Incarcerated gangster Vincent Canelli (Edward G. Robinson) is on death row, just minutes from being put into the electric chair. makes a daring escape from prison with bank robber death row inmate Peter Graves and takes a bunch of hostages with him, holding up in a large warehouse with a prison guard's daughter, the prison chaplain, prison doctor and one of the guards held for security purposes. Robinson's moll (Jean Parker in a rare tough broad role) has arranged for one of the guards to believe that their daughter (Sylvia Findley) has been kidnapped, leading to the events that arrange Robinson's daring escape. As the law closes in on the warehouse, the scene gets tense with several of the hostages threatened with death and the chaplain (Milburn Stone) offering his life to save the others. However, the twists and turns of this low budget film noir leads to a nasty shoot-out where Graves begins to reveal feelings for Findley and realizes that while his life is toast anyway, he's got to find a way to prevent Robinson from killing her.
There's not much time for character development in these fast made thrillers, but a few aspects of the film stand out in giving even the criminals a human side that brings on a little bit of empathy for them, particularly in the final scene between Robinson and Parker. With no words, the love between them (or at least from Robinson towards the hard looking Parker) becomes clear, and the camera holds on them for just a bit longer before the twists come at the end to unpredictably wrap up this hostage situation. Yes, this could definitely be another variation of "The Petrified Forest" or "The Desperate Hours" or "The Night Holds Terror", but a tight script, fantastic camera work and desperate performances from Robinson and Graves, as well as a saintly performance by Stone, makes this unique in its own way. Parker, best known for her 1930's ingenue roles ("Little Women", "Lady For a Day", "Sequoia"), is very interesting in her tough gal part, having little to say outside her big opening scene, but when she does speak, being a total contrast to her image from those movies. Her final scene had me choked up to say the least, and the shocking ending made me exclaim out loud, "Wow!", for a twist I did not see coming.
There's not much time for character development in these fast made thrillers, but a few aspects of the film stand out in giving even the criminals a human side that brings on a little bit of empathy for them, particularly in the final scene between Robinson and Parker. With no words, the love between them (or at least from Robinson towards the hard looking Parker) becomes clear, and the camera holds on them for just a bit longer before the twists come at the end to unpredictably wrap up this hostage situation. Yes, this could definitely be another variation of "The Petrified Forest" or "The Desperate Hours" or "The Night Holds Terror", but a tight script, fantastic camera work and desperate performances from Robinson and Graves, as well as a saintly performance by Stone, makes this unique in its own way. Parker, best known for her 1930's ingenue roles ("Little Women", "Lady For a Day", "Sequoia"), is very interesting in her tough gal part, having little to say outside her big opening scene, but when she does speak, being a total contrast to her image from those movies. Her final scene had me choked up to say the least, and the shocking ending made me exclaim out loud, "Wow!", for a twist I did not see coming.