“Over The Wall”

Northern Advocate, 13 May 1939, Page 3 (Supplement)

“Over The Wall”

“Over the Wall" is a gripping melodrama of a man falsely imprisoned for murder and his subsequent rise to fame by means of a beautiful singingvoice.

Starring Dick Foran, popular Warner Bros, star, recently transferred from westerns, the picture’s love element is supplied by June Travis, one of the loveliest leading ladies in Hollywood to-day. Written by warden Lewis E. Lawes of Sing Sing, the story is one which smacks of real life and high drama with plenty of punch provided in the right places. It is a Warner Ijtos. presentation. Foran is now finished with western pictures, after making them for twc years, and is henceforth to play in straight dramas and comedies without the chaps and spurs. But Warners are not going to let Dick's splendid singing voice go to waste. Whenever possible he is going to warble. In “Over the Wall” he has three songs by the team of Jerome and Scholl, who wrote the famous “My Little Buckaroo,” which swept the world a few months back. In his current picture he is a member of the prison choir, whcse melodies are broadcast over a national network weekly. Thus he gains a following of millions of listeners and through these he is able to win the attention of the governor to some new evidence in his case, dug up by his sweetheart. This frees him, vindicates his name, and sends to punishment the plotters who put him behind the bars. Previewers of “Over the Wall” declared that splendid performances were given by Foran and Miss Travis,

also by John Litel as a prison priest. Ward Bond as head villain, and Veda Ann Borg as his sweetheart.

The picture was directed with fast and thrilling tempo by Frank MacDonald, from a screenplay* by Crane Wilbur and George Bricker, who adapted from the warden Lawes original.