20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
Cocky Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) is sentenced from 5 to 30 years in Sing Sing for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. His associate, Joe Finn (Louis Calhern), promises to use his contacts and influence to get him freed long before that, but his attempt to bribe the warden to provide special treatment is met with disdain and failure.
Connors makes trouble immediately, but several months confined to his cell changes his attitude somewhat. As the warden had predicted, Connors is only too glad to do some honest work on the rockpile after his enforced inactivity.
Nonetheless, his determination to break out is unshaken. Bud Saunders (Lyle Talbot), a highly educated fellow prisoner, recruits him and Hype (Warren Hymer) for a complicated escape attempt. By chance, however, it is scheduled for a Saturday, which Connors superstitiously regards as always unlucky for him. He backs out, forcing Saunders to take another volunteer. The warden is tipped off and, though two guards are killed, the escape is foiled. Trapped, Saunders jumps to his death. His two accomplices are captured and returned to their cells.
Meanwhile, Connors' girlfriend, Fay Wilson (Bette Davis), visits him regularly in prison since his trial. On one visit, she admits she has become friendly and close to Finn in order to encourage him to help Connors, but Connors tells her that she is only giving Finn a reason to keep him locked up in jail.
The warden shows Connors a telegram that says that Wilson was injured in a car accident; there is no hope for her. Then, he gives Connors a 24-hour leave to see her; Connors promises to return, no matter what. When he sees Wilson, he learns that Finn was responsible for her injuries. He takes out a gun from a drawer, but Wilson persuades him to give her the pistol. Finn shows up, however, expecting her to sign a statement exonerating him in exchange for $5000 she intended to give to Connors. Connors attacks him. When it seems that Finn is about to kill her boyfriend, Wilson shoots him. Connors flees, taking the gun with him; Wilson secretly slips the money into his pocket. Before he dies, Finn names Connors as his killer.
The warden is lambasted in the newspapers for letting Connors go. Just when he is about to sign a letter of resignation, Connors walks in. He is found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in the electric chair, despite a recovered Wilson's testimony that she killed Finn. Connors comforts her before being taken to death row.

Review: A good entry in the early prison-drama cycle.Spencer Tracy is good as the cocky inmate.Arthur Byron has an unusual part as the sympathetic warden of Sing Sing.There aren't too many of them in movies.The action sequences in the movie are expertly handled by Curtiz.Bette Davis does a good job in a small part.Louis Calhern is suitably slimy.The ending is typically of the times in which it were made..
Spencer Tracy is on death row in "20,000 Years in Sing Sing," a 1932 film from Warner Brothers.
Tracy here plays Tom Connors, basically a Cagney role, an arrogant tough guy who plans on taking over the prison.
His authoritative acting made him suitable for dramatic leads.Nevertheless, Tracy pulls off this role, and Bette Davis is adorable as his girlfriend Fay. Lyle Talbot is on hand as a fellow prisoner, and Arthur Byron has a good turn as the warden, whom he makes decent and sympathetic.This is no "I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang," but it's pretty good..
Betty Davis (Fay Wilson,) "Hell's House",'32, looked like a knock out in those days, as a very sexy looking blond that caused Spencer Tracy(Tom Connors),"Bottoms Up",34, to say to her that, '"She was So Hot", she drove him Crazy with Desire".
Louis Calhern, (Finny),"Duck Soup",'33, was a crooked lawyer for Tom Connors and also decided to hit on sexy Fay Wilson, while his client was working in Sing Sing on the Rock Pile.
20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A tough guy (Spencer Tracy) gets 5-30 in Sing Sing but he thinks the journey will be easy due to his connections on the outside.
The Warden (Arthur Byron) eventually reforms the guy but when his girlfriend (Bette Davis) gets injured, the Warden offers the man one night outside the prison if he promises to return the following day.
This Michael Curtiz directed prison drama is pretty good, although it really doesn't offer us anything new or original.
The story eventually falls apart in the middle section but Tracy and Davis, in their only film together, makes it worth watching..
It's unfortunate that the one and only teaming of Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis was early in their careers when neither really had a chance to show what they were capable of.Tracy was under contract to Fox at this time and Fox loaned him to Warner Brothers and at that time Tracy was playing all kinds of mug parts.
Here he does a role that James Cagney must have turned down over at Warner Brothers.Tracy is a gangster who's freshly arrived at Sing Sing doing a five to thirty year stretch for some unnamed offense.
While in New York Tracy and Calhern mix it up, because Calhern's now on the make for Tracy's girlfriend Bette Davis.Now one could argue that this was an example of progressive thinking on the warden's part.
