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Amazon.com I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is one of the toughest and most uncompromising movies to evercome out of Hollywood. Paul Muni stars as a regular Joe, just back from World War I, who is unjustly convicted of a crime and sentenced to 10 years of bruisingly unfair treatment on a chain gang. Even a successful escape can't shake the spectre of the chains, nor the amazingly fatalistic twists the screenplay has in store. This picture could only have been made at Warner Bros., where social-justice movies flourished in the 1930s and criticism of judicial systems and prisons was sanctioned. Muni's weird acting style (he was recently off Scarface) somehow fits the film's furious tone, and director Mervyn LeRoy--as in his earlier Little Caesar--was dexterous enough to build the action to an unforgettable ending. It's a film that filters the American Dream through Depression realities and noirish pessimism (with a streak of pre-Code sexual frankness--note the one-night "friend" Muni makes the night of his escape). This one holds up, folks; it's a stunner. --Robert Horton ... Read more Reviews (15) 
Effective Thirties Diatribe About Penal Abuse
"I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang" can be forgiven for lapses of melodrama and some plot contrivances because this film has a point of view and it conveys what it wants to say about abuses in the penal system very effectively.Essentially the question this film raises is if the correction system is designed to rehabilitate the offender or punish them for their alleged crimes against society.Another question this film raises is that does this very same system create criminals out of individuals who are not predisposed to crime.Interesting questions that we are still debating to this day which ultimately make this film timeless.Credit director Mervyn LeRoy and writer Robert Burns for concocting an entertainment that also provides food for thought.The film also benefits from a solid performance by Paul Muni as the returning World War I veteran who gets trapped in the hellish prison camp through unfortunate circumstance.The film pulls no punches and the depiction of the camps is harrowing.A must see.
True Story & Great Example of 1930s Social Conscience Films.
"I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" is one of the most respected Depression-era "social conscience" pictures. The story was adapted from Robert Burns' autobiography "I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang", and Burns was an advisor on the film even though he was a wanted man at the time it was made. The film was released to great popular success less than a year after Burns' book was published. The story is essentially true, although some details have been changed. The real Robert Burns was perhaps a little less a victim than his character, James Allen, in the movie, and he was a magazine editor, not an engineer. Allen is a man who is consistently wronged in spite of trying to do right, and Depression-era audiences identified with his victimhood. Robert Burns was a crusader against the inhumanities of chain gangs, on which he was twice forced to serve. Instead of confining its themes to one cause, filmmakers made "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" into a platform for a host of social issues of the time, including unemployment, veterans' rights, the penal system, and the criminal justice system. Although most of the events of the film take place in the 1920s, the economic circumstances depicted in the film have been altered to reflect the hardships of the 1930s, when the film was made.
James Allen (Paul Muni) is a World War I veteran returning home with high hopes of putting the engineering skills he learned in the Army to civilian use. He takes a factory job, but is reluctant to replace the routine of the military with that of the factory. So he travels the country in search of construction work but has trouble making ends meet. One evening, he accompanies an acquaintance to a lunch wagon for a hamburger. His friend tries to rob the proprietor, and James is sentenced to 10 years hard labor on a chain gang as his accomplice. On the chain gang. prisoners are beaten, starved, and sleep deprived, and James makes a successful escape. He ends up in Chicago, where his landlady, Marie (Glenda Farrell), blackmails him into marrying her with threats of exposure. But James works his way up from a laborer on a bridge project all the way to engineer and becomes a honored and affluent citizen of the city. When he threatens the free-spending and philandering Marie with divorce, she exposes James to the police. And things begin to repeat themselves.
The social agenda of "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" is heavy-handed, but there is no denying the film's impact on audiences in 1932. And this film isn't nearly as political as some of the New Deal movies that would follow later in the decade, as it was made during the Hoover administration. It's just a very good example of "social conscience" filmmaking of the 1930s, made all the more interesting because the story is essentially true. Paul Muni gives a sympathetic performance as a bright, hardworking man who is trying to build America into a better nation as America keeps tearing him down. I have to mention Edward Ellis, a wonderful character actor of the 1930s who is memorable here as James' friend on the chain gang, Bomber. "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" was critically acclaimed, popular, and timely in the 1930s. It's also a very good film that fans of 1930s cinema won't want to miss.
