The Last Mile (1932) User Reviews

Extremely Dated Opening but Pardoned by a Powerful Second-Half

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 20 October 2016]

Relentlessly Grim Prison-Pic from a Play by John Wexley who also Wrote the Script. It's of the "Reform" Type with its Critical Eye on "Death Row" and Specifically the "Death Penalty".

The First Half is the most Dated and Tough to get Through Today with its Heavy Melodramatics, Over Acting, and Exaggerated Mental Anguish Displays. There's some Bite to the Dialog but the Performances Suffer from Stagy Emoting and Projection.

But the Second-Half Kicks in and the Movie becomes Engaging, Suspenseful, Violent, and even more Poignant. Some of the Imagery, while Confined by a Low-Budget and its Stage Play Roots, still manages to be very Atmospheric and Gloomy.

It's an Artifact of its Era for sure, but that makes it Relevant as a Time Capsule of both Cinema and Social Concerns. It can be Powerful at times and is Definitely Worth a Watch.

On Death Row

[lugonian · 7/10 · 7 January 2017]

THE LAST MILE (World Wide, 1932), directed by Sam Bischoff, is not exactly a racing story of cars or horses going through their last lap towards the finish line, but in convicts terms, a prison movie about execution. Taken from a stage play by John Wexley that reportedly starred Spencer Tracy (New York) and Clark Gable (West Coast), it might have been interesting watching either any of these two fine actors reprise his original roles of "Killer" Mears: Tracy for Fox Studios or Gable at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Instead, the Mears role went to the second billed Preston Foster, who did a fine job as Mears. The central character, however, is played by the top-billed Howard Phillips, a name not known but so happens to be one of the actors from the stage production in this screen adaptation whose movie career was relatively brief and totally forgotten.

Following an introductory message about "prison and of the condemned, and what society is going to do about it" by Lewis E. Lawes, warden of Sing-Sing Prison in Ossining, New York, the story opens in a courtroom where Richard Walters (Howard Phillips) is sentenced by the judge for murder in the first degree, and to be executed for his crime on September 13th. Richard's mother (Louise Carter) immediately screeches and cries upon sentence as she witnesses her boy taken away by the guards. No longer a name but now simply an identification number, Richard is placed in a cell on death row surrounded by other condemned prisoners, including John "Killer" Mears (Preston Foster), the toughest of the bunch. As he witnesses Joe Berg (George E. Stone) of Cell 1 being escorted his last mile through the little green door to the electric chair, Richard faints dead away. A flashback foretells to what led to his prison sentence. (Richard's business partner, Max Kuger (Max Wagner) borrows a large sum of money from their bank account, followed by a gas station robbery where Kuger is shot and killed by police while Richard, caught with a gun in his hand, arrested for a crime for which he is innocent). During the course of time, a prison break arises, and Killer Mears threatening to kill every one of his hostages, ranging from prison guards (one being brother-in-law to the warden) to a prison priest unless the warden, Frank Lewis (Frank Sheridan) doesn't meet with his demands for freedom.  

With 1932 seemingly being the year of prison or chain gang themes, bearing such titles as HELL'S HIGHWAY (RKO Radio, with Richard Dix) and the classic I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG (Warner Brothers, starring Paul Muni), where Louise Carter plays the mother in each of these aforementioned movie titles, it's interesting how THE LAST MILE wasn't part of the Warner Brothers list of social issues, considering how that studio specialized on this sort of material, or even MGM, where THE BIG HOUSE (1930) featuring Wallace Beery, having started the whole cycle about men behind bars for that time, in spite the fact that Samuel Goldwyn's CONDEMNED (1929) starring Ronald Colman arrived a year earlier. Fox films did one amusing parody of UP THE RIVER (1930) with Spencer Tracy, while Hal Roach got Laurel and Hardy to spoof it in PARDON US (1931). Yet THE LAST MILE, produced by a non-major movie studio, holds up, even where portions seem to be like a reproduced stage play. The story does contain some outdoor activities, but the death row scenes with prisoners holding on to the metal bars in upward positions to be what's shown the most, giving indication to how the play was performed and presented on stage. Other actors in the cast include: Daniel L. Haynes (Sonny Jackson, Cell # 2); Edward Van Sloan (The Rabbi); Alec B. Francis (Father O'Connor); Noel Madison (D'Amoro, Cell # 6); Alan Roscoe (Kirby, Cell # 7), Al Hill (Werner, Cell # 8); among others. Of the major actors, Preston Foster gathers the most attention over Howard Phillips while George E. Stone being a close second through his small but very effective performance.

