The Convict (film, 1950)

26-year-old war hero, and now an employee of the brokerage firm Joe Hufford ( Glenn Ford ) in a nightclub meets a girl named Bertie ( Martha Stewart ). When a former boyfriend begins to pester a girl during dancing, Joe intervenes for her and hits a guy who falls, hits his head hard on the floor and faints. The next morning, the guy dies, after which it turns out that he is the son of an influential politician. The case is being submitted to the district attorney, George Knowland ( Broderick Crawford ), who believes the killing was an accident. He advises Joe to hire a competent criminal lawyer, but Joe replies that he is quite happy with the specialist who was given to him by his company, corporate lawyer Vernon Bradley ( Roland Winters ). Knowland invites Bradley to him, trying to convey to him the specifics of the criminal court, as he fears that with inept defense his client might get a serious term. He recommends persuading Joe to plead guilty to manslaughter, and in this case to receive a minimum term. However, the self-confident Bradley ignores the recommendations of Knowland, and because of illiterate defense, he loses the case in court. Joe gets from one to ten years in prison.

Joe finds himself in the same cell with two experienced criminals - Curly ( John Butler ), who is serving a life sentence for killing his wife, and Maloby ( Millard Mitchell ), who arrived with Joe. At one time, Maloby was convicted of escaping, and upon arrival in prison he immediately thinks about a new escape. Maloby has a hostile relationship with the prison’s chief warden, Captain Douglas ( Carl Benton Reed ). It was Douglas who reported to Malloby when he, being in udo , went to drink beer with a former prisoner friend, as a result of which he was again sent to prison for twelve years. There are good, trusting relationships between prisoners in the cell. After six months of imprisonment, Joe's case is referred to the pardon council, which should establish the exact term of his detention. Since Joe managed to prove himself on the positive side, he expects a minimum term, which in his case is one year, but the council, bearing in mind that the son of an influential politician became his victim, sets Joe a prison term of five years. After three years in prison, the exhausted Joe, who wants to help his sick father, decides to join Maloby and the other prisoners who are preparing to escape. Malloby warns Joe that one of the prisoners, Ponti ( Frank Feilen ), is the informer who issued the prisoners during a previous escape attempt. Shortly before the escape, Joe receives a telegram informing about the death of his father. For a while, Joe falls into prostration, and when one of the guards rudely pushes him, he does not stand it and with all his might beat him in response. Joe is placed in a punishment cell , and he is unable to take part in the escape. As suggested by Maloby, Ponti gave the jailers fugitives, and they quickly either capture or kill everyone. Soon, the new chief of the prison is Nouland, who arrives at the duty station with his young, beautiful daughter Kay ( Dorothy Malone ) and elderly relative Marta Lorry ( Ilka Grüning ). Douglas represents Knowland to his servant, including Malloby, who works as a butler, and Curly, who will be his cook. Upon learning that Joe is being held in jail, Knowland decides to help a guy who, in his opinion, has received an excessively severe punishment, and takes him as a personal chauffeur for himself and his daughter. He also asks Kay to show more warmth to Joe, hoping that a human attitude towards him will make it easier for a guy to return to life in society. Soon, a great friendship was established between Kay and Joe.

Fearing reprisals from the prisoners for denouncing the escape, Ponti begs Knowland to release him by udo, as Captain Douglas promised him, but the head of the prison only promises to transfer him to another prison, providing him with temporary housing and work in his apartments. Meanwhile, Maloby, along with several other prisoners, is preparing a plan to kill Ponti, but does not want to involve Joe, who is only a few weeks away from the udo. According to the plan, the prisoners make a noise in the yard, diverting the attention of the management and security. At that moment, Maloby, who enters all the rooms in Nowland’s apartment, penetrates Ponti’s room and kills him with a knife. From the room, he passes through the office of Noulend, where he meets Joe, who happened to be there. Maloby persuades Joe to leave immediately so as not to fall under suspicion, but Joe hesitates for a while, and Maloby hides behind the door alone. At this point, Nowland and Douglas return to the office, accompanied by several subordinates, effectively forcing Joe at the crime scene. Knowland does not believe that the murder was committed by Joe, and, left alone with him, demands to give the name of the killer, whom Joe, based on the situation, could not see. However, Joe, following the criminal code of silence, does not agree to extradite Maloby. Joe does not even have the argument that if he is silent, he will be found guilty and then he can receive a life sentence or even the death penalty. If he says everything, then in a few weeks he will be released. In response to this, Joe states that the prisoners are the only people who respect him, and he will not be able to fail their trust. Knowland understands Joe's logic, but according to the rules, he is forced to send him to solitary confinement as a suspect in a serious crime.