The DVD ( Warner Brothers 2005 release): This is a good print of the film, but it does not appear to be a restored print. There is an occasional white speck on the image, but picture and sound quality are basically good. Bonus features include a short film, a theatrical trailer, and an audio commentary. The short film is "20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang" (20 minutes), which is a comedic spoof of "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang". A zany group of convicts escape the chain gang only to try to return because the conditions have become luxurious in preparation for a review by the Governor's Committee. The audio commentary is by USC film professor RichardB. Jewell. Jewell talks about the actors, making the film, the film's reception, and compares the life of the real Robert Burns to his fictional counterpart in the film. This is an informative, generally well-organized commentary that I recommend if you enjoyed the film. Subtitles of the film are available in English, French, and Spanish.
Stark And Compelling View Into Our Quite Recent History,
I always find a viewing of "I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang" a soul wrenching experience and it never fails to leave me stunned and slightly uneasy that man could be so incredibly cruel to their fellow man.
The film without a doubt is one of the most significant and brutally honest depictions of life on the chain gangs of the 1920's and 1930's. I'm glad the film was made by Warner Bros in the early thirties bacause not only was the topic still fresh but Warners were expert at portraying gritty and emotional situations with all the surface verneer stripped off. Indeed "I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang" never glamourises the story of one man wrongly convited of a crime he didn't commit and who finds himself sentenced to the living hell of life in one of America's notorious chain gangs. Not only the lack of justice offered is explored but also the almost unspeakable brutality that all the prisoners are subjected to. The film never flinches from displaying the soul destroying and totally degrading de- personalisation that the men go through in the course of their backbreaking work on the mountains and highways they are clearing.
Paul Muni is nothing short of brilliant in the lead role of James Allen the man wrongly accused on a petty crime who experiences the unendurable nightmare of life on the gangs and who seeks to escape, seeing any existence as better than that he is living. Rarely has Muni been more suited to a role and his progression from naive innocent to a hardened member of the chain gang is both compelling and brilliantly portrayed. Muni had a way of actually getting under the skin of most of the characters that he played and here he expertly conveys the anguish of a man wrongly accused who seeks proper justice only to find that system betray him and sentence him to a second term on the gangs.
There are so many memorable and thought provoking moments in "I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang". Notable scenes include the muster first thing in the morning of all the prisoners, the miserable rotten food they are forced to eat, the back breaking work that they perform day in day out, the ongoing cruelty by the guards towards the men, and the scenes during Muni's illfated attempts to escape and make a new life for himself.
So many other performers also shine in this production as well. Notable among them are Glanda Farrell as Marie who plays the conniving wife of Muni who eventually betrays him to the authorities after he has built a new life for himself. Hers is a vicious and despicable performance and indeed was one of the best Farrell ever did. Allen Jenkins also shines in the role of Muni's elderly pal on the chain gang Barney, a character that has seen it all and has basically resigned himself to a life time of suffering. His performance is tragic yet brutally honest at the same time and his eventual death is a heart wrenching experience to witness on screen.
As stated previously the movie has a harsh and gritty look and feel to it. Any sentiment is stripped to the bone and the production benefits greatly from the terrific on location photography that was employed, in particular in the scenes of the chain gangs working on the highways and on sides of mountains. It gives the film a dull and honest feel, as though we were almost there with the men. Theawe inspiring scope of the story really fills the viewer with a feeling of the awesome sense of hopelessness that these unfortunate men must have experienced.
I often wonder if such a confronting film as this released at the time it was did any good in getting the running of these gangs reviewed. One would certainly hope so as it shows quite clearly that it only brulaised men and didn't help to reform them and send them back to society as useful citizens.