THE LAST MILE was successful enough to spawn a 1959 remake for United Artists starring Mickey Rooney in one of his finer roles during his latter-day career. The 1932 original, almost forgotten until its resurrection in the 1980s with 1940s reissue opening title from Astor Pictures being the print in current circulation as part of a 45 minute featurette on public television's "Matinee at the Bijou" in 1982. Availability has been followed onto video cassette distribution and later DVD process, along with complete 68 minute late night broadcasts on various public television stations until the 1990s. Cable television has been rare, though notably shown on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: October 5, 2016) where the Astor Print reissue print rather was shown than the 1932 World Wide original opening instead. Regardless of its age, its a gripping screen adaptation about convicts on death row awaiting their last mile to eternal freedom. (*** pardons)

Somewhat Predictable Death Row Drama

[mstomaso · 5/10 · 27 February 2018]

The Last Mile, based on a popular John Wexley play of its time (1932), features an ensemble of death row inmates. Though the film does a good deal of effective characterization, we only really get to know two of the condemned - the innocent Dick Walters (Howard Phillips) and the "Killer" Mears (Preston Foster) - his neighbor in the cell block. The rest of the characters are archetypes of one kind or another, allowing the somewhat heavy-handed theatrical script some needed economy as the film builds quite slowly to a strong climax.

Mears stages a breakout and Walters has no choice but to get caught up in it, along with all of the other inmates. The warden, who has generally been, according to the prisoners, a decent guy, doesn't see that he has any choice about how to handle the situation.

The film is oddly introduced by a written introduction that makes a case against the death penalty based, apparently, on religious morality. With the exception of the juxtaposition of Killer Mears and our innocent protagonist Mr. Walters, it is not at all clear how this bit of moralism enhances the film nor how the film supports the political viewpoint of its author.

Theatrical scripts and sets do not always translate perfectly into film. The 1932 film of this play exemplifies the problem. Most of the camera work sticks to the point of view of a play's audience and the film mostly occurs in a very stark, statically shot prison block set. This effectively places the audience in the monotony of the prison experience throughout the film's action-less first half, but the effect only serves to accentuate the story's limitations so that, by the time the plot begins to accelerate, at least some of the audience has made up its mind about what will happen, how, and why. It is, however, worth sticking around to see how it does or doesn't play out.

An Interesting Melodrama

[Snow Leopard · 29 June 2001]

"The Last Mile" is an interesting melodrama set on death row. While it is not entirely credible, and is often heavy-handed, the characters are memorable, and there is a lot of tense action.

The story begins with Richard Walters (Howard Phillips) being condemned to death for a murder that he claims not to have committed. He is sent to death row, and not long after he gets acquainted with the other inmates, a riot breaks out, led by the brutal killer Mears. Walters gets enmeshed in violent events even as his friends on the outside are frantically trying to gather evidence of his innocence. Most of the developments lack believability, and are rather obviously forced, but the story is undeniably dramatic. Once involved, you will have to watch it to the end.

While imperfect and low-budget, this is an interesting film that will keep your attention if you start to watch it.

We are known by our numbers here.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 28 November 2018]

The Last Mile is directed by Samuel Bischoff and adapted to screenplay by Seton Miller from the John Wexley play of the same name. It stars Preston Foster, Howard Phillips, George Stone, Noel Madison and Adam Roscoe. Music is by Val Burton and cinematography by Arthur Edeson.

Interesting watching this pic these days to note just how much set in stone the formula is even today. All of the staples of the prison based dramas are right here in 1932, and of course the thematic beats of anti capital punishment still bang loud as much today as they did back then.

Reprieve! Reprieve!

The Last Mile in production is very much of its time, the stage origins not really leaving us as this is essentially a one set production. The acting ranges from excitable overacting to non credible characterisations. It's also a touch irritating that the key element for our main man Dick Walters (Phillips), the flashback to why he was sentenced to death, is played too early in the piece. And yet there's a power in the drama that lures you in, keeps you right there in the confines of death row.

From a photographic stand point it looks terrific, Edeson's (They Drive by Night/Casablanca/The Maltese Falcon) monochrome lensing is perfectly moody. Holding court in the acting stakes is Foster, who is right at home playing the angry alpha male, it's the plum role and the one with the dramatic swagger. It was a busy year for Foster with 7 releases! Including the brilliant I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.

Not a great film but it's above average, and important in a number of ways as regards the history of genre cinema. While as a time capsule it remains a fascinating venture. 6/10

"Number One burns in half an hour".

