Canon City | |
---|---|
Directed by | Crane Wilbur |
Written by | Crane Wilbur |
Produced by | Bryan Foy Robert Kane |
Starring | |
Narrated by | Reed Hadley |
Cinematography | John Alton |
Edited by | Louis Sackin |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Bryan Foy Productions |
Distributed by | Eagle-Lion Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 82 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $424,000 [1] [2] or $387,000 [3] |
Box office | $1.2 million [1] or $2 million [3] |
Canon City is a 1948 American film noir crime film written and directed by Crane Wilbur. The drama features Scott Brady, Jeff Corey, and Whit Bissell, along with prison warden Roy Best playing himself. [4] [5] The film takes its name from Canon City, Colorado. [a]
This account of a violent prison break is a semi-documentary that opens with a newsreel-type tour of the prison. Led by Carl Schwartzmiller (Jeff Corey), 12 convicts plan their escape but prisoner Jim Sherbondy (Scott Brady) is reluctant to go along with the group.
The film is based on a prison break that occurred at the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility at Canon City, Colorado, [a] on 30 December 1947. [6] Within a week, all escapees were killed or captured.
The film was shot almost entirely on location at the site of the Canon City state penitentiary in March 1948. It was originally budgeted at $350,000. [1]
The New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther wrote, "Another convincing demonstration that crime, while it may not 'pay,' can be turned to profitable uses by the makers of action films is given by Canon City, a tough semi-documentary job about a prison break in Colorado ... Crane Wilbur has held to a realistic line for much of the prison action and in some of the outside episodes. His actors—especially Jeff Corey, who plays the leader of the 'break'—are generally tough, convincing fellows with nothing to recommend in charm. And the movement is swift and dynamic, not unlikely in such affairs." [7]
Critic Dennis Schwartz said of the film, "An unspectacular true story (it's dated) about a prison break that is told in a semi-documentary style. Its saving grace is that it is well presented ...This minor work has some resemblance to film noir through the characterization of Sherbondy as someone who is not a hardened criminal, but got into trouble both on the outside and then inside of prison because he made the wrong friends." [8]
Crossfire is a 1947 American film noir drama film starring Robert Young, Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan which deals with the theme of antisemitism, as did that year's Academy Award for Best Picture winner, Gentleman's Agreement. The film was directed by Edward Dmytryk and the screenplay was written by John Paxton, based on the 1945 novel The Brick Foxhole by screenwriter and director Richard Brooks. The film's supporting cast features Gloria Grahame and Sam Levene. The picture received five Oscar nominations, including Ryan for Best Supporting Actor and Gloria Grahame for Best Supporting Actress. It was the first B movie to receive a Best Picture nomination.
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The Phenix City Story is a 1955 American film noir crime film directed by Phil Karlson for Allied Artists, written by Daniel Mainwaring and Crane Wilbur and starring John McIntire, Richard Kiley, and Kathryn Grant. It had a triple premiere held on July 19, 1955 in Phenix City, Alabama, Columbus, Georgia, and Chicago, Illinois.
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Roy Phelix Best was an American prison warden, film actor, and political candidate for Governor of Colorado. He is known for his wardenship of the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility, an infamous prison in Cañon City, Colorado, and for playing himself in Canon City, a 1948 film noir crime film.