Mutiny in the Big House

1939
Approved
1h 23m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Charles Bickford and Barton MacLane in Mutiny in the Big House (1939)

A young man forges a check in order to help his mother, but is caught and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The prison chaplain, seeing that the new arrival is a good man who's had some bad l... Read allA young man forges a check in order to help his mother, but is caught and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The prison chaplain, seeing that the new arrival is a good man who's had some bad luck, sets out to help keep him out of trouble so he can serve his sentence and get out. Ho... Read allA young man forges a check in order to help his mother, but is caught and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The prison chaplain, seeing that the new arrival is a good man who's had some bad luck, sets out to help keep him out of trouble so he can serve his sentence and get out. However, his cellmate, a hardened con, sees the chaplain's interest in the young convict as ... Read all

Director
- William Nigh
Writers
- Robert Hardy Andrews
- Martin Mooney
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.3/10

YOUR RATING

Director
- William Nigh
Writers
- Robert Hardy Andrews
- Martin Mooney
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos14

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5.5

Prison Train

Storyline

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Trivia
The earliest documented telecast of this film occurred 3/29/42 on New York City's pioneer television station WNBT (Channel 1). Post-WWII television viewers got their first look at it in New York City 5/2/48 on WCBS (Channel 2), In Washington DC on 6/6/48 on WNBW (Channel 4), in Chicago 1/20/49 on WNBQ (Channel 5), in Los Angeles 5/1/49 on KTLA (Channel 5), and in Boston 51//50 on WNAC (Channel 7).

Quotes
Johnny Gates: Then for a $10 cheque I get sent up for one-to-fourteen years! For ten dollars! Yeah, and a number branded on me that'll never come off. And you're to help me, huh? What can you do - what can anybody do now? I'm a con. And when I get outta here, I'll be an ex-con, and I'll be walkin' the same streets, no job, no money, no hope for the future. Can you change any of that? Sure, I'll get sent up again, and be a two-time loser. And you know it, don't you?

User reviews9

Review

Featured review

8/10

Fascinating anecdote.

A great film. Remember the part where Father Joe looks at the envelope. It is addressed to 6948 Woodman Ave. Miltown PA. There is a Milltown PA but not a Miltown PA. But what is really fascinating is that 6948 Woodman Ave. is the Van Nys address of Ann Dvorak, with whom he made Gangs of new York a year earlier. I ponder what this suggests?

Barton MacLane crackles, the under-rated Pat Moriarty is believable and not stereotyped as an overly hostile warden, of which there are many in film. There is a brilliant cast of characters. George Cleveland provides some levity.

A powerful film, flawless acting, with excellent pace and balance. One of the great prison films, of which there were many.