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 21 October 2010]

The quick flashback scene showing how Richard Walters (Howard Phillips) got arrested and convicted for murder certainly led to a dirty rotten deal (for him). It lent support to the notion that capital punishment may not be justified, since there's the outside chance that some prisoners might actually be innocent. Then the picture goes entirely in the other direction, when Warden Lewis (Frank Sheridan) adamantly opposes a deal with the prisoners, led by Killer John Mears (Preston Foster). Who was more innocent than the four hostages taken by the prisoners, especially Father O'Connor (Alec B. Francis)? I think you can be a hard nosed prison warden without sacrificing some of your men. So none of this gives rise to any easy answers.

For an early Thirties flick, this one's pretty good, with decent production values and a story with fine continuity. I particularly liked the character of Jackson, the black inmate who had some interesting perspective on the hereafter. He believed there was a separate heaven and hell for black and white folks, in keeping with a segregated society on Earth. I never thought about that before. It was unusual to see him singing a spiritual among his fellow prisoners. There are other films where men in jail sing, but the atmosphere is generally lighter in tone. Roy Rogers did it (1939 - "In Old Caliente"), as did Dean Martin in "Rio Bravo". However those situations weren't as grim as they were for the convicts here.

On another note, the picture seemed to dismiss an early concept when Killer Mears introduced the other inmates to Walters by their cell numbers. Once that was mentioned, it seemed like the men referred to each other's names quite regularly. The idea reminded me a little of war movies where soldiers refer to each other by where they came from instead of by name. In any event, it's probably difficult to maintain entirely impersonal relationships within the confines of an institution that keeps it's inhabitants so close together.

As for the resolution, I had only the slightest misgivings that Walters wouldn't be declared innocent and offered a pardon by the time it was all over. He could have blown it though with a greater degree of participation in the jail break. In retrospect, that was probably one of the weaker elements of the picture. The film could have gotten a lot more mileage in it's quest for sympathy by giving it an "Angels With Dirty Faces" ending, but then an innocent guy might have had to be executed.

Cogent

[jcappy · 7/10 · 23 November 2015]

"The Last Mile" begins on a powerful and emotional note, and never ceases to come through. In a way, it belongs in the company of "12 Angry Men," but while less demanding, may have even more feeling and dignity--with its singular lack of cynicism and romance perhaps the key to its force.

It begins with an introductory quote from Sing Sing warden Lewis Lawes: "The Last Mile is... a story of those men with barred cells crushed mentally, physically and spiritually between unrelenting forces of man-made laws and man-fixed death.... Society must find its own solution. But murder on the heels of murder is *not* that solution." We follow his words to the tender strains of the passionate "Ave Maria."

Sentimental? No, and not even in the relationship between the innocent Richard Walters and his devout mother, which is both original and convincing. And decidedly not in Joe Berg's incredibly moving goodbye scene, in which he arrests his immense emotional distress to speak face to face, transparently, and very specifically to each of the other men on death row in his last steps of his last mile. Nor is there a trace of sentiment in Sonny Jackson's deep soothing voice as he sings and speaks from both a spiritual and racially knowing place as he awaits, with true poise, his own death..

Of course, the raw and moving break out attempt led by John "Killer" Mears bears no trace of sentiment either. Despite his excessive recklessness, and crime-ridden past, none of his mates--including the guiltless Richard Walters who, having experienced Death Row first hand, is unencumbered by scruples--fail to follow his energetic leadership. For they all know that the death penalty is worse than death, and that even the condemned can speak out in one voice and one action. That they can arise as subjects just as Joe Berg did in the waning moments of his life, determined to stand against human cruelty, speaks of the courage of collective protest.

Not much to see here

[drjgardner · 4/10 · 10 February 2017]

Prison films have been a staple of film since the early years. "Up the River" (1930) with Hmphrey Bogart and Spencer Tracy and "Manslaughter" (1930) with Frederich March and Claudette Colbert were some early ones. "The Big House" (1930) was the first of the prison films to capture an audience, and as such, it is the archetype for almost every prison movie to follow, apart from the "chain gang" films that have their origins in Paul Muni's excellent 1932 "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang." The Big House was so popular that Laurel and Hardy produced a spoof called "Pardon Us" in 1931. It was their first feature film. That same year "The Criminal Code" (1931) with Walter Huston and Boris Karloff came out.

