Prison Noir
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- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsJames CagneyVirginia MayoEdmond O'BrienA psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.
- DirectorJules DassinStarsBurt LancasterHume CronynCharles BickfordAt a tough penitentiary, prisoner Joe Collins plans to rebel against Captain Munsey, the power-mad chief guard.
- DirectorDon SiegelStarsNeville BrandEmile MeyerFrank FaylenFed up with the inhumane prison living conditions, a general prison riot breaks out, leading to hostage-taking, a stand-off with the guards and eventual negotiations with the prison administration officials.
- DirectorHoward W. KochStarsBroderick CrawfordRalph MeekerReed HadleyGerry Barker finds a lost boy whose rich father is extorted into paying a ransom for his return but the boy accidentally dies and Gerry goes to prison.
- DirectorLewis R. FosterStarsWilliam BendixArthur KennedyLuther AdlerThe survivors of a prison break set out on an arduous journey to retrieve some loot.
- DirectorJohn CromwellStarsEleanor ParkerAgnes MooreheadEllen CorbyA gentle, naive, pregnant 19-year-old widow is slowly, inexorably ground down by the hardened criminals, sadistic guards, and matron at a woman's prison. Will she be the same person when her sentence is up?
- DirectorLewis SeilerStarsIda LupinoJan SterlingCleo MooreA sadistic prison warden takes out her sexual frustration on her women inmates. While a caring physician tries to improve the jail's brutal atmosphere, a pair of rebellious inmates take matters into their own hands.
- DirectorJacques BeckerStarsAndré BervilJean KeraudyMichel ConstantinDistrust and uncertainty arise when four long-term inmates cautiously induct a new prisoner into their elaborate prison-break scheme.
- DirectorCrane WilburStarsScott BradyJeff CoreyWhit BissellTwelve inmates plan a prison break from the Colorado State Penitentiary but one of them reluctantly joins the group.
- DirectorHenry LevinStarsGlenn FordBroderick CrawfordMillard MitchellA D.A. becomes the prison warden where he tries to help an inmate he prosecuted, because he believes his sentence was excessive.
- DirectorRussell RouseStarsJack PalanceHarold J. StoneEdward PlattSan Quentin prison inmate Arnie Judlow asks his twin brother Bill and his wife Ruth to assist him in a daring escape plan.
- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsStanley BakerSam WanamakerGrégoire AslanIn the UK, after pulling a racetrack robbery, repeat offender Johnny Bannion hides the loot in a farmer's field but the police and the local mob come looking for Johnny and the money.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsLawrence TierneyMarian CarrBarton MacLaneEx con Lawrence Tierney, hunts a supposedly reformed inmate, MacLane who escapes during a trip to San Francisco.
- DirectorCrane WilburStarsRichard BasehartMarilyn MaxwellSigne HassoA paroled convict's infatuation with a gold-digger nurse working at a sanitarium leads him to crime.
- DirectorHoward W. KochStarsMickey RooneyFrank OvertonMichael ConstantineA prison break is attempted the same night an execution occurs on death row.
- DirectorCrane WilburStarsSteve CochranDavid BrianPhilip CareyAt California's Folsom Prison, escape attempts and riots are on the rise due to the old-school sadistic style of management of a brutal warden.
- DirectorWalter DonigerStarsPerry LopezBeverly GarlandWalter AbelA power struggle emerges among convicts condemned to prison life.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsJohn HowardJoan DixonWalter KingsfordA doctor tests his theory that blood diseases can be cured by atomic radiation by using prison inmates as experiments.
- DirectorHugo FregoneseStarsEdward G. RobinsonJean ParkerPeter GravesGangster Vincent Canelli and bank robber Peter Manning escape from Death Row minutes before their execution by electric chair.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsCarole MathewsBeverly MichaelsPeggy KnudsenThe governor appoints lawyer Jeff Darrow to open an investigation on the reported cruelties inflicted on the inmates of the Bayou Reformatory For Women. The investigation is opposed by Mrs. Ballard, head of the prison, whose moronic brother, Cletus, is keeper of the prison bloodhounds. Nora Collins, once engaged to Jeff, but now an inmate because she had stolen to protect her brother, is resentful of prison methods and particularly bitter against the sadistic methods of a brutal prison guard named Darcy. Honey Blake and Kate unsuccessfully try to use Cletus in an escape attempt. But they try a second escape using Jeff, Nora and Mrs. Ballard as hostages. Mabry, Kate's gangland lover, hears of the escape and knowing she will go where she had hidden $50,000 gets there ahead of her.
- DirectorElmo WilliamsStarsBeverly MichaelsJim DavisJoan RiceU.S. State Department agent Kent Foster, on the trail of a murderous traitor, Nick Randall, hopes to trap Randall through singer/stripper Angela Booth. The latter has promised to marry Randall on New Year's Eve even though she is not to see him until then. However, she lands in prison after a quarrel with influential Julius Lord, during which she defended herself with a broken mirror. Foster arranges for her escape with the aid of "Granny" Ramsey in hope that she will lead him to Randall. The plan is snarled when another girl prisoner with her infant joins the escape and Angel slips away. She manages to meet Randall, and, when he slaps her, she realizes that all she has heard about him is true.
