I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932)
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Warner Bros.' hard-hitting chain-gang movie was a faithful adaptation of the similarly titled autobiography of Robert Elliot Burns. Paul Muni plays World War I veteran James Allen, whose plans of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Flat broke, Allen is forced to pawn his war medals, which have become a glut on the market. When Allen is innocently involved in a restaurant holdup, the police don't buy his story that the robber (Preston S. Foster) had forced him to clean out the cash register, and Allen is sentenced to ten years on a chain gang. The brutal scenes that follow make the later chain-gang movie Cool Hand Luke (1967) look like a picnic in the country. Unable to stand any more, Allen escapes and heads to Chicago. Using an alias, he builds a new life for himself and within five years is the respected president of a bridge-building firm. His landlady (Glenda Farrell), learning about his past, forces Allen to marry her. When he falls in love with another girl (Helen Vinson) and asks for a divorce, his wife turns him over to the authorities. The real-life Robert Elliot Burns was still a fugitive when he wrote his exposé of the chain-gang system; the publication of Burns' book led to the abolishment of that system and an erasure of Burns' sentence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 92 mins
Complete Cast:
- Paul Muni - James Allen
- Helen Vinson - Helen
- Preston S. Foster - Pete
- Allen Jenkins - Barney Sykes
- Sally Blane - Alice
- James Bell - Red
- Hale Hamilton - Rev. Robert Clinton Allen
- Louise Carter - Mrs. Allen
- Everett Brown - Sebastian T. Yale
- Edward Arnold - Lawyer
- Dennis O'Keefe - Dance Extra
- Erville Alderson - Chief of Police
- Jack LaRue - Ackerman
- Harry Woods - Guard
- J. Frank Glendon - Arresting Officer
- William Pawley - Doggy
- Berton Churchill - Judge
- Irving Bacon - Barber Bill
- Frederick Burton - Georgia Prison Official
- Lee Shumway - Arresting Officer
- Walter Long - Blacksmith
- Glenda Farrell - Marie Woods
- Noel Francis - Linda
- Edward McNamara - Second Warden
- Sheila Terry - Allen's Secretary
- David Landau - Warden
- John Wray - Nordine
- Robert Warwick - Fuller
- Robert McWade - Ramsey
- William Le Maire - Texas
- Douglas Dumbrille - District Attorney
- Wallis Clark - Lawyer
- Edward J. Le Saint - Chairman, Chamber of Commerce
- Charles B. Middleton - Train Conductor
- Edward Ellis - Bomber Wells
- George Cooper - Vaudevillian
- Lew Kelly - Man
- George Pat Collins - Wilson
- Reginald Barlow - Parker
- Willard Robertson - Prison Commissioner
- Charles Sellon - Hot Dog Stand Owner
- Director(s):
- Mervyn LeRoy
- Writer(s):
- Brown Holmes, Howard J. Green, Sheridan Gibney
- Producer(s):
- Hal B. Wallis
- Closed Captioning:
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- Subtitles:
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- 1932 - I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang - Film Daily - 10 Best Films
- 1990 - I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang - Library of Congress - U.S. National Film Registry
- 1932 - I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang - National Board of Review - Best Picture
