20,000 Years in Sing Sing
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20,000 Years in Sing-Sing
Plot
Sent to Sing Sing prison, influential crook Spencer Tracy is unregenerate and refuses to adhere to the rules. While in solitary confinement, Tracy reconsiders his attitude. Thanks to the correctional facility's compassionate warden (Arthur Byron), Tracy becomes a model prisoner, even refusing to participate in a jailbreak. The warden sets up a special program permitting selected prisoners a degree of freedom and even suggests allowing an occasional furlough. When Tracy's girl friend (Bette Davis) is hurt in an auto accident, he is given a 24 hour pass to visit her. It's a test case--if Tracy doesn't return, the warden will be discredited and replaced. While on the "outside," Tracy learns that his old rival (Louis Calhern) was responsible for his girl's injuries. Davis shoots the rival, who in turn fingers Tracy as the one responsible; the convict thus risks execution upon returning to the arms of the law. Based on the book by real-life Sing Sing warden Lewis E. Lawes, 20,000 Years in Sing Sing was remade in 1940 as Castle on the Hudson. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviCast
- Spencer Tracy - Tom Connors
- Bette Davis - Fay
- Arthur Byron - Warden Long
- Lyle Talbot - Bud
- Sheila Terry - Billie
- Warren Hymer - Hype
- Edward McNamara - Chief Guard
Credit
Anton Grot - Art Director, Orry-Kelly - Costume Designer, Michael Curtiz - Director, George J. Amy - Editor, Bernhard Kaun - Composer (Music Score), Leo F. Forbstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Barney "Chick" McGill - Cinematographer, Robert Lord - Producer, Darryl F. Zanuck - Producer, Wilson Mizner - Screenwriter, Brown Holmes - Screenwriter, Robert Lord - Screenwriter, Courtney Terrett - Screenwriter, Lewis E. Lawes - Book Author| 20,000 Men a Year (1939 Film), 20,000 Lieues Sur La Terre (1961 Film) | |
| 200 American (2003 Film), 200 Cadillacs (2002 Film) |
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20,000 Years in Sing Sing
| 20,000 Years in Sing Sing | |
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 original poster |
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| Directed by | Michael Curtiz |
| Produced by | Darryl F. Zanuck (uncredited) Raymond Griffith (uncredited supervising producer) Robert Lord (uncredited associate producer) |
| Written by | Lewis E. Lawes (book) Courtney Terrett (adaptation) Robert Lord (adaptation) Wilson Mizner Brown Holmes |
| Starring | Spencer Tracy Bette Davis |
| Release date(s) | December 24, 1932 |
| Running time | 78 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
20,000 Years in Sing Sing is a 1932 American black-and-white drama film set in Sing Sing Penitentiary, the notorious maximum security prison in New York State. This movie was directed by Michael Curtiz, and it starred Spencer Tracy as an inmate and Bette Davis as his girlfriend. This movie was based upon the nonfiction book Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing, which was written by Lewis E. Lawes, the warden of Sing Sing from 1920 to 1941.
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Contents
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Plot
Cocky Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) is sentenced to five to thirty years in Sing Sing for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. His associate, Joe Finn (Louis Calhern), promises to use his contacts and influence to get him freed long before that, but his attempt to bribe the warden to provide special treatment is met with disdain.
Connors makes trouble immediately, but several months confined to his cell changes his attitude somewhat. As the warden had predicted, Connors is only too glad to do some honest work on the rockpile after his enforced inactivity.
Nonetheless, his determination to break out is unshaken. Bud Saunders (Lyle Talbot), a highly educated fellow prisoner, recruits him and Hype (Warren Hymer) for an escape attempt. By chance, however, it is scheduled for a Saturday, which Connors superstitiously regards as always unlucky for him. He backs out, forcing Saunders to take another volunteer. The warden is tipped off and, though two guards are killed, the escape is foiled. Trapped, Saunders jumps to his death. His two accomplices are captured.
Meanwhile, Connors' girlfriend, Fay Wilson (Bette Davis), visits him regularly. On one visit, she admits she has become friendly to Finn in order to encourage him to help Connors, but Connors tells her that she is only giving Finn a reason to keep him in jail.
The warden shows Connors a telegram which says that Wilson was injured in a car accident; there is no hope for her. Then, he gives Connors a 24 hour leave to see her; Connors promises to return, no matter what. When he sees Wilson, he learns that Finn was responsible for her injuries. He takes out a gun from a drawer, but Wilson persuades him to give her the pistol. Finn shows up, however, expecting her to sign a statement exonerating him in exchange for $5000 she intended to give to Connors. Connors attacks him. When it seems that Finn is about to kill her boyfriend, Wilson shoots him. Connors flees, taking the gun with him; Wilson secretly slips the money into his pocket. Before he dies, Finn names Connors as his killer.
The warden is lambasted in the newspapers for letting Connors go. Just when he is about to sign a letter of resignation, Connors walks in. He is found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to the electric chair, despite a recovered Wilson's testimony that she killed Finn. Connors comforts her before being taken to Death row.
Production
Betta Davis liked working with Spencer Tracy, and had actually idolized him. The two wanted to do another movie together but never got the chance, but did work with each other again on a radio version of Dark Victory.
Tracy, then under contract to Fox, was lent out to Warner Brothers for the film. It was originally intended for James Cagney, but at the time Cagney was having one of many misunderstandings with Jack Warner.
Cast
- Spencer Tracy as Tommy Connors
- Bette Davis as Fay Wilson
- Arthur Byron as The Warden, Paul Long
- Lyle Talbot as Bud Saunders
- Warren Hymer as Hype
- Louis Calhern as Joe Finn
See also
External links
- 20,000 Years in Sing Sing at the Internet Movie Database
- 20,000 Years in Sing Sing at the TCM Movie Database
- 20,000 Years in Sing Sing at AllRovi
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