The granddaddy of all prison dramas, I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932) is a timeless masterpiece of filmmaking. Shot on the quick during the height of the studio system, director Mervyn LeRoy, cinematographer Sol Polito, and star Paul Muni, created a tense, grim, and riveting look at post WWI America in all its dark glory, with a realistic adaptation of Robert E. Burns' true story of his false imprisonment and his hellish years in the chain gang system of hard labor.
LeRoy, known at the time as one of the fastest shooters on the Warners lot, directs the film with an economic, efficient, but never artless, style that doesn't get in the way of the story, creating an immersive, gritty movie experience that has stood the test of time. The film's pace - with the exception of the second act, where Muni's character falls for a femme fatale - rarely lags, right up to the hard-hitting and unforgettable final scene.
Almost a hundred years on, I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang still holds up, and its influence can be seen on almost every single American prison film made since.
Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2020.
Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook here.
No comments:
Post a Comment