User Reviews

A flood has swept over a river, flooding a prison and causing all sorts of damage. When the doctor becomes ill, a prisoner (Henry Wilcoxin) who was once a doctor takes over after one of the nurses (Rochelle Hudson) assigned to help the doctor recognizes him. The prisoner doctor is used by force to help several other prisoners escape, and is later believed to be the mastermind. Only the faith of the nurse believing his innocence gives him any hope that he can be acquitted and freed.

All of this is told in a little less than an hour so we don't really get to know these characters very well or some much needed background story. The original release was 14 minutes longer than what ended up on the DVD so it is very apparent some major plot points are missing. It appears that a whole reel of what lead Wilcoxin to going to prison might have been either cut or lost. Wilcoxin, best known for Cecil B. DeMille epics such as "Cleopatra" and "The Crusades", is the hero. Hudson, once a young leading lady, is relegated to "B" status here; Bernadene Hayes is her wise-cracking sidekick, sort of a poor man's Eve Arden or Joan Blondell. Minerva Urecal (best known from her appearance in a few of Bela Lugosi's Monogram films, most notably "The Corpse Vanishes") is on hand for a bit as the third nurse. The opening stock footage of a real flood is the best part of the film, closely followed by a chase sequence at the end.

An exciting action movie with Marian Marsh (as Judy Grayson, the sexiest of the nurses), Wilcoxon as the replacement physician, and Welden as Gaffney; its topic is a jailbreak, with flood and typhoid merely stirring up the mayhem, so their role is only in setting up the jailbreak, and of course in motivating the stressed characters. While watching it, I thought this looks like a movie by Cruze, which indeed it is, and it has the prodigious craftsmanship; even if it might be abridged, I believe its present version, which I have found satisfying, providing enough of what it was intended to provide, is faithful to the longer movie's quality. What some might mean is that this cool action movie had enough plot for a TV series. As such, it's an unexpectedly modern roller-coaster. If one would wish for more, it's the way you wish for more of the best things. But Cruze's movie might be the prototype for an entire genre, the one movie to give an idea of what can be achieved. The director is one of the most unjustly underrated. He deserves another reputation, and the audiences dismiss his work because they haven't been taught otherwise.

The leading character looked best in his 2nd shape, after he's forced out of his _blasé reticence and initial gloominess, sullen and sulking demeanor, beginning with the setting free of Gaffney, at the dialed door. Once wired, he makes a good physical role.

Jackpot has a naughty joke about giving himself physical exams.

So, an awesome jailbreak movie, with a delightful cast, including the supporting roles and bit parts (like the 3rd nurse, who looks well in this part), and action trademarked by a valuable director. It's a dignified movie, with a cast of people who knew their trade.

To me, it seemed a compelling action movie, the lead has been the strongman of a few prestigious classy early epics. The cast is almost ferociously vivid and powerful, and it puts one on the tracks of many players. The previous reviewers have been endemically unfair to this movie, perhaps from being immunized like the inmates shown here. This jailbreak yarn doesn't lack most of the things asked for by the reviewers, because it wasn't even supposed to need them. You are shown distilled action, this is the genre. And as such, it works satisfyingly, like with other works of the same director it's all sensation; Hellman believed that any exposition is artificial, and unneeded.