Interest in prison spawned the Broadway play "The Last Mile" from which this film came. The play launched the careers of Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable. The same year this film came out we also had "20,000 years in Sing Sing" (1932)

Other prisons films from the 1930s include "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" (1932), "The Mayor of Hell" (1933), "Prisoner of Shark Island" (1936), "San Quentin" (1937), "Devil's Island" (1939) and " Each Dawn I Die" (1939).

Among all the films of this genre, "The Last Mile" has the least production values, probably due to its origins as a play. It also has the least star power, with Preston Foster (1900-70) playing the lead role as the psychopathic killed. This was Foster's first big break and only his fifth film. I remember him best from the TV series "Waterfront" (1954-5) and "Northwest Mounted Police" (1940).

Also present is Paul Fix (1901-83) who is best remembered as the Marshall from "The Rifleman" (1958-63) and who was one of the busiest actors on TV.

The director is Sam Bischoff (1890-1975) who got his start working in the "Poverty Row" studios. He moved to Warners where he specialized in crime films ("The Roaring Twenties", "The Phenix City Story", "Angels with Dirty Faces").

The film is preachy and heavy handed. It reflects some negative attitudes about capital punishment, caused by an increase in capital punishment beginning in the 1920s where criminality was considered genetic and the eugenics movement was strong. In the 1930s capital punishment reached its peak, averaging 167 per year, and the methods included electricity and gas.

It's hard to recommend the film. "The Big House" is far superior.

Vehicle for Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 25 September 2004]

The Last Mile was a popular play of the early depression years that had starred Spencer Tracy on Broadway in the principal role of Killer Mears. His performance there, brought him rave critical notice and a Hollywood contract with Fox Films. Also Clark Gable portrayed the same role in a West Coast production and his performance there got him noticed by MGM who signed Gable and launched that career.

Interesting that two of Hollywood's major stars from the studio era both owed their careers to this play. But The Last Mile didn't come to the screen from a major studio. It was a small independent B film and the biggest name they could get was Preston Foster. Not that Foster was bad, but I really would have loved to see either Gable or Tracy tackle this part for the screen.

Nevertheless Foster does a capable job. During the 30s he was in some top drawer films. Besides this Foster is probably best known for his role in The Informer as the IRA captain who hunts, tries, and then orders the execution of Victor McLaglen. He drifted downward into B films in the 40s and later on gave good performances in supporting parts. His best later career film was Kansas City Confidential, supporting John Payne.

Although its dated and overacted in spots, The Last Mile is still good entertainment and a must see for those who are opposed to capital punishment. Some of the stereotypes of the prisoners on death row are still in use today, most notably in The Green Mile.

But to have only seen Tracy or Gable do it.

Hang In There for the Good Stuff

[winstonengle · 7/10 · 2 March 2019]

The first half of the film is slow, talky, and one-act-play-ish. The only good part-- and pretty much the film's only real attempt to build character --is Daniel L. Haynes' fine performance as Number Two. He also has the best line, where with a smiling but sardonic edge, he doubts he'll meet his death-house fellows on the other side, because white people probably won't let a black man share Hell with them.

The movie finally picks up at the midpoint as it suddenly becomes more of a thriller, and the tension ratchets up and up for the remainder of the film's brief runtime. So don't let the Generic Serious Depression-Era Play feel of the first half put you off, because it transforms into a much more rewarding experience.

Poorly Done Social Commentary

[Hitchcoc · 4/10 · 8 May 2007]

Even though this was made early on and attempts to be an indictment of capital punishment, it is not very effective. To start with, each of the death row inmates is sympathetic. Now, that's OK for a time, but if we never get to know much about them and their psyches, it just doesn't work. Of course, we have our hero who is unjustly convicted and within minutes of his execution when a jailbreak begins. The whole thing is talky until the explosion. There are some really brutal, merciless killings when the prisoners are in control. It just shows we all want to live. The guards are really the bad guys here because they lord it over the poor inmates. Their crimes really aren't revealed. They are a contrast to Tom Hanks in "The Green Mile" where one can be a horror on earth, but, after all, you are facing the final curtain. Anyway, this just doesn't work. It's stagy and simplistic.

I have rarely seen a movie start off this badly yet STILL be a good film.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 19 October 2010]

Despite a very, very poor beginning, stick with it--this one only gets better and better. So if you do try "The Last Mile", force yourself to keep watching--the schmaltzy intro is worth wading through in order to see the rest of this film. But I warn you, it really, really is schmaltzy.

