Sunday, August 11, 2019

Movie review - "Prison Break" (1938) ***

Not a Warner Bros movie but it feels like one with some Warners stars - Barton MacLane and Glenda Farrell. Farrell's role is relatively small but there's a lot of MacLane - he's a fisherman who is unjustly convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to prison where  he clashes with Ward Bond. He tries to escape but decides against it, is paroled out, finds life tough on the outside, helps a prisoner escape - Bond.

Lots of story shoved into a 72 minute running time and briskly handed. MacLane has a tortured face and his masculinity is used well - he and Farrell seem like a real couple. I liked how his name was Joaquin and that she was a single mother with a kid. Bond was a strong villain.

Storywise the film seemed to miss a beat with the fate of Farrell's brother. But it's toough and no nonsense and goes along.

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