Looking Behind Prison Walls in Latest Talkie

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7242, 23 August 1933, Page 5

Looking Behind Prison Walls in Latest Talkie

“TWENTY THOUSAND YEARS IN SING SING” TELLS FINE TALE

Sing Sing prison, which is the locale for First National Picture’s ‘‘Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing,” now at the Kosy theatre, is one of the oldest penitentiaries in the U.S.A, there being only four established before it. Spencer Tracy takes the leading role in the picture which is an adaptation of the book by Warden Lewis E. Lawes. Bette Davis plays the feminine lead.

A thousand stories concentrated into ono drama will be unfolded on the screen in what i 3 said to bo m many ways tho most remarkable dramatisation of human emotions ever attempted. Tho screen play is taken from tho book by Warden Lewis E. Lawes, of Sing Sing prison, at Ossining, New York, and while it deals with grim facts, has been hailed as a realistic document that is far more fascinating than the most colourful' fiction. Tho picture condenses into one story tho most dramatic and spectacular incidents in his career as warden. These include the humorous and tho romantic side of the prisoners as well as thrilling episodes and the grim tragedies in the lives of the leading personalites whom Sing Sing has housed. Every phase of the life of the convicts of Sing Sing is touched upon, including their personal loves, their friendships and their loyalties. It includes their daily routine and their contact with the outside world, and it includes the ’extraordinary incidents of prison life, such as Tiots and killings and escapee, and executions. Spencer Tracy, who set Broadway by the ears in his role of KilleT Mears in “The Last Mile,” takes the leading rolo of Convict Tom Connors, a “big shot” of the underworld, whose love and loyalty eventually send Mm to the chair for a crime he had not committed. Bette Davis has the leading feminine role opposite Tracy, as the gunman’s little girl, who was faithful to “hey man ’ ’ to the end.

There is an exceptionally strong supporting cast which includes such famous players of both stage and screen as Arthur Byron, Lyle Talbot, Grant Mitchell, Warren Hymer, .Louis Calhern, and Edward J. McNamara.