A "Crime Doesn't Pay" morality drama about a young man sentenced to a prison term and attempts by the system to rehabilitate jailed criminals.A "Crime Doesn't Pay" morality drama about a young man sentenced to a prison term and attempts by the system to rehabilitate jailed criminals.A "Crime Doesn't Pay" morality drama about a young man sentenced to a prison term and attempts by the system to rehabilitate jailed criminals.
- Associate Warden
- (uncredited)
- Assistant Cashier
- (uncredited)
- Guard
- (uncredited)
- Convict
- (uncredited)
- Hughie
- (uncredited)
- Federal Marshal
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe original trailer for They All Come Out (1939) claimed that it was the first to show the real truth about Alcatraz and other federal prisons. In fact, this started out as a four-reel documentary short on federal prisons. Louis B. Mayer asked shorts director Jacques Tourneur to expand the documentary. Mayer liked what he saw and ordered Tourneur to use the footage to create a feature film of fiction. This became Tourneur's first American feature film.
- GoofsAll entries contain spoilers
- Quotes
[first lines]
Self - Former Attorney-General: You know, Jim, I've been thinking. You have one of the most interesting jobs in the whole Department of Justice. Here you are, in charge of twenty-eight federal prisons, and eighteen thousand prisoners. The people apparently have very little realization of that phase of our work. They don't seem to realize that every time a prison door opens, and a man goes in, another man comes out. That in a way is a challenge of the federal prison system. Some day, some how, all these prisoners come out, come back to live among us. Now, we've done a very great deal for these men, and it seems to me that the public ought to be told about it.
Self - Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons: They should be told, but it's a big story, and it's a hard story to tell because every single case is different. Let's take a look at a typical case of interstate bandits...
[switches to the story of Reno Madigan's gang]
At first they live it up, but they are eventually captured. But not before Reno and Joe hide 33K in stolen loot but do not tell the others about it. The rest of the film is about how the federal prison system treats each one of the gang - even operating on Joe's hand and teaching him a trade. The lesson seems to be that the feds know who is redeemable and who isn't, and if you're not it's off to "The Rock" - Alcatraz. Before their capture, Joe and Kitty seem to have an understated romance going, and during their imprisonment they are allowed to write letters where this romance seems to blossom. But against them when they get out is their record, local papers looking for sensational stories, and then there is still Reno inside prison expecting Joe to help spring him with the 33K they hid. And Reno has friends on the outside.
I doubt that the federal prison system was ever that good, and even if it was, I doubt a prison psychiatrist could just talk a seemingly crazy man out of believing he had women in his pockets and cure him with talk alone.
imdb currently rates this as a 6/10, but knowing its roots as a short/documentary, I'd give it a 7/10. The leads give real depth to their rather rushed performances, and it is an interesting tale.
- AlsExGal
- May 26, 2018
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Almas que regresan
- Filming locations
- Chillicothe, Ohio, USA(U.S. Industrial Reformatory)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 10 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1