Malloby discovers that the cook-prisoner has transported Joe's knife to kill Douglas, but he does not want Joe to suffer by doing what Maloby intends to do for himself. In the kitchen, Maloby pulls a gun through one of the prisoners, and then provokes a fight with the overseer to end up in the punishment cell. When Douglas and the guards take him to the punishment cell, he takes out a gun and shoots the captain, but doesn’t get there. A skirmish begins with the overseers, which is stopped by the appeared Nowland. Malloby agrees to surrender and throws the gun away. When Douglas walks up to Malloby, believing that he is unarmed, Maloby grabs the knife that Joe has transferred and thrusts it into the captain, who falls dead. The guards open fire on machine guns at Malloby, mortally wounding him. Before his death, Maloby manages to admit that he killed Ponti. With Joe, suspicions of murder are removed, and he expects an early release by udo. Joe asks Knowland for permission to continue dating Kay when he is free, and receives consent.

According to movie historian Nathaniel Thompson, "the greatest commercial appeal to the film was given to the opportunity to see the first collaboration of two actors - Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford , each of whom had already achieved major commercial success by that time." And, according to Thompson, “they shot so well that they soon reunited again in Fritz Lang’s noir“ Human Desire ”(1954) and in the unusual western“ The Fastest Weapon in the World “(1956)” ^[1] .

Thompson notes that after the Second World War, Ford established himself as a “strong lead actor, rising high after two hits in 1946” - “ Guild ” and “ Stolen Life ” ^[1] . In the 1950s, Ford played major roles in such significant films as the film Noir “The Great Heat ” (1953), the school drama “ School Jungle ” (1955) and the Western “ At 3:10 on Yuma ” (1957) ^[2] . As Thompson further writes, in his later works “Ford became an archetypal“ American dad ”in many popular westerns, thrillers, dramas, remaining busy with work in films and on television until the 1990s” ^[1] .

Crawford, according to Thompson, "has developed an image of a person more grated by life, who does not talk in vain, but is capable of a swift verbal skirmish in a workshop." Thanks to the tremendous theatrical success in the 1937 performance “On Mice and People,” Crawford was able to quickly begin a film career that peaked with Oscar as the best leading actor in the film “ The entire Royal Army ” (1949). In 1950, Crawford met “the expectations of the public with his fun, noisy play in the satirical comedy“ Born Yesterday ”(1950), and over the next four decades he further strengthened his professional position thanks to roles in numerous films, television and radio programs” ^[1] .

As Thompson notes, “many of the most spectacular moments in the film were received by the rising star Dorothy Malone , who was just beginning to establish herself as the performer of the main female roles. However, in the end she will achieve mass recognition and the Oscar for her supporting role in the immortal soap masterpiece of Douglas Serk 's Words Written in the Wind (1956). ” In 1958, Malone again teamed up with Sirk to create yet another “quality sentimental opus,” The Tainted Angels . However, according to Thompson, “after her memorable roles in the classic thrash melodrama“ Too Much, Too Fast ”(1958) and the film“ The Last Journey ”(1960), which went unnoticed, her career ran out.” In the 1960s, during the filming of the many-year-old soap opera Peyton Place , Malone became seriously ill. After her recovery, "a trial with the producers and the studio followed, which further undermined the opportunity for the actress to take part in major projects." In the future, she occasionally appeared as a guest star on television and in such eccentric films as “The Day When Time Ended ” (1980) and “ Being ” (1983). Malone played her last film role in the thriller Basic Instinct (1992) ^[1]

The cameraman of the film Burnett Guffy was, according to Thompson, "the maestro of monochrome images, who masterfully shot the thriller" My Name is Julia Ross "(1945)." Soon followed by such recognized films as “ The entire royal army ” (1949), “ In a secluded place ” (1950), as well as “delightful late noir“ Scandalous Chronicle “(1952),“ Sniper “(1952),“ Strange “( 1957) and Screaming Woman (1958). ” Guffy remained in demand until his retirement in 1971, eventually winning two Oscars for such different projects as Now and Forever and Ever (1953) and Bonnie and Clyde (1967). In addition, he made the films “ The Harder the Fall ” (1956) and “ The Bird Lover from Alcatraz ” (1962), for which he received nominations for an Oscar, the underestimated “ How to succeed in business without really trying ” (1967) , and even two 1961 films for the cult horror director William Castle - “The Murderous ” and “ Mr. Sardonicus ” ^[1] .

The third in this film, who participated in the creation of the film "The entire royal army", was a promising composer George Dunning . According to Thompson, “his work then made an impression, and soon the leadership of Columbia raised it to a higher level, instructing him to write music for the films“ From Now and Forever “and“ The Scandalous Chronicle “, which created him a reputation that provided him with musical orders from large studios until the 1980s ” ^[1] .

