Cellule 2455, couloir de la mort

Fred F. Sears directed this adaptation of Death Row inmate Caryl Chessman's memoirs of being the first criminal ever to be sentenced to death without actually murdering anyone (he fell under the Little Lindbergh Law, kidnapping with bodily harm to the victim). For unexplained reasons, screenwriter Jack DeWitt has changed Chessman's name here to Whit Whittier (!), but the film pulls no punches in detailing his crimes, from boyhood to hard-bitten adult. These episodes, in and out of the slammer, are like a textbook for pulpy B-movies, yet Sears never gets glossy (this is no film-noir). Still, the hammering we get is exhausting (even at 75 minutes, the picture feels lengthy). Crime-buffs will be impressed; others not enamored of the genre might get restless. Vince Edwards has a small part as one of Whittier's later cohorts, six years before his TV fame as "Ben Casey" (and he never gets a close-up!). ** from ****

Although a B film with B actors and production values, this film is fairly interesting. Guys on death row seem to fall into two distinct categories; those who deserve capital punishment, and those who don't. This one may have deserved life, but not the death penalty.

William Campbell does a very nice job of playing a young lifetime criminal who thinks he has all the answers. He doesn't.

He is guilty of a myriad of crimes, but most of them are armed robbery. He was an accessory to the murder of a policeman, however, and for this crime, he deserved life. The film goes into detail of how he went from reform school to an out-of-control full-time hood. What I don't get is how he was still alive after heisting money from the syndicate; nobody ever gets away with that without swimming with the fishes. Other than that obvious mistake, the film is pretty insightful. Worth viewing.

True story of Caryl Chessman, here under the name "Whit" Whittier (Whittier being Chessman's real middle name), played by William Campbell, a juvenile delinquent who got worse and worse and worse... He eventually ends up in death row, where we are introduced to him, and his life up to that point is recounted.

Campbell does a nice job here, if not a little hammy at times. (but that's just the way he is naturally, it seems) There are other familiar faces and everyone does well, but this is really Campbell's time to shine. Knowing the events were real, the movie being based on Chessman's book of the same name, it was interesting to follow, especially knowing his became his own lawyer and basically added years to his life by studying law books.

Interestingly, this movie came out while he was on death row and is based on the first of four books he'd write, so things were still very much up in the air in the end! His wiki article is worth a look if you want to know how things turned out for him. Overall, this was pretty good. Definitely engaging. Certainly not one of those movies where you kinda secretly cheer for the fictional bad guy inside (know what I mean?), though, as he was a real, really bad guy.

This film is a about a guy named Whit Whittier, (William Campbell) who is really playing the role of Caryl Chessman who wrote this book and is a person who has a long wrap sheet full of crime and eventually winds up on Death Row in San Quentin Prison, California. Whit grew up in a nice family in California and had a good home and a great mom and dad who loved him very much. However, Whit had his own ideas and decided to steal and got caught in almost everything he did and spent a great deal of time behind bars. As soon as Whit was released from prison he would join up with another bunch of crooks and face another jail sentence. He had a blonde sweetheart named Doll, (Marion Carr) who loved him and was faithful to him whenever he needed her help and love. There was a crime being committed by a man who was called the Lovers Lane Vandit who would creep up and attack young women who were with their boyfriends on a date and rape them. After awhile people began to suspect Whit Whittier as the man committing these crimes and he was then arrested and sent to prison. This is a true to life story about a man called Caryl Chessman who was killed on death row in 1960.

Brutal, fast moving crime thriller from deeply underrated director Fred F. Sears, who cranked out numerous westerns, crime thrillers, science fiction, comedy, horror, and musical features for producer Sam Katzman in the 1950s. This film isn't available on DVD or VHS, and more's the pity; it's easily better than most of the Don Siegel, Andre de Toth, or Budd Boetticher crime films of that era. Why Sears has never gotten the respect he deserves is easy to understand; he also directed junk, like THE GIANT CLAW. But his best known films, including ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK and EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS with superb effects by Ray Harryhausen are remarkable accomplishments, and Sears is long overdue for a career retro.