Prison Break

While noir fans know his name primarily because of Impact (1949) and Footsteps in the Fog (1955), director Arthur Lubin actually made a series of very good proto-noirs in the late 30’s, including The Big Guy (1939) and Big Town Czar (1939). During this early phase of his career at Universal, Lubin was known for packing huge amounts of story into 70 minutes, and nowhere is this more evident than in Prison Break, in which brawny Barton MacLane stars as an innocent man put through the ringer by incarceration and its aftereffects. The story is fairly standard prison fare except for its density: fisherman Joaquin Shannon (MacLane) takes an assault rap for his brother-in-law, is slapped with murder charges when the victim shockingly dies, and proceeds to get convicted, bullied in prison, framed, delayed for parole, swept up in a prison break, and finally released, only to face daunting unemployability, descent into criminal activity, and ultimately life as a fugitive. In 72 minutes! Yet, somehow the pacing works. Glenda Farrell plays his devoted girlfriend Jean Fenderson (“Getting a little tired of wishing, darling?”), and Ward Bond plays prison madman Big Red Kincaid, who plots to use Shannon and his elderly cellmate Cappy (Frank Darien) as human shields in his escape attempt. Considering the noir style had yet to be cemented in Hollywood, the film looks pretty spectacular, Lubin and crew using not only the geometric prison setting (careful viewers will notice the same sets — like the guard watchtower — used in Lubin’s The Big Guy the following year) but also the many scenes on foggy docks or vessels out to sea to layer on thick atmosphere.