Glenn Ford stars in this 1950 film about a man sentenced to 1 - 10 years in prison (he killed a man in a bar fight & is charged w/manslaughter) but due to his never having committed any serious previous offenses, the prosecutor & later warden of the jail, played by Broderick Crawford, takes a stern but kind liking to him as he elevates him from nameless con to trustee as he becomes a chauffeur for him & his daughter, played by Dorothy Malone, who of course takes a liking to him. The conflict occurs when a stoolie rats out members of an attempted escape (Ford was approached to join in but he refused) which results in them being killed. The rat is nervous that he'll be killed in retaliation & when he is, Ford happens to walk in on the killer's departure (he's a friend of Ford's so he stays mum) prompting Crawford to put the screws to Ford (putting him in solitary confinement even) so he'll id the doer setting up the film's last section where the rat's killer holds a guard hostage & Crawford has to talk him down. Some social messaging gets through the straight forward prison yarn (the cruel treatment by the guards is quite vivid, Crawford's attempts to instill in his prisoners a sense of self worth) which elevates this film above like minded tales. Also starring Ed Begley as a parole panel member, Will Geer (from The Waltons) as a fellow prisoner & Whit Bissell as an attorney.
