Review of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) by Dave R — 06 Mar 2011

Basically the story is about a WW1 vet that comes home and gets caught up in a robbery and gets time. he breaks out and goes straight but his past eventually catches up with him.

I suppose the film was trying to show the cruelty of chain gangs, which is fair enough, but I detected another message that I didn't like. the message being: play it safe even if it's boring. paul muni's character ends up getting into trouble because the old life he had before the war doesn't suit him anymore, which causes him to embark on a different path. and that path leads to danger. so it's a conservative message telling people to know their place and stay in it.