I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a
pre-CodePre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Hays Code censorship guidelines, which went into effect on July 1, 1934...
1932-Events:*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released.-Academy Awards:...
crimeA crime film, in the most general sense, is a film that involves various aspects crime and the criminal justice system. Stylistically, it can fall under many different genres, most commonly drama, thriller, Mystery film and film noir...
/
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves,...
in which
Paul MuniPaul Muni was an American stage and film actor.-Early life and career:He was born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund to a Jewish family in Lemberg, Galicia, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Lviv, Ukraine....
stars as a wrongfully convicted convict on a
chain gangA chain gang was a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Their tasks included such as building roads, digging ditches or chipping stone...
who escapes to Chicago. The film was written by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes from
Robert Elliott BurnsRobert Elliott Burns was a World War I veteran who gained notoriety after escaping from a Georgia chain gang and writing his memoirs exposing the cruelty and injustice of the chain gang system.-Biography:...
's autobiography,
I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain GangI Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang is a book written by Robert Elliott Burns in 1932 and published by Grosset & Dunlap.The book tells the story of Burns' imprisonment on a chain gang in Georgia in the 1920s, his subsequent escape and the furor that developed...
that was serialised in
True DetectiveTrue Detective has been the name of several different magazines.The first was an American pulp magazine of more-or-less true stories of crime and criminals, created by publisher Bernarr Macfadden in 1924. Although generally lurid, True Detective did publish work by Dashiell Hammett and Jim...
magazine. It was directed by
Mervyn LeRoyMervyn LeRoy was an Academy Award-winning American film director, producer and sometime actor.-Early life:Born to Jewish parents in San Francisco, California, his family was financially ruined by the 1906 earthquake...
.
In 1991,
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Sergeant James Allen (
Paul MuniPaul Muni was an American stage and film actor.-Early life and career:He was born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund to a Jewish family in Lemberg, Galicia, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Lviv, Ukraine....
) returns to civilian life after
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
but has a hard time finding work.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a
pre-CodePre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Hays Code censorship guidelines, which went into effect on July 1, 1934...
1932-Events:*Katharine Hepburn's film career begins*Shirley Temple's film career begins*Disney released Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon in three-strip Technicolor film.*Santa, first sound film made in Mexico released.-Academy Awards:...
crimeA crime film, in the most general sense, is a film that involves various aspects crime and the criminal justice system. Stylistically, it can fall under many different genres, most commonly drama, thriller, Mystery film and film noir...
/
drama filmA drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, crime and corruption put the characters in conflict with themselves,...
in which
Paul MuniPaul Muni was an American stage and film actor.-Early life and career:He was born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund to a Jewish family in Lemberg, Galicia, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Lviv, Ukraine....
stars as a wrongfully convicted convict on a
chain gangA chain gang was a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Their tasks included such as building roads, digging ditches or chipping stone...
who escapes to Chicago. The film was written by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes from
Robert Elliott BurnsRobert Elliott Burns was a World War I veteran who gained notoriety after escaping from a Georgia chain gang and writing his memoirs exposing the cruelty and injustice of the chain gang system.-Biography:...
's autobiography,
I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain GangI Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang is a book written by Robert Elliott Burns in 1932 and published by Grosset & Dunlap.The book tells the story of Burns' imprisonment on a chain gang in Georgia in the 1920s, his subsequent escape and the furor that developed...
that was serialised in
True DetectiveTrue Detective has been the name of several different magazines.The first was an American pulp magazine of more-or-less true stories of crime and criminals, created by publisher Bernarr Macfadden in 1924. Although generally lurid, True Detective did publish work by Dashiell Hammett and Jim...
magazine. It was directed by
Mervyn LeRoyMervyn LeRoy was an Academy Award-winning American film director, producer and sometime actor.-Early life:Born to Jewish parents in San Francisco, California, his family was financially ruined by the 1906 earthquake...
.
In 1991,
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot summary
Sergeant James Allen (
Paul MuniPaul Muni was an American stage and film actor.-Early life and career:He was born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund to a Jewish family in Lemberg, Galicia, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Lviv, Ukraine....
