Review of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) by Matt H — 18 Jul 2013

It's a returning war vet story and a prison/chain gang story. One of my favorites, Paul Muni, is James Allen. When he arrives home from WWI he doesn't want to be pressured into the same humdrum life he led before being in the military.

The army changes a man. He travels from Boston to New Orleans to Michigan to St. Louis looking for construction jobs. He goes to get a burger with a guy he meets at a homeless shelter and is convicted of being an accomplice in the robbery of the diner.

It's a hard adjustment to make being shackled to a chain gang and having to ask permission to even wide the sweat from his own face. He witnesses the brutal treatment by the guards. He makes a couple friends like Bomber (Ellis).

James Allen can't yield to this life of being treated like a slave or like an animal and he is quite intelligent, so he makes plans to escape. Somehow even with reading the synopsis beforehand, I didn't expect that Allen would live six successful years doing what he wanted to do in Chicago.

He goes by the name Allen James. A man with two first names can do that. The state of Missouri, the governor, and the prison board are intent on revenge for the embarrassment of having a prisoner escape successfully.

Allen has a lawyer, who plays by the book, and his brother, who's a minister tries to help out, but the state is not playing fair. He finds himself back on the chain gang. The camera work and production work are done well.

All the characters come alive with a naturalistic script based on Robert E. Burns true life story.