Despite our impression these days that folks were a lot tougher on crime and criminals in 'the good old days', that wasn't necessarily so. During the 1930s, there were tons of Hollywood films that decried the inhumanity of the prison system and pushed for reform. Some of these films (such as Paul Muni's "I Was A Prisoner In A Chain Gang" were excellent while others were just too idealistic to seem realistic. While "The Last Mile" would definitely fall into the latter category, it should be applauded to directly dealing with the death penalty--few pictures would be this brave.

The film begins with a young man being sentenced to death. Next, you see him joining a group of men on Death Row and almost the entire story is set here. It's obvious early on that the film has a decidedly anti-death penalty stance--as again and again you are led to feel sorry for the men. Having the Warden and the guards saying how bad executions were solidified this stance. However, none of this particularly convinced me, as I kept thinking about the victims of these criminals (something seldom mentioned in films--now isn't that strange!). However, the little flashback scene where you see how the main character was blamed for a murder he did not commit--now THAT was a powerful argument against capital punishment.

Overall, this movie is far from subtle, ignores the victims of the men and is a bit one-dimensional in some cases. But, it's also brave and features some nice little vignettes--such as the Black prisoner musing about Heaven, the sadistic guard who liked making the men miserable, the intensely angry man who refuses to believe in God and the dandy conclusion. Preachy yes, but quite powerful. And, I also liked how despite disagreeing with much of the film, it did get me to think! All this from a cheap little film that is now in the public domain!

The Boys on Death Row

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 11 October 2016]

****SPOILERS**** It's when gas station owner Dick Walters, Howard Philips,was caught with a smoking gun in his hands after his partner in the station Max Kruger, Max Wagner, was found shot to death by the police it was an open and shut case against Dick. As we all saw Max was in fact shot by two hold up men with his own, as well as Dick's, gun who fled the scene leaving Dick, who showed up later, holding both the bag and murder weapon! While on death row waiting to be executed by the state Dick can only hope for a governors pardon and a second trail to prove his innocence. But as we and Dick soon find out there's a jail brake being planned by Inmate #4 the mad dog killer as well as the self proclaimed "King of Death Row" John "Killer" Mears, Preston Forster, that's to change everything.

Tension packed and pre watered down Hayes Commission code crime movie that pulls no punches in its violence as well as not spearing no one innocent or guilty in who ends up getting knocked off. "Killer" Mears knowing that he has about a chance as a snowball in hell to survive ends up taking everyone, prison guards as well as fellow inmates, along with him as hostages. Knowing that if he survives he'll only end up being helplessly strapped into the state electric chair anyway and zapped with 2,500 volts of electricity he has really nothing to lose in a major shoot out. At least this time around he'll go down frighting and take, which he does, as many of those who plan to do him in along with him.

***SPOILERS*** It's later that it's found out that Dick was in fact innocent of the crime that he was convicted of and the governor at the last minute pardoned him while the prison is still under siege! It's then that "Killer" Mears got a change of heart and decided to turn himself in without any farther bloodshed. With the prison surrounded by the state national guard and them planning to storm death row "Killer" Mears does the only good deed that he ever did in his short crime ridden life! That by exposing himself to national guard sharp shooters he took a bullet that ended the bloody siege and thus prevented Dick from getting killed as well. Re-made in 1959 with former Hollywood's freckled faced all-American boy Mickey Rooney in the leading role as as the grown up mad dog "Killer "Mears!

Weird Warden

[Rainey-Dawn · 3/10 · 12 May 2016]

This might be the weirdest warden I've seen on film. The very beginning of the movie we read an opening from and signed by the warden that says "Society must find it's own solution. Murder on the heels of murder is not that solution".

The Warden: in the beginning of the film you'll hear the warden sounding like he does not like to have to carry out the death penalty. The does a flip-flop during prison break when he sees how dangerous the prisoners are and will use guns and bombs to regain control over the prison. What's weird is his why: He didn't alert the state or local area of this because he was afraid of bad publicity for himself yet he looked worse by letting his own men die - including his own brother-in-law and would have let the priest die too - anything to avoid bad press for himself that prisoners took over his prison. And just think of what would have happened if the prisoners did leave the prison and the warden didn't tell the local police department so the local citizens could not be ready and alerted. The warden was definitely in the wrong - he put many lives in danger with his decisions. That's weird to me.

The Rest: The "screws" or guards are tough towards the death row inmates -- some inmates committed murder others wrongfully accused of murder.

This social commentary of a film showed us just how wild inmates can get if given a chance - especially the real murderers.

Anyway, during all this mess mentioned above, the friends of the man wrongfully accused of murder are trying to find evidence of his innocents before he walks The Last Mile.