The working title of the film is “ One Way Out ” ^[3] .

The film is based on the popular play “The Criminal Code” (1929), written by Martin Flavin, Pulitzer Prize winner ^{[1] [3] [4]} .

In addition to this picture, Flavin’s play formed the basis for two more films by Columbia , which were released in the 1930s. In 1931, Howard Hawks directed the film “The Criminal Code ” starring Walter Houston , and in 1938 the lesser-known film directed by John Brahm “ Prison ” (1938) ^{[1] [3] was released} . In addition, in 1932, alternative Spanish and French versions of the film were released under the names Criminal ( French Criminel ) and Criminal Code ( Spanish El codigo penal ) ^[1] .

Overall rating of the film

After the film was released, the reviewer of the Variety magazine gave him a positive assessment, noting that "the film is not as gloomy as you might think from the name." According to the reviewer, the film “contains several non-standard plot twists, which makes it look extraordinary”. And although "the plot is essentially a male soap opera, the script fills it with grace and good cues" ^[5] .

Modern film expert Spencer Selby noted that this is “one of the few noirs that are remakes of criminal paintings of the 1930s” ^[6] , and Michael Keeney rated it as “prison prison noir is above average” ^[7] .

According to Karl Machek, “prison paintings rarely become noir. The inherent claustrophobic atmosphere provides fewer opportunities for expressing feelings of hopelessness and alienation that give film noir their gloomy and cynical approach. ” And besides, prison films often “have a slight expectation of atonement”. In the same picture, according to Macchek, “there is nothing original. The themes he chews and the hero’s obvious correction contradict the very essence of noir. ” At the same time, according to the film expert, “the noir properties of the film are manifested mainly due to Glenn Ford . His participation in many Noir films of the Columbia Pictures studio during this period (among them “ Substitute ”, “ Detective ” and the magnificent “ Guild ”) formed a screen image that, by its presence, indicated a close connection with the world of noir ” ^[8] . The plot supports the current image of the actor, "imbibing the film with a noir feeling that would not be achievable if it were not for Ford" ^[9] .

As Thompson wrote, this one, “one of the few films that gives a positive image of the prison warden, came out during the wave of prison films that followed the classic film Brute Force (1947).” The plot of the picture is based on a moral problem for the character of Ford, which "essentially boils down to whether he must obey the" prison code of silence ", which requires that he never report to another prisoner, even if he himself will be punished." As Thompson notes, "previous film versions were almost entirely devoted to addressing this moral issue, fitting into the scheme of crime films with James Cagney , which were released before the entry into force of the Production Code ." The same film “demonstrates the influence of the film noir with its dank and gloomy visuals brought by director Henry Levine and inventive cameraman Burnett Guffy ” ^[1] .

Dennis Schwartz also believes that "this is one of those rare prison paintings that can be interpreted as a film noir." According to the film expert, the film "offers a gloomy and cynical story about how the wheels of justice sometimes fail." He writes that "although this topic is far from original, the strength of the film lies in the belief that there are innocent people who, for various reasons, end up in jail." And in this capacity, this "sad story of the protagonist breaches the infallibility of the American legal system." As Schwartz further notes, “despite the overloaded and far-fetched plot, the film skillfully conveys its position that prison life can hardly be called human, and imprisonment is not always the best punishment for a crime.” In conclusion, Schwartz writes that, apparently, "feeling that the unfortunate Joe had too much doom and gloom, the film ends with a happy ending - which is what the audience is probably expecting." However, according to the critic, “this happy ending seems strained”, and “the ending is made so awkwardly that it almost ruined the whole film” ^[10] .

Evaluation of the work of the director and leading actors

According to Schwartz, the director “ Henry Levin confidently poses this outdated routine crime drama about miscarriage of justice” ^[10] , and Michael Keeney also draws attention to Ford’s “skillful restrained game”, also noting Mitchell as a “punch guy, who udo sent him back to prison “for twelve years for one small beer” ” ^[7] . Thompson draws attention to the "colorful supporting cast of such familiar actors as Will Gere , Ed Begley and Whit Bissell " ^[1] .

• Alain Silver (Editor), Elizabeth Ward (Editor). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Third Edition . - Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press, 1992 .-- ISBN 978-0-87951-479-2 .
• Spencer Selby. Dark City: The Film Noir . - Jeffeson, NC: McFarland & Co Inc, 1997. - ISBN 978-0-7864-0478-0 ref = Selby.
• Michael F. Keaney. Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940–1959 . - Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2003. - ISBN 978-0-7864-1547-2 .

• Convicted on IMDb  
• Convict on AllMovie website  
• Convict on the website of the American Film Institute
• Convicted on Turner Classic Movies