Essential: CANON CITY (1948)

A wave of semi-documentary crime films hit the screen after the war. Twentieth Century Fox did quite well with this type of storytelling, a combination of gritty noir and fact-based drama. Eagle-Lion also excelled at producing these stories. The studio had succeeded with pictures like HE WALKED BY NIGHT, T-MEN and TRAPPED. But perhaps the best of these was CANON CITY, filmed in Colorado.

I should point out that CANON CITY is not pronounced Cannon City. There is supposed to be a tilde over the ‘N’ and it is pronounced Canyon City.

A prison was opened in Canon City, Colorado back in 1871 when Colorado was still a territory. Five years later, in 1876, when Colorado became a state, the territorial prison became a state prison. For years it housed dangerous criminals, many facing execution. An execution chamber was located on site until the 1990s. Today, the prison is still in operation almost 150 years after it first opened. But less dangerous inmates reside there now, and it has become a medium-security facility. The deputy warden’s house has never been rebuilt and still looks like something out of the 1800s.

For a century and a half the prison has provided continuous employment for residents that live in the surrounding community. There have been a few occasions when residents of Canon City have faced danger due to events at the facility. In 1929 there was a riot, and in late 1947 there was a prison break. Eagle-Lion’s motion picture is a recreation of the prison break.

Since director Crane Wilbur is utilizing a semi-documentary style, the film begins with a newsreel type tour of the prison as well as a short interview with Warden Roy Best. After the preliminary information is out of the way, we meet Carl Schwartzmiller (Jeff Corey), a lifelong hood and twelve other inmates who will escape with him. One of these men is a very reluctant guy named Jim Sherbondy (Scott Brady). Jim has been inside for almost ten years. He has petitioned the governor for release and thinks Warden Best will recommend him for parole.

Jim’s become one of the warden’s most trusted inmates, and as a result, he has privileges the other men do not enjoy. For instance, he is allowed to run the darkroom, developing x-rays that are used by doctors in the infirmary. Carl and the other guys want Jim to join their group, because they can hide weapons in the darkroom. It’s an ideal place. Since there is no lock on the door, guards must knock before entering in case Jim’s in the middle of developing film. This provides extra time to dispose of weapons if officials catch on to a planned escape.

During a visit with his girl, Jim mentions the pressure the others have been putting on him. Of course she does not wish for him to get out under these circumstances. But when Jim learns that his petition for parole has been denied, he becomes angry. He is now receptive to Carl’s plans. Soon Jim helps Carl and the others escape, and he goes with them. This occurs on the 30th of December 1947. There are some very good exterior sequences filmed on location with the men taking off in a blizzard. They separate and a few of the men find their way to farms outside Canon City.

Much of the action is routine for prison break pictures of the era. But since this one is based on a recent real-life event and has the full cooperation of Warden Best and others who work at the Canon City facility, the filmmakers adhere more closely to the facts. There is fear among members of the local community that some escapees, particularly Jim, will enact revenge on the ones who had incarcerated them. It is a situation of high alert that is fraught with suspense and uncertainty. In the sequences that follow, some of the men are either killed or rounded up.

We also see what is going on with the farm families that are taken hostage and forced to accommodate the men. One particularly good segment involves Mrs. Edith Oliver (Mabel Paige). She’s a feisty old gal who seems sweet on the outside but is determined to outfox the interlopers under her roof. She attacks Carl with a frying pan AND breaks a chair over his head. What strength! She gets a special scene at the end of the movie, where her bravery is commended.

Soon all the men except one have been caught. And that man, of course, is Jim Sherbondy. The family that Jim has taken hostage has a seven year old boy whose appendix bursts. Despite his reputation as a violent man, Jim softens and lets the family get medical help, which of course leads to his surrender. Jim is brought to justice and his brief adventure as a fugitive is over.

He is returned to the facility in Canon City where he will continue to serve out the rest of his term. Jim Sherbondy would remain in the Colorado penal system until 1969. At that point he had been working in a prison labor camp, when he escaped again. Police officers shot and killed him on a street in Denver. Here is his original mug shot, taken in 1937.

Essential: LET’S LIVE A LITTLE (1948)

Occasionally Eagle-Lion produced comedies, and some of them had top stars. LET’S LIVE A LITTLE was intended for United Artists, but the deal fell through so Robert Cummings and producer Eugene Frenke brought the project to E-L. The studio agreed to finance it with a substantial budget. Frenke’s wife Anna Sten was cast in one of the main roles; though the lead would be given to Hedy Lamarr.

It’s interesting to see Cummings do comedy with two very different European actresses. Lamarr plays her role sympathetically, while Sten injects more screwball elements as a self-absorbed vamp. Sten had a gift for comedy, and she nearly walks away with the picture.

Cummings portrays a harried ad exec who is about to have a nervous breakdown. His boss is putting pressure on him to sign Miss Sten to a contract. She runs a perfume business, and the agency wants to handle the ads for her wildly successful fragrance. The backstory is that they were previously engaged. Sten will only sign the deal if Cummings agrees to propose again and make her his wife.

At the same time, Lamarr turns up as a well-known psychiatrist who has just written a new book. The agency is also trying to get her account, to advertise her book.

Cummings is so befuddled when he goes to visit Lamarr, that she assumes he must be a new patient. Later that evening, when he wines and dines Sten, he bumps into Lamarr who is also out having dinner. Things go wrong when Sten decides she’s not getting enough attention. She causes a ruckus, and this sets off a domino effect that involves several people at the restaurant. Cummings really starts to crack up, and his comic breakdown is quite funny.

As a result of his mental collapse, he is taken to a resort in the country by Lamarr and another doctor. He’s not supposed to use the phone. He’s supposed to forget all about business and concentrate on getting well. Of course, he doesn’t exactly follow orders.

This is when things really get interesting. Cummings realizes he has feelings for Lamarr, not Sten. When he leans in for a kiss, his impulsive behavior catches her off guard. She tells him he’s cured and that he needs to go back to the city.

When Cummings returns to the city, he goes to see Sten but doesn’t tell her he’s in love with someone else. She signs the contract but keeps it in her possession and says he will have it the minute they are married. He calls her all sorts of names in frustration, and she throws facial cream at him. He retaliates by throwing cream at her. The slapstick in this scene is great, especially Sten’s wailing when she realizes he’s ruined her makeup and clothes.

Meanwhile, Lamarr has also returned to the city, and she is doing a radio show. She describes a recent patient while she’s on the air. We know who she’s talking about. At this point, it’s clear that Lamarr has developed feelings for Cummings.

She sees a newspaper headline that he agreed to marry Sten after all. Say what?! Now it’s Lamarr’s turn to crack up. She needs Cummings in her life, and she can’t let him marry Sten. But what is she going to do about it? Will she tell him how she feels before it’s too late? Or will she remain uptight. Her life would be so much happier, if she could only relax and live a little.