It's a weird social commentary of a film filled with wrong decisions by many of the characters involved. Kinda interesting at times.

3/10

Sentimental about killers

[gimhoff · 13 September 2007]

Kindly, sympathetic, upstanding convicts who are on Death Row for no good reason that we ever learn (except that we know Dick Walters has been wrongfully convicted)are put to death by prison guards who vary from indifferent to mean, while the Warden agonizes over what good capital punishment does and the meaning of it all -- until an attempted prison break turns him into the most bloodthirsty of all.

The one-set stage play is opened up a little bit by scenes showing the crime for which Walters has been convicted and the discovery of the criminals who really committed the crime. Good performances are turned in by Preston Forster as Killer Mears, the one prisoner who shows a mean streak that may have landed him on Death Row; and by Daniel L. Haynes, who had starred in Hallelujah three years earlier, as the token black singing prisoner.

Anti-death penalties dramas haven't become more balanced or less simplistic; if anything, the thumb on the scale is even heavier in The Green Mile's recounting of the execution of angelic Michael Clarke Duncan. But today more realistic depictions of prison life and prisoners abound in cable television documentaries, and the misplaced sentimentality of The Last Mile toward its misunderstood convicts isn't easily swallowed. It does, however, have Killer Mears' bravado line at the end of the prison break: "I think I'll go get a little air."

Dated prison melodrama

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 5 March 2017]

THE LAST MILE is a dated prison melodrama from the early days of talkie cinema. Given that for most of the running time it consists of half a dozen guys chatting on a prison set it must have been cheap to make. The film's protagonist is wrongfully accused of murder (as so many were during that decade) and sent to Death Row, where the prisoners are about to stage a violent uprising.

The plot has elements of interest for sure but ultimately this is too dated to be a success. The acting verges on ham throughout and there's far too much overwrought melodrama for modern audiences to take it seriously. The interminable prison singing doesn't help much either. About the only thing THE LAST MILE is good for is a look at social attitudes towards condemned men during the era, and this is a surprisingly sympathetic viewpoint.

Preston Foster Finds the Role of a Lifetime!!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 17 May 2010]

I have just finished reading "An American Tragedy" by Theodore Dreiser and the last 60 pages are set on death row. As Clyde awaits either pardon or execution, he sees criminals come and go and the warden, opposed to capital punishment is pushing for it's abolition. Pretty much the same as this movie.

Preston Foster was an amazingly under-rated actor who did have initial success on Broadway in the powerful "Two Seconds" and repeated his role as the big talking Bud Clark in the film version. Even though Spencer Tracy played "Killer" John Meares on Broadway and Clark Gable played the role on the West Coast, it was a role Preston Foster was born to play and he gives a stunning, yet at heart, bitter performance in one of his earliest film roles. It was interesting that it was produced by K.B.S. - an independent company that produced less than 20 movies - and not MGM, who had already made "The Big House" and had Clark Gable under contract.

Richard Walters (Howard Phillips) is sent to death row for a murder he claims he did not commit. He is introduced to the inmates ("we go by numbers - names don't mean much when you get here") by "Killer" John Meares, the leader of the group. Berg from Cell 1 is to die in 20 minutes (George E. Stone gives a heart rending performance). Thinking back on the crime that landed him in prison - Walters had a gas station but his partner was embezzling funds - when the station is held up, a gun goes off and his partner is dead, the gun is found in Walter's hand and a policeman had heard them arguing earlier - an open and shut case.

The Warden (Alec B. Francis) finds his job soul destroying and is trying his best to abolish capital punishment. The guards are made of different stuff and they taunt and abuse the prisoners. Meares organises a prison break - all except cowardly Werner of Cell 8 make a bid for freedom, Meares makes his demands - a car, plenty of gas, good tyres and 4 hours head start - or the guards will be killed one by one. The ending is reminiscent of "The Big House" but on a much smaller scale. The film is a damning indictment of prisoners on death row. Meares gives an impassioned speech to the guards, now under lock and key, who will agree to any demands to ensure their freedom.

