Riot in Cell Block 11

Director Don Siegel’s name is rarely included in the upper echelon of noir, but his credentials and output in the cycle are impressive, as evident in this brutal prison film. With no stars and not much of a script, Siegel eschews individual character development, instead energizing the film with the all-male cast’s collective anger and desperation, most pronounced in the brawny Neville Brand (in the film’s ostensible lead role) and even brawnier Leo Gordon, to produce visceral tension and a BAFTA nomination for best picture. Siegel and cinematographer Russell Harlan bring the famed, granite Folsom State Prison wildly alive through deep focus shots, asymmetrical compositions, and expressionistic shadowing that creates prison bars even where there are none. Opening with a voice-over describing a national trend of prisoner protests calling for improved living conditions, we still feel little sympathy for the inmates, many of whom have been deemed psychotic. (Side note: Actor Leo Gordon and producer Walter Wanger had recently served prison sentences.) Bodies leap in front of the camera, beds are tossed in the air, knives land in chests, a guard appears half-crucified. Riot in Cell Block 11 is not to be missed.