Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942)

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

John D. Klorer (story)
Joseph Krumgold (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 January 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

A helpless girl trapped between desperate cons and enemy rats in a lonely lighthouse!

Plot:

After Pearl Harbor, convicts at Alcatraz prison live in fear of bomb attacks, driving Champ Larkin and...

Plot Keywords:

Alcatraz | Nazi | Lighthouse | Prison | Spy

Cast

James Craig	...	Champ Larkin
Bonita Granville	...	Anne Porter
Frank Jenks	...	Jimbo
Cliff Edwards	...	Stormy
George Cleveland	...	Captain Porter
Erford Gage	...	Paul Brenner
Tala Birell	...	Baroness
John Banner	...	Fritz Weinermann
Otto Reichow	...	Max

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Spain:7 | USA:Approved (PCA #8697)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

The name on the crate the escapees were clinging to in San Francisco Bay is "H. Schlom". Herman Schlom is the film's producer.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The movie is set in 1943. The lighthouse keepers are depicted as members of the U.S. Lighthouse Service. The Lighthouse Service was disbanded on July 7, 1939. At that time, all lighthouse functions were assumed by the U.S. Coast Guard. Lighthouse personnel in 1943 would have U.S. Coast Guardsmen.

Wartime prison break makes better than average B-film...

Thanks to the fast-moving direction of Edward Dmytryk, SEVEN MILES FROM ALCATRAZ makes for a diverting prison break film, although it definitely shows its B-film origins. In fact, the last twenty minutes is strictly cliffhanger stuff that would have made good material for a Saturday afternoon serial.

It's got lots of wartime propaganda and the plot about Nazi spies using a lighthouse as an operation for their espionage is hard to swallow, but it works as an adventure film with an interesting locale and some competent players.

JAMES CRAIG carries most of the film on his sturdy shoulders, a handsome and rugged leading man who never quite made it to major stardom. FRANK JENKS is "Jimbo", his sidekick, and the supporting cast includes BONITA GRANVILLE (in one of her more underplayed roles), GEORGE CLEVELAND and CLIFF EDWARDS, who does his bug-eyed comic relief with a little too much relish.

There's plenty of action along with the talky moments. Fortunately, the action far outweighs any sense the script makes and is well staged by director Dmytryk. Craig gives one of his livelier performances as the escaped convict with a yen for Granville.

Passes the time quickly and it's easy to get hooked into the spy aspect of the story, but it's nothing special.