Canon City (film)
Encyclopedia
Canon City is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 written and directed by Crane Wilbur
Crane Wilbur
Crane Wilbur was an American writer, actor and director for stage, radio and screen. He was born in Athens, New York...

. The drama features Scott Brady, Jeff Corey, Whit Bissell and others.

Plot

This account of a violent prison break is a semi-documentary opens with a newsreel type tour of the prison. Led by Carl Schwartzmiller (Jeff Corey
Jeff Corey
Jeff Corey was an American stage and screen actor and director who became a well-respected acting teacher after being blacklisted in the 1950s.-Biography:...

), 12 convicts plan their escape and prisoner Jim Sherbondy (Scott Brady
Scott Brady
Scott Brady was an American film and television actor.Born as Gerard Kenneth Tierney, he was the younger brother of fellow actor Lawrence Tierney. Brady served in the Navy during World War II, where he was a boxing champ...

) is reluctant to go along with the group.

Background

The film is based on a prison break that occurred at the Colorado State Penitentiary at Cañon City, Colorado
Cañon City, Colorado
The City of Cañon City is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Fremont County, State of Colorado. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the city population was 16,000 in 2005. Cañon City is noted for being the location of nine state and four ...

 in December 1947.

Cast

  • Scott Brady
    Scott Brady
    Scott Brady was an American film and television actor.Born as Gerard Kenneth Tierney, he was the younger brother of fellow actor Lawrence Tierney. Brady served in the Navy during World War II, where he was a boxing champ...

     as Jim Sherbondy
  • Jeff Corey
    Jeff Corey
    Jeff Corey was an American stage and screen actor and director who became a well-respected acting teacher after being blacklisted in the 1950s.-Biography:...

     as Carl Schwartzmiller
  • Whit Bissell
    Whit Bissell
    Whitner Nutting Bissell , better known as Whit Bissell, was an American actor.-Early life:Born in New York City, Bissell was the son of prominent surgeon Dr. J. Dougal Bissell. He trained with the Carolina Playmakers, a theatrical organization associated with the University of North Carolina at...

     as Richard Heilman
  • Stanley Clements
    Stanley Clements
    Stanley Clements was an American actor and comedian.Stanley Clements was born Stanislaw Klimowicz in Long Island, New York. Young Stan realized that he wanted a show-business career while he was in grammar school, and when he graduated from college he toured in vaudeville for two years...

     as Billy New
  • Charles Russell as Tolley
  • DeForest Kelley
    DeForest Kelley
    Jackson DeForest Kelley was an American actor known for his iconic roles in Westerns and as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek.-Early life:...

     as Smalley
  • Ralph Byrd
    Ralph Byrd
    Ralph Byrd was an American actor. He was most famous for playing the comic strip character Dick Tracy on screen, in serials, movies and television.-Early life and career:...

     as Officer Joe Gray
  • Roy Best as Himself (the warden of the prison)
  • Henry Brandon as Freeman
  • Alfred Linder as Lavergne
  • Robert Bice as Morgan
  • Ray Bennett as Willie Bennett
  • Robert Kellard
    Robert Kellard
    Robert Kellard was an American actor who appeared in over 60 films between 1937 and 1951.-Career:Kellard entered in Hollywood in 1937 in the film Annapolis Salute, directed by Christy Cabanne...

     as Officer Winston R. Williams
  • Richard Irving as George Hernandez
  • Bud Wolfe as Officer Clark

Critical reception

New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...

wrote, "Another convincing demonstration that crime, while it may not 'pay,' can be turned to profitable uses by the makers of action films is given by Canon City, a tough semi-documentary job about a prison break in Colorado ... Crane Wilbur has held to a realistic line for much of the prison action and in some of the outside episodes. His actors—especially Jeff Corey, who plays the leader of the 'break'—are generally tough, convincing fellows with nothing to recommend in charm. And the movement is swift and dynamic, not unlikely in such affairs."

Critic Dennis Schwartz said of the film, "An unspectacular true story (it's dated) about a prison break that is told in a semi-documentary style. Its saving grace is that it is well presented ...This minor work has some resemblance to film noir through the characterization of Sherbondy as someone who is not a hardened criminal, but got into trouble both on the outside and then inside of prison because he made the wrong friends."
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