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsSusan HaywardSimon OaklandVirginia VincentA prostitute, sentenced to death for murder, pleads her innocence.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsTerry MooreDebra PagetBert FreedDottie Manson commits a murder for which club singer Lois King is arrested, tried, and condemned to die. The story line wanders through the trial and Miss King's final hours on Death Row. The true killer is finally ready to confess, but already Miss King (who has by now been strapped into the electric chair) is at risk. Will she be rescued in the nick of time?
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsDiana DorsYvonne MitchellMichael CraigWoman abused by men meets a man she thinks loves her. He cheats, she kills his mistress. Based on Ruth Ellis, last woman executed in Britain. Less than
- DirectorFred F. SearsStarsWilliam CampbellR. Wright CampbellMarian CarrWhit, condemned and awaiting execution, reviews the events of his life that has brought him to Cell 2455 on San Quentin's Death Row, a story he had told in a autobiography that became a sensational best-seller. As a boy, the young Whit stole groceries to help feed his impoverished family, later moving on into major crime to impress a young gang moll, Jo-Anne, and turns into a cold-blooded thug when he is repudiated by the girl he loves, Doll. And by his own lawyer when he is arrested and tried as the infamous Lover's Lane Bandit. In cell 2455, he studies law to the point where he wins stay after stay, twice within minutes of his scheduled execution.
- DirectorCrane WilburStarsJune HavocJohn RussellDorothy HartAfter gang leader Rick is killed, his wife Molly takes over his gang but a robbery goes wrong and Molly finds herself in jail where she undergoes a personal transformation.
- DirectorHall BartlettStarsElroy 'Crazylegs' HirschBarbara HaleChester MorrisA convict in a medium-security prison is torn between his need to finish his sentence and get back to his wife and family, and his desire to escape the confines of prison.
- DirectorBuzz KulikStarsJim BrownGene HackmanMike KellinA riot in a state prison is staged to cover up an escape attempt, during which many inmates and guards are killed. Shot on location at Arizona State Prison.
- DirectorTed TetzlaffStarsRichard ConteAudrey TotterJohn McIntireAfter a cunning, unscrupulous mobster is sentenced to a Florida prison farm, he launches a deadly escape plan.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsPaul MuniGlenda FarrellHelen VinsonWrongly convicted James Allen serves in the intolerable conditions of a Southern chain gang, which later comes back to haunt him.
- DirectorSidney HayersStarsLee PattersonConrad PhillipsEwen SolonServing a jail sentence for a crime he didn't commit, Paul Langley makes several attempts to escape from prison, in order to clear his name. He also has other problems, his wife is about to go into labor with their first baby.
- DirectorMontgomery TullyStarsTerence LongdonJennifer JayneHarry FowlerA prisoner transport bus hijacked to free one inmate. Other prisoners locked in petrol-soaked barn, warned not to escape. Police find freed prisoner dead in crash, race to find bus and prisoners before barn catches fire.
- DirectorElmo WilliamsBert GlazerStarsBeverly MichaelsJoan RiceThora HirdComedy and drama as three women, including one with her baby, escape from prison.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsGlynis JohnsDiana DorsJohn GregsonFrank "women in prison" story that sympathetically tracks several inmates through their imprisonment and subsequent return to society. Some are successfully rehabilitated; some are not.
- DirectorLesley SelanderStarsMarcia HendersonPeter WalkerKatherine BarrettFramed by her stepmother for manslaughter, a convict turns to a parole racket.
- DirectorRobert D. WebbStarsJeffrey HunterSheree NorthBarry SullivanAn old inmate tells his cellmate, who's up for parole, about the location of a 35-year old gold loot and the released convict goes looking for it in Arizona.
- DirectorRoger RichebéStarsViviane RomanceRenée Saint-CyrMarguerite DevalJuliette, an innocent woman, is wrongly sentenced to prison for attempted murder. After her release, she married an industrialist to whom she did not speak of her tumultuous past.
- DirectorRenato CastellaniStarsAnna MagnaniGiulietta MasinaCristina GaioniA harsh study about the grim realities of life in a female prison environment. The story concerns a young girl sent to prison who experiences the entire prison subculture. The inmates she befriends vary from tough dangerous dames to smaller submissive women who are totally lost in prison life.
- DirectorJulien DuvivierStarsSerge ReggianiJean DavyMonique MélinandStory takes place in a dreadful girls' reformatory. A couple of lovers will try to escape from this living hell.
- DirectorAnthony MannStarsDennis O'KeefeClaire TrevorMarsha HuntJoe Sullivan (Dennis O'Keefe) has taken the rap for Rick (Raymond Burr), who double-crosses him with a flawed escape plan and other means intended to get rid of him.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsVictor MatureBrian DonlevyColeen GrayA crook arrested for a jewelry heist initially refuses to give up his accomplices, but he changes his mind once his wife dies under worrying circumstances.
