Prison Break

This above average B-feature is perhaps most noteworthy for giving Barton MacLane a chance at a starring role, and as a character that he is well-suited to portray. From his first scene, MacLane's hearty style establishes the character believably and sympathetically. Along with some help from a good supporting cast, his effective portrayal helps keep things going despite some noticeably implausible plot turns here and there.

The story has MacLane as a fishing boat captain who is wrongly convicted and imprisoned, and then faced with a whole new set of problems when he is paroled. The story provides some good drama as the captain faces a wide variety of obstacles and enemies not of his own making, and as an incidental feature the movie also highlights a number of the defects and inequities of the justice system.

As MacLane's brutal antagonist, Ward Bond plays his role well. Glenda Farrell is solid as MacLane's loyal love interest, while Paul Hurst and Victor Killian make good use of their scenes.

Given the limited resources, the settings at dockside and in the prison are done believably. The story has too many obvious plot holes, and it depends too much on unlikely coincidences, but it does set up some good opportunities for the cast. Overall, it's a pretty good movie for its era and genre.

In this very watchable programmer, Barton Maclane is a tuna boat skipper. He and Glenda Farrell are due to be married. The night before a friend's marriage, her brother gets into a fistfight with Maclane and dies. Maclane is sent to prison for manslaughter. His plans to get out after a year are thwarted when tough guy Ward Bond continually riles him into a fight. When Maclane finally gets out on parole, he finds that no one wants to hire him.

Maclane plays the big, bluff, decent guy perfectly and his chemistry with Miss Farrell is fine; they had worked together in the "Torchy Blaine" series at Warners. Although this Trem Carr production for Universal shows signs of unfortunate cheapness -- mostly in the score -- the movie tells its story well and makes some good points about the failings of the parole system without going overboard in its stridency.

In one of his rare appearances as a lead, Barton MacLane gives what may be his best performance, playing the part of Joaquin Shannon, an Irish-Portuguese tuna fisherman off the Southern California coast who, due to his protection of his younger brother, is wrongfully convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison. The film has an apparent message, i.e., that a parolee has few rights as a citizen, but this takes up little filmic space while the struggle of Shannon to clear his name produces plenty of action, both in and out of the penitentiary, as he must deal with a cruel adversary, Red Kinkaid (Ward Bond) and still find time to woo his sweetheart, played by Glenda Farrell in one of her softer roles. As opposed to today, the Depression era status of released convicts, as this 1938 work demonstrates, proscribed their marrying, and this disappointment in addition to Shannon's inability to find a job propels him into situations which bring about a showdown with the dangerous Kincaid, for whom Shannon unwittingly served his time. Routinely directed by journeyman Arthur Lubin, the film benefits from effective editing by Jack Ogilvie and skillful work by cinematographer Harry Neumann, with scenes varied among commercial ocean fishing, penitentiary life, taverns,and fog-bestrewn docks preventing any slowdown during this rapidly paced movie, although both dialogue and action are marked by cliche and are somewhat predictable. MacLane's staunch performance is matched in impact by the vigorous Bond, while Farrell, although quick with a quip as ever, is rather winning in her turn as a steadfast paramour; others displaying strong interpretations are Victor Kilian as Farrell's father and Paul Hurst as a convict on the lam.

I found this movie well made considering the era it was made in, probably on a shoestring budget. It does a very good job of conveying the difficulties anyone with a criminal record or down on their luck, justly or otherwise has, in staying out of trouble.

The lead character is portrayed with credibility & it is easy to understand the complex situations he becomes involved in, encouraging empathy from unbiased viewers observing his plight. In fact, he has a greater integrity surely, than a great many who always steer the favourable side of shady deals. And amongst it all, he finds himself up against other inmates, prison officers & prospective employers, to mention just a few. He is supported & consoled only by his sympathetic romantic interest. The settings & bureaucratic nightmare he finds himself in, in & outside of prison, are sadly all too applicable to the more modern world scenarios about us, as back in the era of this movie made in the aftermath of the tough realities of the Depression years.

But this "Prison Break" succeeds in being entertaining as well as informative & insightful. It is well worth a view!

It was weird that a fairly middling crime drama from the 1930s had a reasonably high rating and more than 5000 votes on Letterboxd, but this is one of those instances where people have imported their IMDb ratings and those ratings go toward a movie, seeing as shows aren't really on Letterboxd (at least not multi-season ones).

I remember something similar happened to a super obscure 1940s movie called Mad About Men or something - it had a rating of more than 4/5 because it assimilated all the ratings people had given Mad Men the show.

Anyway, 1938's Prison Break is just fine. At least it's not long, and it doesn't overextend itself. It does kind of underextend itself (is that even a term?) but I don't know; it's almost kinda watchable. I feel a bit duper about the whole Prison Break show to movie mix-up that made me intrigued about the high rating, but it is what it is.