Convicted (film)

Infobox Film
name = Convicted


image_size =
caption = Theatrical Poster
director = Henry Levin
producer = Jerry Bresler
writer = Screenplay: Seton I. Miller Fred Niblo, Jr. William Bowers Story: Martin Flavin
narrator =
starring = Glenn Ford Broderick Crawford
music = George Duning
cinematography = Burnett Guffey
editing = Al Clark
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = August 1950
runtime = 91 minutes
country = United States
language = English
budget =
gross =
website =
amg_id = 1:87831
imdb_id = 0042343

"Convicted" (1950) is a American crime "film noir" directed by Henry Levin and written by Seton I. Miller, Fred Niblo, Jr., and William Bowers, based on a play written by Martin Flavin. The drama features Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, among others. [imdb title|id=0042343|title=Convicted.]

Plot

The prison drama tells of Joe Hufford (Ford) as a man convicted of manslaughter. George Knowland (Crawford) is the warden who understands Hufford and tries to help him adjust to prison life.

Hufford witnesses the murder of a rat by another convict (Millard Mitchell), but he sticks to the prison "silent code" and refuses to talk, even though it means he will be accused of the killing.

He's wounded by a guard in a subsequent fight. Finally, the real murderer confesses and Hufford escapes the electric chair and into the arms of the warden's daughter (Dorothy Malone), whom he has fallen in love.

Background

"Convicted" was the third film version of Martin Flavin's 1929 stage play "The Criminal Code." [Erikson, Hal. amg movie|id=1:87831 |title=Convicted.]

Cast

* Glenn Ford as Joe Hufford
* Broderick Crawford as George Knowland
* Millard Mitchell as Malloby
* Dorothy Malone as Kay Knowland
* Carl Benton Reid as Captain Douglas
* Frank Faylen as Convict Ponti
* Will Geer as Convict Mapes
* Martha Stewart as Bertie Williams
* Henry O'Neill as Detective Dorn
* Douglas Kennedy as Det. Bailey
* Roland Winters as Vernon Bradley, Attorney
* Ed Begley as Mackay, Head of Parole Board
* Whit Bissell as States Attorney Owens
* John Doucette as Convict Tex

Critical reception

The staff at "Variety" magazine wrote, "Convict" isn't quite as grim a prison film as the title would indicate. It has several off-beat twists to its development, keeping it from being routine. While plotting is essentially a masculine soap opera, scripting [from a play by Martin Flavin] supplies plenty of polish and good dialog to see it through." [ [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117790073.html?categoryid=31&cs=1 "Variety"] . Film review, August 1950. Last accessed: January 21, 2008.]

Critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, specifically for the way the ending was handled, writing, "Henry Levin confidently directs this dated routine miscarriage of justice crime drama...Feeling too much doom and gloom has been laid on the snake-bitten Joe, the film concludes in a happy ending-- something the audience was probably rooting for. But this happy ending seemed a stretch." [ [http://www.sover.net/~ozus/convicted.htm Schwartz, Dennis] . "Ozus' World Movie Reviews," film review, October 1, 2004. Last accessed: January 21, 2008.]

References

External links

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* [http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=161306&mainArticleId=161301 "Convicted"] article at Turner Classic Movies by Nathaniel Thompson.