I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

“Six sticks of dynamite that blasted his way to freedom … and awoke America’s conscience!”

In 1932, James Allen (Paul Muni) comes home from the First World War wanting to build bridges and buildings, but the only work on offer is a factory job that wears him down. A false conviction sends him to a chain gang instead, where the days are shackles and hard labor. Mervyn LeRoy shoots it plain and unadorned, with the roughness of the work left in the frame.