Hell's Highway

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

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.

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.

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.

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.