Customer Reviews

Last Mile [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was really quite impressed by this movie. The Last Mile is an account of death row inmates awaiting execution. This has been a common theme in movies over the years, of course, but The Last Mile dates all the way back to 1932. In case you're wondering, it is not a silent picture, nor is the video quality bad at all. The film suffers somewhat from its strident political viewpoint, but it does make for fascinating viewing.

Walters is the man brought into cell # 5, having been convicted of murdering his business partner in cold blood. He's innocent, but that doesn't really matter now that he's in the big house. We soon come to know all the men in the death house to some degree, and most of them are depicted in a much more favorable fashion than the prison guards. One man possesses a rich singing voice, another one drives everyone crazy with his howls and poetic tirades, one plays the macho prisoner constantly letting the guards have it while trying to buck up the spirits of the guys like Walters, etc. The audience is treated to an extended scene featuring one prisoner's walk down that last mile to the door of the execution chamber. It makes for a poignant scene, but it also highlights the issues I had with the film. The film announces its vocal anti-death penalty stance in the very first frame of the film (in the form of an introductory note), and it never wavers from the predetermined focus. The convicts are all basically nice guys who are scared and nervous about their imminent deaths, while the prisoners are brutes who like nothing more than to rub the coming executions' in the noses of the condemned. Looking death in the eye, the convicts worry about their families, lament the fact that they have so much to live for, and generally present themselves as men being unduly punished by an unjust system. Oddly enough, not one man utters a word of remorse or even acknowledgement for the crimes that put him in the situation in the first place.

Even after the prisoners get the jump on the guards and seize control of the death house, they are still presented in a favorable light. We are apparently still supposed to feel sorry for them because the system has forced them to take such drastic, murderous action. In The Last Mile, everything is always the fault of society and the law; if it weren't for that bad old death penalty, such things would not happen - or so we are led to believe. This film clearly fits the mold of propaganda, in my opinion, yet I can't deny the fact it is a well-made, gripping film.

THE LAST MILE, released in 1932, is a well made, hard hitting film about men waiting out their last hours on death row. It was based on a play that had originally starred Clark Gable as "Killer Meers", the inmate who initiates the climactic prison break.

The film stars Preston Foster in a standout performance as the embittered Meers, a man who truly has nothing to lose.

This is a film that is disturbing in its controversial (for its time) depiction of the death penalty. The story is handled in a realistic, pre-code style, 95% of which takes place in the cell block. You really feel the tension of these men, which literally explodes at the end of the film.

Synergy Entertainment's DVD-R was transferred from a complete print that looks good, with clear picture and sound. This is one of the best movies of its type, made at a time when they knew how to make them.

In the very early '30's, a "B" movie company was desperately trying to get some "A" status to it. Tiffany Studios, along with it's in-house production company Sono-Art World-Wide, produced some very ambitious features showcasing some of the star and not-quite star rosters of bigger studios. One such feature was their production of THE LAST MILE, based on the Broadway play of the same name. It starred Preston Foster, Howard Phillips, George E. Stone, et al. The premise is quite formulaic: several hoods decide to break out of prison, along with an innocent man who was convicted on circumstantial evidence. This film is a lively 60+ minutes of poignant dialogue sparked by bang-bang shoot-'em-up action with fine acting work by all (one must understand that in the early '30's, a great many actors were still not used to film with sound). 2 years earlier, MGM had a great success with THE BIG HOUSE, as did RKO in '31 with HELL'S HIGHWAY, Columbia with THE CRIMINAL CODE and in the same year as this, WB with I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG, as well as Paramount's LADIES OF THE BIG HOUSE. Prison pictures were quite the vogue then! Print quality is much better than I thought it was going to be. The folks at Synergy have done a nice job, and while not perfect, was still a nice clean up. The DVD is a DVD-R and ran nicely on my machine. I wish their product was a bit cheaper but if this is an example of their work, I'll be purchasing more from Synergy!!Last MilePurchased from Amazon.com who has always delivered for me!!

I paid for but never received this Item. Amazon did nothing to resolve this Problem as they thru it off on the sender and I wound up eating it.
Be careful if you buy on Amazon.

Thank You, The WolfmanLast Mile

There is nothing to review. In watching the trailer to see if you are interested further, time is up due to the long list of credits. You have 04 seconds of the movie. What I did see, however, the film quality is poor.