- Convicted (1950 film)
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Convicted 
Theatrical PosterDirected by Henry Levin Produced by Jerry Bresler Written by Screenplay:
Seton I. Miller
Fred Niblo, Jr.
William Bowers
Story:
Martin FlavinStarring Glenn Ford
Broderick CrawfordMusic by George Duning Cinematography Burnett Guffey Editing by Al Clark Distributed by Columbia Pictures Release date(s) August 1950 Running time 91 minutes Country United States Language English Convicted (1950) is an American crime film noir directed by Henry Levin and written by Seton I. Miller, Fred Niblo, Jr., and William Bowers, based on a play written by Martin Flavin. The drama features Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, among others.[1]
Contents
Plot
The prison drama tells of Joe Hufford (Ford), a man convicted of manslaughter. George Knowland (Crawford) is the warden who understands Hufford and tries to help him adjust to prison life. Hufford witnesses the murder of an informer by another convict (Millard Mitchell), but he sticks to the prison's "silent code" and refuses to talk, even though it means he will be accused of the killing. He is wounded by a guard in a subsequent fight and eventually is locked in solitary confinement. In the end, the real murderer confesses and Hufford escapes the electric chair and into the arms of the warden's daughter (Dorothy Malone), with whom he has fallen in love.
Background
Convicted was the third film version of Martin Flavin's 1929 stage play The Criminal Code.[2]
Cast
- Glenn Ford as Joe Hufford
- Broderick Crawford as George Knowland
- Millard Mitchell as Malloby
- Dorothy Malone as Kay Knowland
- Carl Benton Reid as Captain Douglas
- Frank Faylen as Convict Ponti
- Will Geer as Convict Mapes
- Martha Stewart as Bertie Williams
- Henry O'Neill as Detective Dorn
- Roland Winters as Vernon Bradley, Attorney
- Ed Begley as Mackay, Head of Parole Board
- Whit Bissell as State Attorney (Mr. Owens)
- John Doucette as Convict Tex
Critical reception
The staff at Variety magazine wrote, "Convict isn't quite as grim a prison film as the title would indicate. It has several off-beat twists to its development, keeping it from being routine. While plotting is essentially a masculine soap opera, scripting [from a play by Martin Flavin] supplies plenty of polish and good dialog to see it through."[3]
Critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, specifically for the way the ending was handled, writing, "Henry Levin confidently directs this dated routine miscarriage of justice crime drama...Feeling too much doom and gloom has been laid on the snake-bitten Joe, the film concludes in a happy ending-- something the audience was probably rooting for. But this happy ending seemed a stretch."[4]
See also
References
- ^ Convicted at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Erikson, Hal. Convicted at AllRovi.
- ^ Variety. Film review, August 1950. Last accessed: January 21, 2008.
- ^ Schwartz, Dennis. Ozus' World Movie Reviews, film review, October 1, 2004. Last accessed: January 21, 2008.
External links
- Convicted at the Internet Movie Database.
- Convicted at AllRovi.
- Convicted at the TCM Movie Database.
- Convicted article at Turner Classic Movies by Nathaniel Thompson.
Categories:- 1950 films
- American drama films
- Black-and-white films
- Columbia Pictures films
- 1950s drama films
- English-language films
- Prison films
- Films directed by Henry Levin
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