O Sentenciado

Glenn Ford is "Convicted" in this 1950 film that also stars Broderick Crawford, Dorothy Malone, Frank Faylen, Ed Begley, Carl Benton Reid, Will Geer, and Millard Mitchell.

Ford plays Joe Hufford, a war veteran who gets into a bar fight in which a man is killed. Though the DA, Knowland (Crawford) takes pity on him and wishes he had a better attorney, Hufford is sentenced from 1-10 years. Ultimately it's decided he'll serve 5 years, and come up for parole in 3.

He's desperate to see his elderly father again, so when some of the other prisoners plan a break, Joe begs to be part of it. Just before his parole hearing, he receives a telegram that his father died. When a guard yells at him for not doing his work in the laundry room, Hufford punches him and winds up in solitary.

He misses the escape, which ends up in death for the escapees. Ponti (Faylen) is the snitch who tipped off the guards.

When Hufford is released from solitary, there's a new warden - Knowland, the sympathetic DA. He makes Hufford a trustee, chauffeuring his daughter (Malone).

When Ponti is killed, Hufford is in the warden's office, but won't reveal who did it, causing him to lose his trustee status and threatening his parole.

There's good acting throughout, and a sympathetic portrayal by Ford in this film, which moves quickly. Crawford is excellent as a tough but fair warden.

Among the prisoners, veteran actor Faylen, who did such a terrific job as Dobie Gillis' father, does a bang-up job here in a dramatic, showy role. Everyone, though, is very good.

As an actor, boyish Glenn Ford didn't have much range, but he was so likable and attractive, it never mattered. His performances are always natural and underplayed, more on the style of today's actors. However, he was much more of a presence than many working today.

Good film.

The more I see of GLENN FORD, the more I appreciate the range of his underrated talent. CONVICTED is a low-budget crime melodrama from Columbia that co-stars BRODERICK CRAWFORD with DOROTHY MALONE and ED BEGLEY in supporting roles.

Ford is a victim of circumstance, landing in prison after slugging a man at a nightclub who insults the woman he's dancing with. The man dies and Ford is sent to prison for five years.

Crawford becomes the prison's new warden and soon discovers that things aren't being run the way he approves of. It's nice to see Crawford in a sympathetic role as the warden who takes an interest in Ford's prison record and attempts to help him. He asks daughter Dorothy Malone to treat him respectfully when he assigns him to be her chauffeur.

The dialog is terse and full of wisecracks and Henry Levin's direction is taut with suspense. There's the usual prison breaks, the prison snitch (FRANK FAYLEN), and suspense building with the usual twists and turns as a prison break is imminent and the snitch is about to get his comeuppance.

Summing up: Good dialog and tense situations make this a better than average prison drama. Broderick Crawford is especially strong as the good-hearted warden and Ford is more than competent as the wrongly accused inmate.

A much underrated prison picture starring Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford, Convicted moves quickly, has some excellent dialogue, and is chock full of great character actors (Frank Faylen, Millard Mitchell, Whit Bissell). Ford doesn't belong in prison and compassionate warden Crawford seeks to help him out. Everything comes together nicely in this film, which has some fine dark-edged photography and a dingier than usual looking prison. Director Henry Levin handles his material as well as a Wellman or a Keighley would have done, and was somewhat of an enigma, capable of making both dreadful and very good films; his work here however is very sure.

Broderick Crawford, (George Knowland) plays the role of a District Attorney and has to bring to justice a man named Joe Hufford, (Glenn Ford) who was drunk and struck a man in a night club and killed him. George Knowland knew that Joe Hufford was a good man who had an excellent military service record and told Joe he should obtain a good lawyer to represent him in a court of law. However, Joe did not obtain a good lawyer and he had to serve one to ten years as a prison sentence. Years go by and eventually George Knowland becomes the Warden of the prison where Joe Hufford is serving his prison sentence. George Knowland shows some mercy to Joe along with his daughter, Kay Knowland, ( Dorothy Malone ) who starts to fall in love with Joe. There is plenty of problems in this prison and lots of surprises. Great 1950 Classic to view and enjoy.

Fresh from his Oscar in 'All the King's Men' Broderick Crawford stepped into Walter Huston's role in version Number Three of 'The Criminal Code', photographed by Burnett Guffey (who had worked with Crawford on 'All the King's Men' and later collected the second of two Oscars for his work on 'Bonnie and Clyde'). In places it recalls 'Each Dawn I Die' and the prison scenes in 'White Heat'; and even includes a scene as in the latter where the hero loses it upon receiving bad news in the slammer.

As usual for the period it's enlivened by it's supporting cast, this time including Millard Mitchell in the role played twenty years earlier by Boris Karloff, a relatively young Ed Begley, Will Geer (the latter soon blacklisted) and Whit Bissell, who since 'Brute Force' had moved to the other side of the prison bars and would do so again along with squealer Frank Faylen in 'Riot in Cell Block 11'.

The presence of a brunette Dorothy Malone as Crawford's demure young daughter makes you realise just how long ago this all was...