movie, even keeping a grim feel to proceedings, though his one failing is not to rein in the sometimes over the top perf from Davis as Tom's love interest moll. 7/10

A good entry in the early prison-drama cycle.Spencer Tracy is good as the cocky inmate.Arthur Byron has an unusual part as the sympathetic warden of Sing Sing.There aren't too many of them in movies.The action sequences in the movie are expertly handled by Curtiz.Bette Davis does a good job in a small part.Louis Calhern is suitably slimy.The ending is typically of the times in which it were made.

20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A tough guy (Spencer Tracy) gets 5-30 in Sing Sing but he thinks the journey will be easy due to his connections on the outside. The Warden (Arthur Byron) eventually reforms the guy but when his girlfriend (Bette Davis) gets injured, the Warden offers the man one night outside the prison if he promises to return the following day. This Michael Curtiz directed prison drama is pretty good, although it really doesn't offer us anything new or original. The story eventually falls apart in the middle section but Tracy and Davis, in their only film together, makes it worth watching.