BrianKoller's Full Review: I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
"I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" is an action-packed, sensationalist film that succeeds in conveying a mood of urgency and desperation. While entertaining, and effective at depicting the terror of (at least some) prison work camps, the direction is too campy and excited. The film loses some of its credibility along the way.
Paul Muni is a war hero and factory laborer who quits his stable but dull job to seek construction work. Unable to get another job, he becomes a flophouse bum. He is forced into participating in a holdup (shades of Patty Hearst!). Unluckily, he is captured and sentenced to ten years in a Georgia chain gang. The inmates are given bad food, beaten cruelly, and forced to labor throughout the day without breaks.
"I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" was based on the best-selling 1932 biography by Robert E. Burns, "I am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!". The story was rushed to the screen. Director Mervyn LeRoy could crank them out in a hurry. The IMDB credits him with 22 films during the years 1930 through 1933. The most notable among these is "Little Caesar", the landmark gangster film from 1930.
"I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" drew Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor (Muni). It was one of six Best Actor nominations that Muni would receive during the 1930s. He would finally win for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), although The Life of Emile Zola (1937) was his best film. Muni would again be nominated for Best Actor for the final film of his career, The Last Angry Man (1959).
There are some spoilers in the following paragraphs. They are necessary to discuss the film further, but they also give away several important plot 'surprises'. You've been warned!
Muni manages to escape, flees to Chicago, and builds a new life for himself. However, he is blackmailed into marriage by a good-for-nothing (Glenda Farrell) who knows his secret. When he decides to dump Farrell for perfect woman Helen Vinson, Farrell informs. Rather than fighting extradition, Muni foolishly agrees to return to Georgia, and is again put to work in a miserable prison camp.
Muni's performance is hammy and excited, no doubt as prompted by the director. Muni's famous closing line, "I steal!", intended to shock the audience, is actually humorous instead. And ironic as well; after most of the film is spent emphasizing Muni's innocence, he has now become the criminal that he has always professed not to be. (61/100)
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