Hell's Highway

MOVIE #1,435 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 03.12.24 There were actually TWO films already on my watchlist titled “Hell’s Highway,” believe it or not, so I didn’t have to go snooping for a second entry on this TWO 4 TUESDAY. (I actually watched a third movie accidentally, which I’ll write about more in the next entry.) This is a highly enjoyable and tight 62-minute pre-coder about prisoners being mistreated on a chain gang in oppressive heat. This was my first exposure to any of these actors as well as both co-directors (Rowland Brown and John Cromwell, who would eventually catch heat on the Hollywood blacklist). It’s excellently photographed by noted cinematographer Edward Cronjager and it really captures a vibe without feeling cheesy or unnatural. Having all the black actors singing soulful Gospel and blues songs might be a bit racist but it provides a lovely backdrop and soundtrack. And one of tunes actually references the movie, which I love…

The film ends with a random callback to a wife joke made earlier in the picture...


WIVES? AM I RIGHT?? A short early 30s flick I definitely recommend.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,434 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,436 ⫸

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Hell's Highway is a 1932 American pre-Code film directed by Rowland Brown. The film centers around brutal conditions in a prison of the Southern United States. Chain gang 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. It was released on September 23, 1932.