''Chain Gang'' is a 1950 American drama film directed by Lew Landers, written by Howard J. Green and starring Douglas Kennedy as a newspaper reporter who goes undercover to expose political corruption and the exploitation of

chain-gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was no ...

labor.

Plot

After a state senator's bill to abolish chain gangs is rejected by the senate, reporter Cliff Roberts persuades his newspaper to allow him to go undercover as a guard in a chain-gang prison. Equipped with false employment records and a tiny

microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either photographic film, films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the origin ...

camera disguised as a cigarette lighter, he tells everyone, including his girlfriend Rita McKelvey, a reporter for a rival newspaper, that he is going on a fishing trip, but actually heads for Cloverdale Prison Farm in the Deep South, where recent incidents have left three inmates dead. The prison's Captain Duncan supplies labor in the form of chain gangs, which are ostensibly for state construction projects but in reality are exploited by Rita's stepfather, local entrepreneur John McKelvey, for his construction projects. Roberts secretly witnesses and photographs prison conditions, including the capture of an escaped inmate who is punished with an overnight stay in the sweatbox. When a convict named Snead is accused of a minor offense, Captain Duncan orders Roberts to flog Snead at the

whipping post The pillory is a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse. The pillory is related to the stocks ...

. Later, Robert visits Snead in solitary confinement to apologize for the whipping and gains Snead's trust. Roberts' secret photographs are published in the newspaper, angering McKelvey. When an inmate sees Roberts' photograph in McKelvey's house, Roberts' cover is blown. Snead tries to escape and Roberts joins him. They try to outrun the guards and their dogs across wilderness, but Roberts is shot and left for dead by Captain Duncan, who later pins the blame on Snead. Roberts eventually reaches freedom and is reunited with Rita. Snead is killed while on the run and McKelvey is charged with the exploitation of convict labor for personal gain.

Cast

Main

* Douglas Kennedy as Cliff Roberts *

Marjorie Lord Marjorie Lord (née Wollenberg; July 26, 1918 – November 28, 2015) was an American television and film actress. She played Kathy "Clancy" O'Hara Williams, opposite Danny Thomas's character on ''The Danny Thomas Show'' (also known as ''Make ...

as Rita McKelvey *

Emory Parnell Emory Parnell (December 29, 1892 – June 22, 1979) was an American vaudeville performer and actor who appeared in over 250 films in his 36-year career. Early years Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Parnell trained as a musician at Morningside ...

as Capt. Duncan * William Phillips as Roy Snead

Supporting

Thurston Hall Ernest Thurston Hall (May 10, 1882 – February 20, 1958) was an American film, stage and television actor.Aylesworth, Thomas G. and Bowman, John S. (1987). ''The World Almanac Who's Who of Film''. World Almanac. . Pp. 186-187. Career Stag ...

as John McKelvey *

Harry Cheshire Harry V. Cheshire (August 16, 1891 – June 16, 1968), originally from Emporia, Kansas, was an American character actor who appeared in over 100 films, mostly playing small roles. He was also a stage actor and performed on a St. Louis radio ...

as Henry 'Pop' O'Donnell

Cameo/Uncredited

Fred Aldrich Fred Aldrich (December 23, 1904 – January 25, 1979) was an American character actor of both film and television. Born in New York. He would break into the film industry in 1939, appearing in two films that year in small roles: ''My Son Is ...

as Convict * Stanley Blystone as Convict on Chain Gang * Paul E. Burns as Dr. Evans * Benny Burt as Convict in Bunk * Jack Chefe as Convict * James Conaty as Pop's Influential Friend *

George Eldredge George Edwin Eldredge (September 10, 1898 – March 12, 1977) was an American actor who appeared in over 180 movies during a career that stretched from the 1930s to the early 1960s. He also had a prolific television career during the 1950 ...

as Guard Adams *

William Fawcett William or Bill Fawcett or ''variation'', may refer to: People * William Fawcett (actor) (1894–1974), American actor who was awarded the ''Légion d'honneur'' * William Fawcett (author) (1902–1941), English journalist and writer on horses, hun ...

as Zeke * Eddie Foster as Convict Operating Crane * John Hart as Chain Gang Member * Don C. Harvey as Guard Langley * Charles Horvath as Convict in Skirmish * Billy Lechner as Eddie Jones *

Herbert Rawlinson Herbert Banemann Rawlinson (15 November 1885 – 12 July 1953) was an English-born stage, film, radio, and television actor. A leading man during Hollywood's silent film era, Rawlinson transitioned to character roles after the advent of sound f ...

as Senator Harden *

George Robotham George Robotham (January 10, 1921 – February 1, 2007) was an American stuntman and actor. Robotham was born in 1921 and played American football at UCLA, where he was awarded a degree in business administration. He started his acting career ...

as Guard Reagan * John Rogers as Joe – Lunch Counterman *

Larry Steers Lawrence Wells Steers (February 14, 1888 – February 15, 1951) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 550 films between 1917 and 1951. He was born in Indiana, and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Partial filmography * ...

as Senate Committee Hearing Attendee * Bert L. Stevens as Newspaper Office Worker * Brick Sullivan as Guard *

William Tannen William Tannen (November 17, 1911 – December 2, 1976) was an American actor originally from New York City, who was best known for his role of Deputy Hal Norton in fifty-six episodes from 1956 to 1958 of the ABC/Desilu western television ser ...

as Harry Cleaver * Dorothy Vaughan as Mrs. Briggs *

Rusty Wescoatt Norman "Rusty" Wescoatt (August 2, 1911 – September 3, 1987) was an American supporting actor who appeared in over 80 films between 1947 and 1965. Early life The son of Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Wescoatt, he was born on August 2, 1911, in Maui, Hawa ...

as Guard Yates *

Frank Wilcox Frank Reppy Wilcox (March 13, 1907 – March 3, 1974) was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films and television series, as well as Broadway plays. Background Wilcox was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Roger V. Wilcox. He was born in De Soto ...

as Lloyd Killgallen

Reception

''Chain Gang'' was praised for its acting, direction, action sequences and technical qualities, but Green's improbable storyline and dialogue received criticism.Mavis, Paul
"Chain Gang (Sony Choice Collection)"
''DVD Talk''.
. 12/17/2013 , by Ivan G. Shreve, Jr. ''Classic Flix'' The film was reissued on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in 2012 as part of the Sony Choice Collection.

References

External links

''Chain Gang''
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

.
''Chain Gang'' at TCM.
Last accessed June 28, 2013 {{Sam Katzman 1950 films American drama films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Lew Landers 1950 drama films American black-and-white films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films