20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang

20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang (1933)

** (out of 4)

During the 1930s Warner was known for their hard-hitting social dramas and I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG was one of their greatest. This two-reeler is a spoof of that film and centers on a group of chain gang workers who grow tired of the horrid conditions so they decide to escape. Soon afterwards they get word that the prison has made some terrific changes so the men decided they want to break back in. 20,000 CHEERS FROM A CHAIN GANG has a pretty good title but that's about the only good thing going for it. It wasn't rare for Warner to spoof their features in their short films so this here certainly isn't anything new but at the same time very little is done with it. There are a few funny moments scattered throughout the film including one bit where the men are being chased by the dogs but the dogs turn out to be poodles and other non-threatening breeds. Another funny moment happens when the men try to break their chains but have a few issues. With that said, there are several moments that simply aren't funny and at times the film just comes across very boring and flat. This includes the entire second half of the picture where we see all the "changes" that were made but I assure you none of them will add any entertainment value.

This is a 20-minute long spoof of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), directed by Roy Mack and starring Jerry Bergen. It is now available on DVD as an extra on I Am a Fugitive.

Because this is also a Warner Brothers production, Mack actually begins with a shot, under the titles, from I Am a Fugitive--of the chain gang working along a curved dirt road on a hill. It segues right away to the main character's existence in the chain gang, and spoofs the scene of James Allen's (Paul Muni) escape. Bergen's character, also named Jerry, runs through the woods with three other men. Instead of bloodhounds, the prison guards run after them with poodles and a Lassie-like collie. Eventually, state officials are scheduled to visit the chain gang facility to make sure that everything is kosher. The warden implements "a few changes". The changes are very amusing, as they turn the prison into more of a resort/country club.

20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang is best watched immediately after I Am a Fugitive. Many of the funniest scenes work because of the changes they make to the original film. However, there is a hilarious original "soda song" (which I would suspect might have been spoofing an early theatrical commercial) that supplies our heroes with the straws they will need for hiding in the swamp, and later on, 20,000 Cheers becomes something of a vaudeville review.

At times, 20,000 Cheers plays a bit seriously--I didn't know anything about it when I first started watching it and thought it might have been just another chain gang film, and some of the musical performances are fairly serious. But the straighter moments are just as enjoyable, and they help emphasize the comedy. Quite often, the humor depends on gradually pulling serious material more and more towards absurdism.

The only downside to this short is that there's not more of it. It's good enough that a feature length spoof of I Am a Fugitive would have worked well.

This Warners short, which I presume ran on the same bill as Mervyn LeRoy's "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang," is a mostly tired and unfunny film. It reminded me of just about every "Saturday Night Live" skit ever made, in which all of the actors think the material is funnier than the people watching it, and push a one-note joke to the brink of exhaustion.

It is sort of fun to watch this after LeRoy's movie, because it spoofs specific details from the movie rather than its premise in general. Replacing the jailers' pack of bloodhounds with a bunch of fluffy white poodles was sort of funny, and I also liked the bellboy whose uniform was made of prison stripes.

There are a lot of musical numbers incorporated into the action, performed by people I'd never heard of. The whole thing feels very patchwork and grade Z, with terrible sound and only the most cursory attention given to the actual film-making.

Five prisoners escape from a chain gang work crew. The prison system is being investigated by a blue ribbon commission which orders a series of lavish changes. Upon hearing about the changes, the escapees all gather to return to the prison.

It's all a little surreal from the very start. The dogs are just comedically silly. I almost like this for its silliness. This is a strange little short. I don't know any of these performers and it's not like the performances are so great. The coke bottle picnic dance is cringe. They seem like second tier talents being given something to do. This is a bit of nothingness.

In this bizarre little variety short, four convicts on the chain gang escape and disrupt a chorus line singing about soda pop; they escape in the confusion. In the meantime, the warden, facing a blue ribbon committee, liberalizes the penal operation, allowing the prisoners to go shooting, and hiring chorines to dance at the daily steak dinners.

Since it's from Warner Brothers, we take a look at I WAS A PRISONER FROM THE CHAIN GANG, based on a real story, and realize this is an attack on the state from whom the man escaped; it was Georgia. They claimed their chain gangs were run with the utmost humanity. So this burlesques that.

Unfortunately, it's too over the top. Nowadays, we may look at it without the context of the moment. You can't really do that.