Each Dawn I Die (1939)

Director:

William Keighley

Writers:

Norman Reilly Raine (screenplay) and
Warren Duff (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 August 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Crime | Drama

Plot:

Although innocent, reporter Frank Ross is found guilty of murder and is sent to jail. While his friends...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Reporter | Prison | Orchestral Music Score | Corruption

Cast

James Cagney	...	Frank Ross
George Raft	...	'Hood' Stacey
Jane Bryan	...	Joyce
George Bancroft	...	John Armstrong
Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom	...	Fargo Red (as Maxie Rosenbloom)
Stanley Ridges	...	Meuller
Alan Baxter	...	Carlisle
Victor Jory	...	Grayce
John Wray	...	Pete Kassock
Edward Pawley	...	Dale
Willard Robertson	...	Lang
Emma Dunn	...	Mrs. Ross
Paul Hurst	...	Garsky
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Lassiter
Joe Downing	...	Limpy Julien

Also Known As:

Killer Meets Killer

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #5085) | Sweden:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Sing Sing Penitentiary - 354 Hunter Street, Ossining, New York, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Many people who are in studio records/casting call lists as cast members did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names): Al Lloyd, Tom Wilson, Alice Connors and Fern Barry (Accident Witnesses), Eddy Chandler (Deputy), Vera Lewis (Juror), Earl Dwire (Judge Crowder) and Frank Mayo (Telegraph Editor). In addition, a modern source lists Nat Carr and Granville Bates as cast members, but they were not seen either.

Quotes:

'Hood' Stacey: You're the only guy I ever met that gave me a break without putting the bee on me for dough.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Dad's Army: Asleep in the Deep (#5.1)" (1972)

Soundtrack:

Don't Give Up the Ship

Old fashioned prison tale

Even with such newer items as Brubaker and the Shawshank Redemption, Each Dawn I Die still holds up rather well if in fact it's a bit dated.

One has to remember that a film like Each Dawn I Die was made under "the Code" and a whole range of issues about prison life could not be dealt with and if so, only extremely subtly.

Still both James Cagney and George Raft give solid performances. Cagney is great in everything and Raft is in his gangster milieu so it's no stretch for him.

There's a great supporting cast of familiar Warner Brothers faces to support the two leads. I'd pay special attention to Stanley Ridges as the stir-crazy Muller and John Wray as Pete Kassock the sadistic prison guard. One of the issues not discussed is gay sex in prison. But read that dimension into Ridges's concern for buddy Louis Jean Heydt who Wray fatally injures and some of his actions become very explicable.

There is a political element here too. Cagney is a reporter who is investigating District Attorney Thurston Hall and his assistant Victor Jory. They concoct a frame for him that lands him in prison. Hall gets elected Governor and Jory gets to control the pardon board. Cagney goes before Jory to ask for a pardon and that scene itself is one of the best in the film.

A great film with a great cast, one of the best of Warner Brothers gangster products.