I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

Directed by

Mervyn LeRoy

Genre

drama film, prison film, crime film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 33m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.8 of 10 from 234 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A World War I veteran is wrongly convicted and sent to a brutal chain gang in the American South. He escapes and tries to build a new life in Chicago but cannot fully leave his past behind.

tensebleakgrittysuspensefulurgentclaustrophobicdour

What happens

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang is a 1932 American pre-Code crime tragedy film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Paul Muni as a convicted man on a chain gang who escapes to Chicago. It was released on November 10, 1932. The film received critical acclaim and was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Muni. The film was written by Howard J. Green and Brown Holmes from Robert Elliott Burns's 1932 autobiography of a similar name I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! originally serialized in the True Detective magazine. The true life story was later the basis for the television movie The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains (1987) starring Val Kilmer. In 1991, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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