''Hell's Highway'' is a 1932 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

film directed by

Rowland Brown Rowland Brown (November 6, 1900 – May 6, 1963), born Chauncey Rowland Brown in Canton, Ohio, was an American screenwriter and film director, whose career as a director ended in the early 1930s after he started many more films than he finished. ...

Plot

The film centers around brutal conditions in a prison of the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

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 nota ...

prisoners forced to construct a "liberty highway" for their overseer chasten under his brutal stewardship. Duke Ellis is the most influential inmate among them. He soon discovers his younger brother has also been incarcerated and joined the chain gang. Soon enough Duke will mastermind a mass riot.

Cast

Richard Dix Richard Dix (born Ernst Carlton Brimmer; July 18, 1893 – September 20, 1949) was an American motion picture actor who achieved popularity in both silent film, silent and sound film. His standard on-screen image was that of the rugged and sta ...

as Frank "Duke" Ellis *

Tom Brown Tom Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Brown (satirist) (1662–1704), English satirical writer *Tom Brown (trombonist) (1888–1958), American jazz trombonist and bandleader *Tom Brown (actor) (1913–1990), American film and televi ...

as John "Johnny" Ellis *

Rochelle Hudson Rochelle Hudson (born Rachael Elizabeth Hudson; March 6, 1916 – January 17, 1972) was an American film actress from the 1930s through the 1960s.C. Henry Gordon C. Henry Gordon (born Henry Racke; June 17, 1883 – December 3, 1940) was an American stage and film actor. Gordon was born in New York City, New York. He was educated both in New York and abroad in Switzerland and Germany. For some year ...

as "Blacksnake Skinner" *

Oscar Apfel Oscar C. Apfel (January 17, 1878 – March 21, 1938) was an American film actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He appeared in more than 160 films between 1913 and 1939, and also directed 94 films between 1911 and 1927. Biography Ap ...

as William Billings * Stanley Fields as F.E. Whiteside *

John Arledge Johnson Lundy Arledge (March 12, 1906 – May 15, 1947) was an American film and stage actor. Biography He played dozens of supporting roles in the Hollywood movies of the 1930s–1940s, including the tractor driver who destroys a house in ''Th ...

as Joe Carter *

Warner Richmond Warner Richmond (born Werner Paul Otto Raetzmann; January 11, 1886 – June 19, 1948) was an American stage and film actor. He began his career as a stock theatre actor and appeared in films in both the silent film and sound eras. His career spa ...

as "Captain Pop-Eye Jackson" * Charles B. Middleton as "Matthew The Hermit" *

Louise Carter Louise Carter (born Betty-Lee Carter; March 17, 1875 – November 10, 1957) was an American stage and film actress. She appeared in 48 films between 1924 and 1940, mostly in maternal supporting roles. Among her roles were the mother of Paul Muni ...

as Mrs. Ellis *

Clarence Muse Clarence Muse (October 14, 1889 – October 13, 1979) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, singer, and composer. He was the first African American to appear in a starring role in a major studio film, 1929's '' Hearts in Dixie''. ...

as Rascal *

Fuzzy Knight John Forrest "Fuzzy" Knight (May 9, 1901 – February 23, 1976) was an American film and television actor. He was also a singer, especially in his early career. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1928 and 1967, usually as a cowboy hero' ...

as "Society Red"

References

External links

* * * 1932 films 1932 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films RKO Pictures films 1930s prison films Films directed by Rowland Brown Films directed by John Cromwell Films set in the United States 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language crime films {{1930s-drama-film-stub