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsDavid CarusoSamuel L. JacksonNicolas CageA reformed convict goes undercover with the help of an angry detective to ensnare a psychotic mobster.
- DirectorHenry HathawayStarsJames StewartRichard ConteLee J. CobbChicago reporter P.J. McNeal re-opens a decade-old murder case.
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsJames CagneyGeorge RaftJane BryanA corrupt D.A. (Thurston Hall) with political ambitions is angered by news stories implicating him in criminal activity and decides to frame the reporter (James Cagney) for manslaughter in order to silence him.
- DirectorBudd BoetticherStarsJoseph CottenRhonda FlemingWendell CoreyAn unhinged, deceptively mild-mannered bank robber escapes prison, seeking revenge on the cop who accidentally killed his wife during a gun battle.
- DirectorMax NosseckStarsLawrence TierneyEdmund LoweAnne JeffreysJohn Dillinger begins his life of crime as a petty thief, meets his future gang in prison and eventually masterminds a series of daring robberies.
- DirectorLloyd BaconStarsGeorge RaftJane BryanWilliam HoldenAn ex-con who wants to go straight has difficulties trying to reintegrate into society while on parole.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsGeorge RaftVirginia MayoGene LockhartThe former employee of a trucking company, currently in prison for embezzlement, plans his eventual revenge against his former boss.
- DirectorFrank TuttleStarsAlan LaddEdward G. RobinsonJoanne DruAfter 5 years in prison, ex-cop Steve Rollins is paroled and searches for the San Francisco mobsters who framed him for manslaughter.
- DirectorCharles Marquis WarrenStarsSterling HaydenJoan LeslieWard BondA man is framed and sent to toughest prison in the territory.
- DirectorMontgomery TullyStarsJack WarnerRichard AttenboroughDirk BogardeA slice of life in a British Borstal reform institution for young criminals.
- DirectorAlfred RoomeStarsJack WarnerJane HyltonGeorge ColeWar hero George Martin escapes prison handcuffed to crook Willie Stannard. They obtain railway tickets. Pursued by police and press, George aims to break free from Willie and escape.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsRex HarrisonPeggy CumminsWilliam HartnellA convict sentenced to three years for killing a detective escapes from a prison and goes on the run aided by a local girl.
- DirectorFrancis SearleStarsPeter ReynoldsAvice LandoneDavid KernanA family of burglars and safecrackers plan a heist at a jewelry store. When one of the family--who is the safecracking expert--gets arrested and jailed, they hatch a plan to break him out so he can take part in the robbery.
- DirectorAnatole LitvakStarsJohn GarfieldAnn SheridanPat O'BrienAn arrogant mobster, sentenced to a long prison term in Sing Sing, becomes a changed man when given a chance by the fair and progressive warden.
- DirectorWalter ColmesStarsJohn SheltonAnn DoranGuinn 'Big Boy' WilliamsIn 1929, middle-class bank clerk Eddie Clark, unhappy with his lot in life and jealous of prosperous George Bates, an ex-suitor of his loyal wife Agnes, steals $200,000 from his bank, with intentions of he and Agnes being in Mexico before the theft is discovered. Agnes tries to persuade him to return the money to no avail. He is caught and sent to prison without revealing the hidden location of the loot, figuring to get it and live in luxury when his ten-year term is over. His case has received much publicity and nearly every inmate in the prison attempts to wrest the information from him. Gangsters on the outside arrange with convicts Clyde Sutter and Butch McQuinn to get the secret from him. Agnes, who has taken a waitress job in a nearby city, is also trying to find the money with the intention of returning it and getting Eddie a reduced sentence. Sutter's plan is to involve Eddie in a prison break and turn him over to the gangsters on the outside. Butch is shot during the break, and Eddie is the only one to escape. He meets Agnes in an old warehouse but she has been trailed by gangsters Kelvin and Benson. They beat him up but his life is saved by the arrival of the state police. He is returned to prison with an additional five years added to his sentence. He is released in 1947 and makes his way to the money's hiding place - a cemetery plot he had bought in 1929.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiStarsStephen MurrayRichard ToddPatricia PlunkettChristy Drew, an aspiring young writer trying to broaden his experience, gets involved with Frankie Ketchen and her two suitors, Herb Logan and Jim Heal. One night, Jim finds Frankie has been with Christy and kills her. Herb is accused of the murder and sentenced to prison. After he gets out, he blames Christy but finally proves Jim to be the real killer, based on a clue provided to him by Christy, now a famous writer.
- DirectorLaurence HarveyStarsLaurence HarveySarah MilesRobert Walker Jr.A bank robber is sentenced to prison for committing a murder during the robbery. His brother comes up with a plan to break him out of prison--but on the condition that his brother's girlfriend "date" him first.
- DirectorPhilip FordStarsDon 'Red' BarryJanet MartinWilliam PhippsA group of prisoners being transported by train to Alcatraz prison plot an escape.