The cast is like a who's who of those wonderful character actors who seemed to be in every other film in the early thirties. George E. Stone (Joe Berg Cell 1) was marvellous as "Little Caesar"'s one true pal and as the harried dance director in "42nd Street". Noel Madison (D'Amoro Cell 6) had a very varied early career but soon found himself typecast playing underworld henchmen. His most famous film "The Pace That Kills" (1936), but he even turned up in a couple of Jessie Matthews' films ie as a gangster in "Gangway" (1937). Paul Fix (Eddie Werner, Cell 8) had a huge career in both movies and television. Daniel L. Haynes (Sonny Jackson, Cell 2), had starred in "Hallelujah" (1929), a triumph with an all black cast musical drama directed by King Vidor. His performance was a standout but, unfortunately, being a black performer, there were few film opportunities for him. "The Last Mile" was his next film (3 years later) - but his part was very significant. He got the chance to sing a couple of spirituals and he was the first to die in the jail break.

Highly Recommended.

Rules rub in the emotional effects of the ticking clock.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 7 January 2017]

Inmates on death row undergo psychological turmoil, legally and emotionally. "Relax, you've got two hours", the prisoners heading on their last journey are told, and for the audience, too, this is also torture. There's no mercy, even through the kindness of the prison priest, who politely asks if they can come in, even though you know they will. A hymn singing black prisoner taunts the soon to be executed convict, innocently for sure, but enough to warrant the whole cellblock to yell "shut up!".

The first 20 minutes truly is torture for the audience as they witness a very scared man rant and rave as he faces the final curtain. Another crime committed leads an innocent man to the chair, and he's as innocent inwardly as he was of the crime. Chaos breaks out in the cellblock, giving the impression that the remaining prisoners would rather have a quick end than the torture of waiting.

While there are some great ideas here, the execution of the story is not always clear. The tensions are there, and the acting is superb, but something tells me that while 1932 audiences sat there in silence and shock, they felt manipulated, especially with the alleged scrawl from a Sing Sing warden.

Warning! You won't like it. There's only one sympathetic character.

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 28 November 2017]

Preston Foster (Killer Mears), Howard Phillips (Dick Walters), George E. Stone (Berg), Noel Madison (Six), Alan Roscoe (Seven), Paul Fix (Eight), Al Hill (Three), Daniel L. Haynes (Two), Alec B. Francis (Father O'Connor), Frank Sheridan (Warden Lewis), Edward Van Sloan (rabbi), Louise Carter (Mrs Walters), Ralph Theodore (Callahan), Jack Kennedy (O'Flaherty), Albert J. Smith (Drake), William Scott (Peddie), Kenneth MacDonald (Harris), Walter Walker (governor), Gladden James (warden's secretary), Max Wagner (Kruger), Francis McDonald (bandit).

Director: SAM BISCHOFF. Screenplay: Seton I. Miller. Based on the play by John Wexley. Foreword by Lewis E. Lawes, warden of Sing Sing Prison. Photography: Arthur Edeson. Film editor: Rose Loewinger. Art director: Ralph M. DeLacy. Music director: Val Burton. Producer: Sam Bischoff. Executive producers: Burt Kelly, Sam Bischoff, William Saal.

A K.B.S. Production, copyright 21 August 1932 by World Wide Pictures. New York opening at the Capitol: 25 August 1932. 75 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Eight prisoners are in the "Death House" at Sing Sing. Although one of them is completely innocent of any crime, his hope for a stay of execution is remote. The head guard is totally unsympathetic.

NOTES: The stage play opened on Broadway at the Harris on 13 February 1930 and was so successful (285 performances), it spawned a West Coast production starring Clark Gable. Spencer Tracy played Mears on Broadway supported by James Bell, Joseph Calleia, Henry O'Neill, Howard Phillips, Bruce MacFarlane and Hale Norcross. Chester Erskine directed, Herman Shumlin produced.

The Seton I. Miller screenplay was remade in 1959 with Mickey Rooney as Mears.

COMMENT: Faultlessly executed in all departments, and brilliantly photographed by masterful cinematographer (The Lost World, All Quiet on the Western Front, Casablanca) Arthur Edeson, "The Last Mile" rates as a minor noir masterpiece, and is my pick as one of the best "B" features ever made.

It's also the only film directed by prolific producer Sam Bischoff who has done an inventively powerful job in transferring the hard- hitting Wexley play to the screen, complete with its cast of sadistic head guard, unctuous rabbi, fearless priest, by-the-book warden and bestial convicts. (The 10/10 Mill Creek DVD is a superb 35mm transfer).

A Knotty Problem

[dougdoepke · 14 December 2016]

Though done in heavy-handed fashion typical of early talkies, the film manages a few powerful passages. In my view, capital punishment is one of the knottiest issues facing civil society.

