Chain Gang

Director Lew Landers churned out quickie programmers like sausages, many of them almost instantly forgettable, but this isn't one of them. It's a solid little epic about a reporter going undercover as a guard to expose the brutality and corruption of the chain-gang system. Stalwart Douglas Kennedy--usually a stolid second-lead or heavy--does a good job as the reporter, veteran character actor Emory Parnell as the corrupt head guard has a bigger part then he usually does and makes the most of it and little-known character actor William Phillips does a very good turn as hardened chain-gang convict Snead. This picture has a bit more bite to it than the usual Landers epic, it's tighter (somewhat reminiscent of Phil Karlson's work, but just somewhat) and faster-paced than connoisseurs of Landers' work are used to. Thurston Hall as the main heavy and William Tannen as his front man are also quite good, although Marjorie Lord drags things down a bit as Kennedy's girlfriend. Altogether, though, it's actually a pretty good little picture, and definitely one of Landers' better efforts.