Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954)

Directed by Don Siegel; produced by Walter Wanger

The convicts in cell block 11 are the worst in the prison, and the most desperate. In a bid not to escape but to improve conditions, they seize control of the block, inspiring other prisoners to go on the offensive. Guards are captured as hostages, and demands are made. But even within the tense stand-off that follows, each side fights to avoid making matters worse, as the warden (Emile Meyer) defies the prison commissioner (Frank Faylen) and the prisoners’ leader (Neville Brand) tries to suppress more violent rivals.

With its title, and coming from Allied Artists, formerly known as Monogram Pictures, a leading inhabitant of Hollywood’s ‘Poverty Row’, Riot in Cell Block 11 might be expected to be a straightforward exploitation/action flick. But it’s surprisingly, and commendably, more than that.

Firstly, the film has a semi-documentary feel to it. This is helped by a prologue that describes a spate of riots and take-overs of American prisons in the early 1950s. As it turns out, these were real, as were the resultant hearings and the short excerpt of an interview with Richard McGee, the then director of California’s Corrections Department. This prologue leads straight into the plot.

Secondly, though the producers may have wanted bigger names, the lesser known actors contribute to the realism - since there are clearly no Hollywood types here - while their talent is good enough not to diminish the drama. The best known actor is probably Neville Brand, whose resume included many criminal depictions; thus, he fit the type of the hardened, violent convict. While Brand may have been more famous as a heavy, Leo Gordon, playing ‘Crazy’ Mike Carnie was the real thing: a former felon and prison inmate. Meyer looks like a loading dock foreman, yet portrays a soft-spoken but tough warden, and character actors William Schallert and Whit Bissell portray, respectively, a reporter and a very unpopular prison guard.

Thirdly, the setting is realistic. It should be: it was Folsom Prison, made famous by the Johnny Cash song (written the year before the film and released the year after). The institution had been the subject of an earlier movie (Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951)), though in Riot in Cell Block 11, it is not named (though mentioned prominently in the credits.) The operations of a then-modern prison are shown incidentally but in detail.

One of the most striking features of the movie is that it is a social commentary, as well as a suspenseful drama. A note of sympathy with the prisoners, and frustration and even anger with the lack of prison-reform, is struck at the start, and carries through the story. The warden has been trying to change the system for years, and has to cope with manpower shortages and lack of funds. The prisoners are driven not by a desire to escape but to improve their conditions. This viewpoint does not let the prisoners off lightly. They are seen as violent, vengeful, antagonistic; yet even Brand’s character, labelled a psychopath, does his best to keep a lid on the boiling pot, despite his bitterness and harsh nature. His performance makes the ending particularly strong.

A well-written, realistic drama, which gets its purpose across without sacrificing tension or action, Riot in Cell Block 11 is one of cinema’s better prison movies.