ESCAPE BY NIGHT
US, 1937, 64 minutes, Black and white.
William Hall, Anne Nagel, Dean Jagger, Steffi Duna, Ward Bond, George Meeker.
Directed by Hamilton Mac Fadden.
Escape by Night is a small-budget supporting feature. It focuses on crime in the late 1930s in New York.
Dean Jagger, in an early role, is the head of a racketeering gang. He is ruthless. Steffi Duna portrays his girlfriend. Ward Bond is one of the members of his gang. William Hall portrays a miner who has come into the city from Pennsylvania, rescues the girlfriend, is suddenly caught up in the life of the gang and has to flee after the head of the gang shoots an informer dead. The group then stay on a farm in the countryside – and undergo a kind of conversion experience. Anne Nagel is the leading lady, the daughter of the kindly blind man who lets them stay.
The film has a short running time, moves fairly quickly, establishes the crime scene, the lyrical life in the country, the dangers of exposure of the criminals, a bank robbery, and, in the brief final minutes, the hero rounding up the gang and calling the police.
The film was directed by actor-director Hamilton Mac Fadden. William Hall was an actor of the 1940s. Dean Jagger was to win an Oscar for Twelve O’ Clock High, best supporting actor of 1949.
1.A popular supporting feature? Crime? Crime not paying? Reformation? Exalting life in the country over life in the city? A popular theme of the 1930s?
2.The city settings, the streets, the apartments? The contrast with the countryside? The farm? The musical score?
3.The focus on Nick, his coming to the city, the mining background, opening horizons? His coming to Jo’s rescue? His being shot, the apartment, the confrontation with Capper? The rest of the gang? Their admiration for him? Their having to get out, the shooting? His going with the group in the car, the breakdown, his walking, finding the home, the encounter with Linda at the river, Pop and his blindness? Persuading them to take the group in? Their staying, his falling in love with Linda? The group farming and repairing the house? The idyllic time away from the city? The danger of exposure? Capper turning up, wanting them to leave? Pulling the gun on the criminals? The bank robbery, their being arrested? Nick and his escaping? His going to the hotel, pulling the gun on Capper and the gang, ringing the police? The American hero?
4.Capper, stern, ruthless? Treatment of Jo? Suspicious? With Nick, shooting the witness dead? Finding the group in the country, wanting them to leave? The bank robbery? The showdown and his being caught?
5.Spudsy and Red, helping Capper? Yet good-natured? Their background in jail? Supporting Nick, in the abandoned house, the dog bringing the rabbit? Moving in with the family? Spudsy and his cooking, looking after the farm, Red and the machinery?
6.Jo, tough, with Capper? Her helping Nick? Her not wanting to be at the farm, Fred and his arrival, Nick urging her to be friendly? Their falling in love? The chickens, wanting to stay in the country? Telling the truth to Fred?
7.Pop and Linda, the farm, Pop as blind, Linda not telling him the truth about the farm falling into disarray? His shrewdness? The details of life, over the summer? Falling in love? The truth about Nick?
8.Fred, the bank, the mayor? Love for Jo? The romantic scenes?
9.The bank robbery, the sheriff, the notice with the faces, Capper leaving the directions? The arrest, the trial?
10.Linda, her pleading with the authorities, saying that they had changed? Nick’s escape? But his redeeming himself? The happy ending?
11.Conventional but entertaining aspects of a gangster film?
