L'ora tragica

THE LAST MILE (World Wide, 1932), directed by Sam Bischoff, is not exactly a racing story of cars or horses going through their last lap towards the finish line, but in convicts terms, a prison movie about execution. Taken from a stage play by John Wexley that reportedly starred Spencer Tracy (New York) and Clark Gable (West Coast), it might have been interesting watching either any of these two fine actors reprise his original roles of "Killer" Mears: Tracy for Fox Studios or Gable at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Instead, the Mears role went to the second billed Preston Foster, who did a fine job as Mears. The central character, however, is played by the top-billed Howard Phillips, a name not known but so happens to be one of the actors from the stage production in this screen adaptation whose movie career was relatively brief and totally forgotten.

Following an introductory message about "prison and of the condemned, and what society is going to do about it" by Lewis E. Lawes, warden of Sing-Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, the story opens in a courtroom where Richard Walters (Howard Phillips) is sentenced by the judge for murder in the first degree, and to be executed for his crime on September 13th. Richard's mother (Louise Carter) immediately screeches and cries upon sentence as she witnesses her boy taken away by the guards. No longer a name but now simply an identification number, Richard is placed in a cell on death row surrounded by other condemned prisoners, including John "Killer" Mears (Preston Foster), the toughest of the bunch. As he witnesses Joe Berg (George E. Stone) of Cell 1 being escorted his last mile through the little green door to the electric chair, Richard faints dead away. A flashback foretells to what led to his prison sentence. (Richard's business partner, Max Kuger (Max Wagner) borrows a large sum of money from their bank account, followed by a gas station robbery where Kuger is shot and killed by police while Richard, caught with a gun in his hand, arrested for a crime for which he is innocent). During the course of time, a prison break arises, and Killer Mears threatening to kill every one of his hostages, ranging from prison guards (one being brother-in-law to the warden) to a prison priest unless the warden, Frank Lewis (Frank Sheridan) doesn't meet with his demands for freedom.  

With 1932 seemingly being the year of prison or chain gang themes, bearing such titles as HELL'S HIGHWAY (RKO Radio, with Richard Dix) and the classic I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG (Warner Brothers, starring Paul Muni), where Louise Carter plays the mother in each of these aforementioned movie titles, it's interesting how THE LAST MILE wasn't part of the Warner Brothers list of social issues, considering how that studio specialized on this sort of material, or even MGM, where THE BIG HOUSE (1930) featuring Wallace Beery, having started the whole cycle about men behind bars for that time, in spite the fact that Samuel Goldwyn's CONDEMNED (1929) starring Ronald Colman arrived a year earlier. Fox films did one amusing parody of UP THE RIVER (1930) with Spencer Tracy, while Hal Roach got Laurel and Hardy to spoof it in PARDON US (1931). Yet THE LAST MILE, produced by a non-major movie studio, holds up, even where portions seem to be like a reproduced stage play. The story does contain some outdoor activities, but the death row scenes with prisoners holding on to the metal bars in upward positions to be what's shown the most, giving indication to how the play was performed and presented on stage. Other actors in the cast include: Daniel L. Haynes (Sonny Jackson, Cell # 2); Edward Van Sloan (The Rabbi); Alec B. Francis (Father O'Connor); Noel Madison (D'Amoro, Cell # 6); Alan Roscoe (Kirby, Cell # 7), Al Hill (Werner, Cell # 8); among others. Of the major actors, Preston Foster gathers the most attention over Howard Phillips while George E. Stone being a close second through his small but very effective performance.

THE LAST MILE was successful enough to spawn a 1959 remake for United Artists starring Mickey Rooney in one of his finer roles during his latter-day career. The 1932 original, almost forgotten until its resurrection in the 1980s with 1940s reissue opening title from Astor Pictures being the print in current circulation as part of a 45 minute featurette on public television's "Matinee at the Bijou" in 1982. Availability has been followed onto video cassette distribution and later DVD process, along with complete 68 minute late night broadcasts on various public television stations until the 1990s. Cable television has been rare, though notably shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: October 5, 2016) where the Astor Print reissue print rather was shown than the 1932 World Wide original opening instead. Regardless of its age, its a gripping screen adaptation about convicts on death row awaiting their last mile to eternal freedom. (*** pardons)

Relentlessly Grim Prison-Pic from a Play by John Wexley who also Wrote the Script. It's of the "Reform" Type with its Critical Eye on "Death Row" and Specifically the "Death Penalty".

