Plot Summary for
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) More at IMDbPro »

Having returned from fighting in World War I, James Allen doesn't want to settle into a humdrum life and decides to set off to find his fortune. He travels the length and breadth of America, working as a skilled tradesman in the construction industry. When times get tough however, he finds himself living in a shelter where an acquaintance suggests they go out for a hamburger. What the friend really has in mind is to rob the diner and Allen soon finds himself working on a chain gang with a long jail sentence. Allen manages to escape however and heads to Chicago where over several years he slowly but surely works his way up the ladder to become one of the most respected construction engineers in the city. His past catches up with him and despite protestations from civic leaders and his many friends in Chicago, he finds himself again on the chain gang. Escaping for a second time, he accepts that to survive, he must lead a life of crime. Written by garykmcd

Returning veteran James Allen, rejecting a return to the old factory grind, degenerates into a hobo. Innocently involved in robbery, he is railroaded onto an incredibly brutal chain gang. Finally escaping, he makes his way to Chicago, where he finds success in the construction industry...and grasping girlfriend Marie, who threatens to expose him if he doesn't marry her. When he meets and falls for Helen, things go from bad to worse. Written by Rod Crawford {puffinus@u.washington.edu}

After the World War I, the decorated for bravery sergeant James Allen (Paul Muni) decides to quit his job as a worker in the local factory in his hometown and find a position in construction business. He travels through many states, but is not well-succeed. Without any money, he is cheated and involved in a robbery of a dining place in the southern. He is wrongly convicted to serve in a brutal chain gang system for ten years. He escapes, moves to Chicago, where he becomes a prominent citizen and superintendent of a construction business. Due to a letter of his stupid brother, Rev. Robert Clinton Allen (Hale Hamilton), his girl-friend Marie Woods (Glenda Farrell) finds his condition of fugitive and blackmails him, forcing James to marry her. He becomes upset with the situation of permanently cheated husband, asks for the divorce and she denounces him to the police. During an intense dispute between the States of Illinois, asking for his pardon, and the Southern State, demanding the return of James to the prison, the brutal chain gang system is exposed, with tragic consequences for James. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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