Chain Gang (1950 film)

Chain Gang
Titular screenshot
Directed by	Lew Landers
Produced by	Sam Katzman
Written by	Howard J. Green
Starring	Douglas Kennedy Marjorie Lord
Cinematography	Ira H. Morgan
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	November 1950
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Chain Gang is a 1950 American drama film directed by Lew Landers, written by Howard J. Green and starring Douglas Kennedy as a newspaper reporter who goes undercover to expose political corruption and the exploitation of chain gang labour.

Chain Gang was produced by Sam Katzman at Columbia Pictures and filmed in black and white by Ira H. Morgan. It was reissued on DVD in 2012 as part of the Sony Choice Collection.

After a state senator's bill to abolish chain gangs is rejected by the Senate, newspaper reporter Cliff Roberts (Kennedy) persuades his boss Pop O'Donnel (Harry Cheshire) at the liberal Capitol City Evening Standard to arrange for him to go undercover in a chain gang prison. Equipped with false employment records and a tiny microfilm camera disguised as a cigarette lighter, he tells everyone -- including girlfriend Rita McKelvey (Marjorie Lord), a reporter for a rival newspaper -- that he is going on a fishing trip, but actually heads for Cloverdale Prison Farm in the deep south, scene of recent incidents which left three inmates dead.

The prison's Captain Duncan (Emory Parnell) supplies labour in the form of chain gangs, which are ostensibly for state construction projects but in reality are being exploited by Rita's stepfather, local entrepreneur John McKelvey (Thurston Hall), for his construction projects. Working as a guard, Roberts secretly photographs prison conditions, arriving in time to witness the recapturing of an escaped inmate who is sent for an overnight stay in the sweatbox as punishment. Roberts is supplied with a bullwhip and is required to use it when a convict - Snead (William Phillips) - is caught covering up for another inmate who can't work well enough at the construction site. Under Captain Duncan's orders, Roberts reluctantly flogs Snead at the whipping post. Later he visits Snead in solitary confinement to apologise for the whipping and gains the inmate's trust.