I will say that Louis Calhern is the best one in the film, he is one sleazebag for the ages.In fact 20,000 Years in Sing Sing only gets as high a rating as it does because of Tracy and Davis.
Good thing Davis fought for better roles and Tracy's potential was only really explored after he got to MGM..
He plays tough guy Tommie Connors, who thinks his connections on the outside will make his prison term an easy one.
A stern, but kind hearted warden and a faithful girlfriend are key figures in the plot.This is the only time Tracy and Bette Davis shared the screen.
I was quite disappointed.The movie starts out promising enough, with Spencer Tracy as a hardened tough guy being hauled off to Sing Sing.
The actors did well with their individual roles (including a very young and beautiful Bette Davis) and the story moved fairly apace, but in the end it added up to a whole lot of nothing for me.To top it off, there were some inconsistencies and/or hard-to-follow plot developments that bothered me: 1 - During a psychological test session to determine which manual labor to place the prisoners in, Tracy and Lyle Talbot do good enough on their puzzle to earn the "shoe shop" (top of the line job at the prison, according to the story), but dolt Hype can't fit the square piece into the square slot even after 5 minutes, so he is assigned lavatory duty.
(I prefer not to think it's the latter!) Overall, it was fun to watch Tracy and Davis early in their careers, but honestly wasn't really worth having to sit through this movie in order to do so..
Both are quite good but I prefer this original film...slightly.The film begins with Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) arriving at Sing Sing.
The warden (Arthur Byron) puts Tommy in his place...and informs him that if he doesn't want to work or wear a prison uniform, he didn't have to...even if that meant going outside in the winter in rags!
I was blown away by the acting of Tracy and Arthur Byron (who plays the warden at Sing Sing).
The fine cast backing him up includes Bette Davis, Louis Calhern, Lyle Talbot, and Arthur Byron.
This might be the first prison movie to use the plot device of a convict being granted 24-hour leave for but doesn't return on time for one reason or another.
This is a story about good-hearted crook Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy), the warden of the prison he's in (Arthur Byron) and his girlfriend Fay Wilson (Bette Davis) in that order of importance.
Furthermore, even after I watched corresponding scenes several times, I still do not get what exactly happened to Fay and what was her real medical state.The only character that displays considerable inner feelings is well described by Spencer Tracy's fine acting.
The rest of the crew is easily recognized as a standard reliable Warner Bros troupe which almost invisibly slips from one film to another.It is worth watching Spencer Tracy in his early acting role (not so for Bette Davis) and for the objective review of prison life in 1930s.
"20,000 Years in Sing Sing" was the only film Spencer Tracy made at "Warner Bros." He was a last minute replacement for James Cagney who had been suspended by the studio at the time.
I thought Tracy did a fine job as the arrogant and pompous hoodlum who thinks he will be treated like royalty whilst serving a prison sentence.
Bette Davis doesn't have much screen time but when she is in the film, she has good scenes with Spencer Tracy.
One of the biggest draws of this movie is that it features a couple of legends, Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis, a little bit before they hit it big.
Tracy plays a big-time criminal who is imprisoned, and Davis is his girlfriend waiting for him on the outside.
Partially filmed on location in Sing Sing, director Michael Curtiz does a good job of making use of the setting and varying his camera angles.
I liked how there is a sense of honor from both the screen warden (Arthur Byron) and Tracy's character, even though they are on different sides of the law.
Above average prison drama featuring the only Spencer Tracy-Bette Davis pairing.
Michael Curtiz directed this above average prison, crime drama adapted from the book of the same name written by Lewis Lawes (who really was a Warden at Sing Sing!) by Courtney Terrett and Robert Lord, with a screenplay by Wilson Mizner and Brown Holmes.
It stars Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis (their only film together), as well as Arthur Byron and Louis Calhern (among others).The title refers to the cumulative sentencing time of all the inmates held at the famous New York state prison.The film was later remade by director Anatole Litvak as Castle on the Hudson (1940) with John Garfield, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien, and Jerome Cowan (respectively).Since I saw the latter first, the plot summary is contained within my review of that film on IMDb.com.As far as I can tell, there is little difference between the two films.
In fact, their run-times are within 5 minutes of each other; this one is the longer of the two, and its ending does drag a bit.Even though Tracy played a number of tough characters early in his career (like Davis, this was one of his first 10-15 roles), I think Garfield was better suited to the role.
