--Brute Force
This is a 1947 gritty prison film that has a bevy of noted actors in it: Burt Lancaster, Hume
Cronyn, Charles Bickford, Sam Levene, Whit Bissell, Howard Duff, Yvonne DeCarlo, Ann Blyth, Ella Raines!
Hume Cronyn, really against type, plays a power mad prison guard that one of the inmates makes plans to rebel against. It's a compelling film, but not a really pleasant one for the characters, though the message for the audience is clear. The only thing I didn't like in it is they have an ethnic character who sings little lines here and there that comment on what's going on. Once or twice might have been enough, but it goes on more than that. It's directed very well by Jules Dassin.
I've always noticed that the year 1947 has a lot of very different types of films in every genre that are pretty exceptional. It seems to have been a year "in between what was and what was to come." When filmmakers were making various statements before the red scare clamped down on people/film makers speaking out. Speaking frankly. (The blacklist.) So, if I see a film and it says it was out in 1947 I'm more apt to watch it!
The screenplay was by Richard Brooks. A novel that he wrote (The Brick Foxhole) was made into a Best Film nominee in 1947 - Crossfire. He also became a noted film director.
Some places denote this movie as a film noir, but I would not. A lot of noir films have morally ambiguous characters and the motivations in this film on both sides are decidedly not ambiguous.
Interesting fact: In one scene in the film the prisoners are all watching the film The Egg and I, which stars Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert and introduces the characters of Ma & Pa Kettle. This film was also released in 1947 and the 2nd biggest moneymaker of the year.
