Hell's Highway (1932 film)

Last updated

Hell's Highway
Directed by Rowland Brown
John Cromwell
Written by Samuel Ornitz and
Robert Tasker and
Rowland Brown
Produced by David O. Selznick (executive producer)
Cinematography Edward Cronjager
Edited by William Hamilton
Music by Clarence Muse
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • September 23, 1932 (1932-09-23)
Running time
62 minutes
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$125,000 [1]
Hell's Highway ad from The Film Daily, 1932 Hell's Highway - The Film Daily, Jul-Dec 1932 (page 456 crop).jpg
Hell's Highway ad from The Film Daily, 1932

Hell's Highway is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Rowland Brown.

Contents

Plot

The film centers around brutal conditions in a prison of the Southern United States. Chain gang prisoners forced to construct a "liberty highway" for their overseer chasten under his brutal stewardship. Duke Ellis is the most influential inmate among them. He soon discovers his younger brother has also been incarcerated and joined the chain gang. Soon enough Duke will mastermind a mass riot. [2]

Cast

Related Research Articles

<i>I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang</i> 1932 film

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a 1932 American pre-Code crime-drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Paul Muni as a wrongfully convicted man on a chain gang who escapes to Chicago. It was released on November 10, 1932. The film received critical acclaim and was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Muni.

<i>New Jack City</i> 1991 American action crime film directed by Mario Van Peebles

New Jack City is a 1991 American crime action film based on an original story and written by Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper, and directed by Mario Van Peebles in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Allen Payne, Chris Rock, Judd Nelson, Bill Cobbs, and Van Peebles. Its plot follows Nino Brown, a drug lord in New York City during the crack epidemic, and Scotty Appleton, an NYPD detective who vows to end Nino's rise to power by going undercover to work for Nino's gang.

<i>The Losers</i> (1970 film) 1970 film by Jack Starrett

The Losers released on video as Nam's Angels is a 1970 American biker war film directed by Jack Starrett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kent Taylor</span> American actor

Kent Taylor was an American actor of film and television. Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more prestigious studio releases, including Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), I'm No Angel (1933), Cradle Song (1933), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Payment on Demand (1951), and Track the Man Down (1955). He had the lead role in Half Past Midnight in 1948, among a few others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Kolker</span> American actor and film director (c. 1874–1947)

Joseph Henry Kolker was an American stage and film actor and director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Brown Faire</span> American actress (1904–1980)

Virginia Brown Faire was an American silent film actress, appearing in dramatic films and, later, in sound westerns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Brown (actor)</span> American actor (1913–1990)

Thomas Edward Brown was an American actor and model.

<i>Hot Rods to Hell</i> 1967 film by John Brahm

Hot Rods to Hell is a 1967 American suspense film, the last by director John Brahm. The film was based on a 1956 Saturday Evening Post story by Alex Gaby, "52 Miles to Terror", which was the working title of the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Elliott Burns</span> American chain gang escapee

Robert Elliott Burns was an American World War I veteran known for escaping from a Georgia chain gang and publishing the memoir, I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!, exposing the cruelty and injustice of the chain gang system. His memoir and story was adapted into the similarly titled 1932 Oscar-nominated film I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, which received nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor for star Paul Muni.

<i>Ripper</i> (film) 2001 film by John Eyres

Ripper is a 2001 slasher film, directed by John Eyres, and starring A. J. Cook and Bruce Payne. It was written and produced by John A. Curtis and Evan Tylor and by production companies Prophecy Entertainment and Studio Eight Productions.

<i>Haunted Gold</i> 1932 film

Haunted Gold is a 1932 American pre-Code Western film directed by Mack V. Wright and starring John Wayne. It is a remake of the 1928 film The Phantom City, starring Ken Maynard and his horse Tarzan. Filmed in 1932, two years before the implementation of Hollywood's Production Code, the film contains several racial slurs involving the black character "Clarence Brown".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bramwell Fletcher</span> English actor (1904–1988)

Bramwell Fletcher was an English stage, film, and television actor.

<i>Broadway to Cheyenne</i> 1932 film

Broadway to Cheyenne is a 1932 American pre-Code Western film directed by Harry L. Fraser. The film is also known as From Broadway to Cheyenne. The film successfully combines the Western with the gangster film and vigilante film.

Laughter in Hell is a 1933 American Pre-Code drama film directed by Edward L. Cahn and starring Pat O'Brien. The film's title was typical of the sensationalistic titles of many Pre-Code films. Adapted from the 1932 novel of the same name by Jim Tully, the film was inspired in part by I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and was part of a series of films depicting men in chain gangs following the success of that film. O'Brien plays a railroad engineer who kills his wife and her lover in a jealous rage and is sent to prison. The movie received a mixed review in The New York Times upon its release. Although long considered lost, the film was recently preserved and was screened at the American Cinematheque in Hollywood, CA in October 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Code crime films</span> Film genre popular before The Hays Code

The era of American film production from the early sound era to the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934 is denoted as Pre-Code Hollywood. The era contained violence and crime in pictures which would not be seen again until decades later. Although the Hays office had specifically recommended removing profanity, the drug trade, and prostitution from pictures, it had never officially recommended against depictions of violence in any form in the 1920s. State censor boards, however, created their own guidelines, and New York in particular developed a list of violent material which had to be removed for a picture to be shown in the state. Two main types of crime films were released during the period: the gangster picture and the prison film.

<i>Future Zone</i> 1990 American film

Future Zone is a 1990 science-fiction film written and directed by David A. Prior and starring David Carradine. It was the sequel to the 1989 film Future Force.

Rowland Brown, born Chauncey Rowland Brown in Canton, Ohio, was an American screenwriter and film director, whose career as a director ended in the early 1930s after he started many more films than he finished. He walked out of State's Attorney (1932), starring John Barrymore. He was abruptly replaced as director of The Scarlet Pimpernel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everett Brown</span> American actor (1902–53)

Everett G. Brown was an American actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Carter</span> American actress (1875–1957)

Louise Carter was an American stage and film actress. She appeared in 48 films between 1924 and 1940, mostly in maternal supporting roles. Among her roles were the mother of Paul Muni in I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), the wife of Lionel Barrymore in Broken Lullaby (1932) and the wife of W. C. Fields in You're Telling Me! (1934).

<i>Dakota Lil</i> 1950 film by Lesley Selander

Dakota Lil is a 1950 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander and written by Maurice Geraghty. The film stars George Montgomery, Rod Cameron, Marie Windsor, John Emery, Wallace Ford and Jack Lambert. The film was released on February 17, 1950, by 20th Century Fox.

References

  1. "4 for $125,000 Amend Radio's Costly 3". Variety. August 23, 1932. p. 4.
  2. "Hell's Highway". IMDb .