Acting
Crawford's volcanic warden against Ford's quiet integrity.
Writing
Prison reform preachiness that somehow lands.
Director
Henry Levin
Glenn Ford
Joe Hufford
Broderick Crawford
George Knowland
Millard Mitchell
Malloby
Dorothy Malone
Kay Knowland
Carl Benton Reid
Captain Douglas
Frank Faylen
Convict Ponti
Will Geer
Convict Mapes
Martha Stewart
Bertie Williams
Henry O'Neill
Detective Dorn
Douglas Kennedy
Det. Bailey
Roland Winters
Vernon Bradley, Attorney
Ed Begley
Mackay, Head of Parole Board
Griff Barnett
Mr. Hufford (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Columbia Pictures' attempt to recapture the magic of Ford and Crawford's earlier hit 'The Blackboard Jungle'—same studio, same social conscience, way fewer teenagers.
The film rode the wave of 1950s prison reform cinema, but its real tension comes from Crawford's post-'All the King's Men' Oscar hangover—he's playing a man desperately clinging to power while visibly losing it.
US
