This is an early Humphrey Bogart film in which he plays a tough young hood about to start his first stretch in prison. At the same time this occurs, a new supervisor of the guards (Pat O'Brien) begins working there--taking the place of the sadistic and brutal Barton MacLane. It seems MacLane was demoted due to the way he treated the prisoners and it was obvious early on that he had it out for O'Brien and would try to get his revenge.
At the same time all this is occurring, O'Brien coincidentally meets Bogart's sister (Ann Sheridan). They hit it off great and when O'Brien is later lenient with Bogart, the prisoners begin talking as if this is being done strictly because O'Brien is dating Bogart's sister. Eventually, these rumors make it back to now model prisoner Bogart who vows to break out of jail, as he doesn't want anyone doing him favors (yeah, right--most prisoners would LOVE to try to exploit a situation like this). But, after Bogart breaks out (thanks to help from MacLane), he realizes that O'Brien is a swell guy and honestly wanted to help, so, shot and wounded, he crawls his way back to prison to turn himself in--thus saving O'Brien's reputation as a tough but very fair captain of the guards. Sure.
While the script is pretty syrupy in places and tough to believe, the production values are high and the acting and dialog are very good and typical of an A-quality Warner Brothers film. Exciting and fun to watch but also with some faults in plotting as well as an impossible to believe ending.
At the same time all this is occurring, O'Brien coincidentally meets Bogart's sister (Ann Sheridan). They hit it off great and when O'Brien is later lenient with Bogart, the prisoners begin talking as if this is being done strictly because O'Brien is dating Bogart's sister. Eventually, these rumors make it back to now model prisoner Bogart who vows to break out of jail, as he doesn't want anyone doing him favors (yeah, right--most prisoners would LOVE to try to exploit a situation like this). But, after Bogart breaks out (thanks to help from MacLane), he realizes that O'Brien is a swell guy and honestly wanted to help, so, shot and wounded, he crawls his way back to prison to turn himself in--thus saving O'Brien's reputation as a tough but very fair captain of the guards. Sure.
While the script is pretty syrupy in places and tough to believe, the production values are high and the acting and dialog are very good and typical of an A-quality Warner Brothers film. Exciting and fun to watch but also with some faults in plotting as well as an impossible to believe ending.