The First Half is the most Dated and Tough to get Through Today with its Heavy Melodramatics, Over Acting, and Exaggerated Mental Anguish Displays. There's some Bite to the Dialog but the Performances Suffer from Stagy Emoting and Projection.

But the Second-Half Kicks in and the Movie becomes Engaging, Suspenseful, Violent, and even more Poignant. Some of the Imagery, while Confined by a Low-Budget and its Stage Play Roots, still manages to be very Atmospheric and Gloomy.

It's an Artifact of its Era for sure, but that makes it Relevant as a Time Capsule of both Cinema and Social Concerns. It can be Powerful at times and is Definitely Worth a Watch.

Even though this was made early on and attempts to be an indictment of capital punishment, it is not very effective. To start with, each of the death row inmates is sympathetic. Now, that's OK for a time, but if we never get to know much about them and their psyches, it just doesn't work. Of course, we have our hero who is unjustly convicted and within minutes of his execution when a jailbreak begins. The whole thing is talky until the explosion. There are some really brutal, merciless killings when the prisoners are in control. It just shows we all want to live. The guards are really the bad guys here because they lord it over the poor inmates. Their crimes really aren't revealed. They are a contrast to Tom Hanks in "The Green Mile" where one can be a horror on earth, but, after all, you are facing the final curtain. Anyway, this just doesn't work. It's stagy and simplistic.

The first half of the film is slow, talky, and one-act-play-ish. The only good part-- and pretty much the film's only real attempt to build character --is Daniel L. Haynes' fine performance as Number Two. He also has the best line, where with a smiling but sardonic edge, he doubts he'll meet his death-house fellows on the other side, because white people probably won't let a black man share Hell with them.

The movie finally picks up at the midpoint as it suddenly becomes more of a thriller, and the tension ratchets up and up for the remainder of the film's brief runtime. So don't let the Generic Serious Depression-Era Play feel of the first half put you off, because it transforms into a much more rewarding experience.

Prison films have been a staple of film since the early years. "Up the River" (1930) with Hmphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy and "Manslaughter" (1930) with Frederich March and Claudette Colbert were some early ones. "The Big House" (1930) was the first of the prison films to capture an audience, and as such, it is the archetype for almost every prison movie to follow, apart from the "chain gang" films that have their origins in Paul Muni's excellent 1932 "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang." The Big House was so popular that Laurel and Hardy produced a spoof called "Pardon Us" in 1931. It was their first feature film. That same year "The Criminal Code" (1931) with Walter Huston and Boris Karloff came out.

Interest in prison spawned the Broadway play "The Last Mile" from which this film came. The play launched the careers of Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable. The same year this film came out we also had "20,000 years in Sing Sing" (1932)

Other prisons films from the 1930s include "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" (1932), "The Mayor of Hell" (1933), "Prisoner of Shark Island" (1936), "San Quentin" (1937), "Devil's Island" (1939) and " Each Dawn I Die" (1939).

Among all the films of this genre, "The Last Mile" has the least production values, probably due to its origins as a play. It also has the least star power, with Preston Foster (1900-70) playing the lead role as the psychopathic killed. This was Foster's first big break and only his fifth film. I remember him best from the TV series "Waterfront" (1954-5) and "Northwest Mounted Police" (1940).

Also present is Paul Fix (1901-83) who is best remembered as the Marshall from "The Rifleman" (1958-63) and who was one of the busiest actors on TV.

The director is Sam Bischoff (1890-1975) who got his start working in the "Poverty Row" studios. He moved to Warners where he specialized in crime films ("The Roaring Twenties", "The Phenix City Story", "Angels with Dirty Faces").

The film is preachy and heavy handed. It reflects some negative attitudes about capital punishment, caused by an increase in capital punishment beginning in the 1920s where criminality was considered genetic and the eugenics movement was strong. In the 1930s capital punishment reached its peak, averaging 167 per year, and the methods included electricity and gas.

It's hard to recommend the film. "The Big House" is far superior.