I cannot recommend "I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang" highly enough. It is a splendid motion picture that really makes you think and stuns with its superb central performance by Paul Muni. It is one of the very best social justice films of the 1930's or of any decade for that matter.For Paul Muni's work alone in this film, of which he is the heart and soul, it is worth having in your film collection and it deserves multiple viewings.
The Cruel Hand of Fate
You will never see a more powerful film in American cinema than "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang." Nor will you find a more effective performance than Paul Muni's as James Allen. Mervin Leroy was given a chance to direct by WB Vitaphone and proved himself more than capable. This film is as fresh and powerful today as it was in 1932, thanks in part to the pre-Hay's office frankness of its subject matter. It is a film about the role destiny and fate play in our lives. You will never look at the life you have in the same way after seeing this film.
James Allen, returns from WWI a changed man. Working as an engineer in the military has given him dreams for something more than his brother expects from him. Only his mother understands and gives him her blessing to go out into the world and find himself. So he sets off to work in construction to build, traveling all across the country from job to job.
Times are lean in the depression and when Preston Foster offers to mooch a hamburger for him he can not refuse. But Foster pulls a gun and forces Allen to help him rob the diner. He is killed during the robbery by the police and Allen is unjustly sentenced to 10 years in the chain gangs of the deep south. The brutality and demoralization of the human spirit is more than he can bear and with a little help from his friend (nicely played by Edward Ellis) he plans a successful escape. He manages to avoid the police and changes his name to Allen James.
In her brief screen time, Noel Francis as Linda, a speakeasy girl, gives a touching performance, offering a little humanity and love back to James. He seems to have a fresh start and slowly works his way up in consruction to become a prominent and respected member of the community, helping Chicago become a great city.
But fate forms a dark cloud once more in the form of Marie (Glenda Farrel), a self absorbed girl who blackmails him into marriage when she accidently learns his secret. Her hard drinking and free spending lifestyle and her free loving ways are only made bearable when he meets the wonderful Helen, played nicely by the lovely Helen Vinson. In Helen, he finds the love that has been missing in his life and asks for a divorce so they can be together. He calls Marie's bluff only to find it was not a bluff.
His prominence in the community keeps him from jail for a time and he lashes out publicly against the brutality of the chain gangs of the deep south. This film changed public opinion about the chain gangs and was the impetus for its demise in the deep south.
James finally strikes a deal where he will return for 90 days and then receive a pardon. He accepts so he and Helen can live free from the cloud that has been hanging over him. But the state reneges on its deal and offers one year as a model prisoner before his release.
He has no choice but to accept and it is a quietly powerful scene when that deal also is taken away after the year is up and it breaks Allen's spirit. He plans another escape from the chain gang and is once more successful, but his friend is killed this time. Allen's last stint in the chain gang has changed him, however, and he must now live a life on the run, barren of love and devoid of humanity.
Robert E. Burns wrote this powerful story and Paul Muni gives an unforgettable performance. The final scene is as powerful as any you will ever see, as he hunts down his beloved Helen just to see her one last time and say goodbye. Her desperate words as they embrace embody this entire film: "It was all going to be so different." As Allen backs away into the darkness and she asks him how he survives, you will never forget Muni's heartbreaking response.
Don't be turned off by this film, thinking it is just a prison movie from the past. It is about fate and destiny, and our own humanity. You will not see anything else like it in American cinema. A Must Own.
Tough Social Drama
Paul Muni is terrific in this story of a returned WWI soldier unable to find the kind of work he wants to do.When he is accidentally mixed up in a hold-up, he ends up being sentenced to ten years in a brutal chain gang.He escapes and starts a new life for himself, but can the hunted man ever really escape his past?There are a number of reasons for recommending this fine film.Muni, not always the most subtle of actors, really delivers with this performance.His wordless response to finding out he will not be pardoned is unforgettable.The story and dialogue are presented in a very frank way, not attempting to gloss over anything.The scenes in the chain gang and prison camp are riveting and disturbing.This is not a feel-good movie, but a tough social drama and character study that will involve you every step of the way.Muni is an Everyman, trapped by circumstance and driven by necessity, and his struggle is not one you will soon forget.
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