) returns to civilian life after
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
but has a hard time finding work. He accidentally becomes caught up in a robbery and is sentenced to ten years on a brutal Southern chain gang.
He escapes and makes his way to
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, where he becomes a success in the construction business. He becomes involved with the proprietor of his boardinghouse, Marie Woods (
Glenda Farrell-Career:Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin...
), who discovers his secret and
blackmailBlackmail is the crime of threatening to reveal substantially true information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand made upon the victim is met. This information is usually of an embarrassing and/or socially damaging nature...
s him into an unhappy marriage. He then meets and falls in love with Helen (
Helen Vinson-Early life:Vinson was born Helen Rulfs in Beaumont, Texas. She was a tall and distinguished-looking woman with brown eyes and naturally curly hair. Miss Vinson's father was an oil man. Her personal life included a passion for horses she developed during her youth. She studied at the University of...
). When he asks his wife for a divorce, she betrays him to the authorities. He is offered a pardon if he will turn himself in; Allen accepts, only to find that it was just a ruse. He escapes once again.
In the end, Allen visits Helen in the shadows on the street and tells her he is leaving forever. She asks, "Can't you tell me where you're going? Will you write? Do you need any money?" James repeats "no" as his answer as he backs away. Finally Helen says, "But you must, Jim. How do you live?" In the film's final line and shot James replies chillingly, "I steal", and disappears into the dark. The composition and lighting of the final scene, considered to be one of the best in film history, was reportedly accidental. The lights on the set supposedly either failed or were turned off earlier than intended. The studio liked what it saw and kept the ending.
Cast
- Paul Muni
Paul Muni was an American stage and film actor.-Early life and career:He was born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund to a Jewish family in Lemberg, Galicia, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Lviv, Ukraine....
as James Allen
- Glenda Farrell
-Career:Farrell came to Hollywood towards the end of the silent era. Farrell began her career with a theatrical company at the age of 7. She played Little Eva in Uncle Tom's Cabin...
as Marie
- Helen Vinson
-Early life:Vinson was born Helen Rulfs in Beaumont, Texas. She was a tall and distinguished-looking woman with brown eyes and naturally curly hair. Miss Vinson's father was an oil man. Her personal life included a passion for horses she developed during her youth. She studied at the University of...
as Helen
- Noel Francis as Linda
- Preston Foster
Preston Foster was an American stage and film actor. Foster entered films in 1929 after appearing as a Broadway stage actor. Foster was considered ruggedly handsome and a talented singer...
as Pete
- Allen Jenkins
Allen Jenkins was an American character actor on stage, screen and television. He was born David Allen Curtis Jenkins in Staten Island, New York....
as Barney Sykes
- Berton Churchill
Berton Churchill was a Canadian actor.Born in Toronto, Ontario. As a young man interested in the theater, he headed to New York City where he began an acting career that soon put him on the Broadway stage. There, he was one of the earliest members of Actors Equity and sat on the union's Council...
as The Judge
- Edward Ellis as Bomber Wells
- David Landau as The Warden
- Hale Hamilton as Reverend Allen
Impact on the American Society
Audiences in the United States who saw the film began to question the legitimacy of the United States legal system, and by January 1933 the film's protagonist, Robert Elliot Burns, who was still imprisoned in New Jersey, and a number of different chain gang prisoners nationwide in the United States were able to appeal and were released. In January 1933, Georgia chain gang warden J. Harold Hardy, who was also made into a character in the film, sued the studio for displaying "vicious, brutal and false attacks" against him in the film.
Awards and nominations
Academy Award Nominations:
- Best Actor in a Leading Role
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
- Paul Muni
- Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible...
- Best Sound, Recording
The Academy Award for Sound Mixing is an Academy Award that recognizes the finest or most euphonic sound mixing or recording, and is generally awarded to the production sound mixers and re-recording mixers of the winning film. Compare this award to the Academy Award for Sound Editing...
- Nathan Levinson (sound director)
National Board Review Award:
Other Wins:
- 1991 - National Film Registry