On one hand, DNA researchers (Project Innocence) have extrapolated on the basis of real cases that as many as four in ten convicted persons are in fact innocent. Considering how our class based criminal justice system works against people lacking resources, that's not too surprising. (Then too, no wealthy person in the US has ever been convicted of a capital crime). Moreover, few acts leave a greater stain on civil society than the state killing of an innocent person.

On the other hand, some cold-blooded murders, such as compulsive serial killer Ted Bundy, amount to genuine social menace, arguably deserving of a death penalty. Moreover, why should a victim's families have to pay incarceration taxes to support the guilty for the rest of their lives.

I, for one, see no easy resolution to this sticky issue. The movie, on the other hand, lobbies against capital punishment, mainly through the conviction of an innocent man, Walters. Events take place on death row where we experience some of the trauma of condemned men. And surely one of the most dreaded traumas for anyone is knowing the time and place of death. Still, I agree with several other reviewers who point out that the movie shows nothing about the victims or families of the condemned. Thus, the stack is loaded by that missing feature plus the general brutality of the guards. I do think, the "anti" case would have been stronger had the innocent Walters been allowed to die. But I take the likable guy's last minute reprieve as a gesture to Hollywood commercialism and happy endings.

Anyway, it's a grim film, replete with dour lighting and a claustrophobic single set. Maybe worse, there's not a single young woman to relieve the steady parade of ugly guys. Nonetheless, the commanding Mears (Foster) amounts to an interesting character providing a good defiant counterpoint to the priest. Considering how classic Hollywood often reduced spiritual questions to sappy sentimentalism, he's an unusual figure. The fiery convict also provides the drama with needed grit. All in all, the film's remains a curious production even if thematically compromised. And it's probably worth noting that even if our criminal justice system were perfected, the philosophical question would still remain—is the state morally justified in executing cold-blooded murderers. It seems to me there are no easy answers.

Nearly as good as the remake, another producer's job.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8/10 · 5 June 2022]

Yes, the first thing that I want to say is that movie and its remake 25 years later BOTH were directed by producers, not genuinely directors; I think that deserves to be told. Howard Koch was also a producer, as Bischoff, but directed a bit more films than him

• ONLY ONE. Preston Foster is absolutely impressive here. A powerful indictment against prison, death penalty and judicial system in general. But the 1957 version is maybe more brutal, exciting, tense, thanks to Mickey Rooney in a less theatrical directing. Because it is obvious that this thirties movie looks really like a stage play adaptation.

Pre-Code is Different

[CatherineYronwode · 8/10 · 7 November 2022]

I have been watching only pre-code films for the past months, at the rate of 5 per week. Of course everyone loves them for all the double-entendres, sexual free-play, gender ambiguities, and double beds -- but there is another theme i see threaded through them, which disappeared abruptly when the code came in. I am not sure the code actually sought to end the theme, but for one reason or another, it happened. I am talking about the presence of Jews and African-Americans as characters in ensemble dramas. This film has both.

First, George E. Stone plays a Jewish man on death row who has a wife and children. The nature of his crime is unexplained, but he is visited by a rabbi in his cell, as if that were the most natural thing. I can think of many prison and crime movies with Christian chaplains, fathers, and padres, but this is the only one i have seen so far that features a rabbi. To make it more interesting to me, he is a Reform rabbi -- no Orthodox style, no Yiddish accent, no yarmulke, no tallis -- just a rabbi in a suit. (Weirdly, he is played by a goy, but actors often play against ethnic type, so i won't give that any scrutiny.) Of course an Irish priest later takes center stage, but still, it was really cool to see a Reform rabbi in a prison movie.

Second, we get Daniel L. Haynes, the African-American actor best known as the wonderful singer in "Hallelujah." His crime is also never referenced, but most importantly, he is treated as just another guy on death row. In fact, the only one talking about race is him, in a strange little riff on segregation in heaven and hell. He sings here too, several times -- but IMDb does not credit him for the soundtrack! That's a shame, because he is good, and the pieces are well-known gospel songs. I wish he had made more movies; he is a good actor as well as a great singer.

Extra bonus: this is a Two McDonald film, featuring both the handsome Francis McDonald as a robber and the melodiously-voiced Kenneth MacDonald (of later Perry Mason fame) as a guard named Harris.

(Come to think of it, George E. Stone was on many episodes of Perry Mason as a bailiff and no doubt appeared in episodes in which Kenneth MacDonald played the judge... small world.)

I enjoyed this movie, despite my political-philosophical differences with the character of the warden, and i hope that somebody picks up on how the Jewish characters in pre-code films are often just folks, not comics or stereotypes. I'd love to read an in-depth article on the subject.