Tracy's character is named Tom Connors in this one.Ms. Davis, who is perhaps my favorite actress (and the greatest who ever lived?), wasn't as much of a factor in her ingenue days (e.g. in this film, as Fay Wilson, she didn't stand out) as she was later in her career whereas Ms. Sheridan (whose performance is very good) was given more to do in the remake.Byron, who was in scant few films, does a credible job if not as effusive as O'Brien, as Warden Long.
Calhern's lawyer Joe Finn isn't much different from the one Cowan played.The role that's changed the most between the films is that of the death row prison priest, played by an uncredited actor (Hardie Albright?) in this one and John Litel, who's given a little more screen-time in the latter.
20,000 YEARS IN SING SING (First National Pictures, 1932/33), directed by Michael Curtiz, with screen adaptation of the book by Warden Lewis E.
Though prison melodramas have been around dating back to the silent movie era, its popularity reached its peak following the releases of THE BIG HOUSE (MGM, 1930), THE CRIMINAL CODE (Columbia, 1930), or HELL'S HIGHWAY (RKO Radio, 1932), but nothing as strong and powerful as I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHANG GANG (Warner Brothers, 1932) starring Paul Muni.
Other actors might have been considered for the lead, ranging from the studios' own James Cagney or Douglas Fairbanks Jr., for instance, but Spencer Tracy, on loan from Fox Studios, turned out to be a very good choice, marking this his one and only opportunity working with another star on the rise, and that's Bette Davis.
Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) is introduced as a tough guy with political connections whose troublesome past consists of numerous charge convictions dating back to 1919.
With his latest assault with a deadly weapon, Tommy is sentenced to serve from five to thirty years in a prison that, to him, "sounds like a chop suey joint." Along for the ride is Joe Finn (Louis Calhern), his friend and lawyer, to offer Warden Long (Arthur Byron) a bribe of $5,000 worth of bonds for Tommy's early parole.
The warden soon takes a special interest in Tommy, especially after he refuses to join with the other convicts on a prison break only because it's to take place on his jinx day which is Saturday.
When the warden is notified that Tommy's love of his life, Fay Wilson (Bette Davis), has been serious injured from an automobile accident that has left her in critical condition, he allows the convict temporary release without a guard to be with her.
After the guilty party is gunned down, Tommy, believed to be the guilty party, disappears, forcing the warden to now face the prison board.Other members of the cast include convicts Lyle Talbot (Bud Saunders); and Warren Hymer (Hype); and uncredited appearances by Sheila Terry (Babe Saunders); Nella Walker (Mrs. Long); Harold Huber (Tony); Edward McNamara (Guard Richards); Rockcliffe Fellowes, Clarence Wilson, among others.While somewhat contrived through its second half, 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING works on both levels in story content and entertainment.
The prison escape sequence is well staged and like many prison melodramas at the time, especially those coming from Warner Brothers/First National Pictures during the Depression era, attempts were made in every way to become as realistic as possible.
Once seen, it's hard to forget the impressive opening and closing credit montage of prisoners and year numbers floating about before the official title the life prison term of 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING appearing across the screen superimposed over the aerial view of Sing Sing Prison itself.20,000 YEARS IN SING SING was parodied along with I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG as a comedy short titled "20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang," and later remade and altered by Warner Brothers (1940) as CASTLE ON THE HUDSON with John Garfield, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien in the Tracy, Davis and Byron roles.
Good gangster drama, even though Spencer Tracy is a little bit out of place playing that part but still good movie.
No, I'm not saying all endings should be a happy, typically-Hollywood, one, but this just seems...contrived.Solid performances by Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis and Arthur Byron..
After several assaults with a deadly weapon, gangster Spencer Tracy (as Thomas "Tommy" Connors) goes to spend 5-30 years in New York's "Sing Sing" prison.
Tracy is made to wear his underwear - long johns, actually, and nobody changed the scripted line about how Tracy's legs made him look like Marlene Dietrich, after the wardrobe change...Tracy is allowed kissing time with shapely blonde girlfriend Bette Davis (as Fay Wilson).
This was the only pairing of Tracy and Davis.****** 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (12/24/32) Michael Curtiz ~ Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Arthur Byron, Lyle Talbot.
Early prison drama benefits from direction by Michael Curtiz....
began their grim social dramas in the '30s and 20,000 YEARS IN SING SING is a good companion piece to their other blockbuster drama I WAS A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG.If this one had been made ten years later, it would have starred Humphrey Bogart (a much more convincing tough guy prisoner than Tracy), and Ann Sheridan would have played the gangster's moll.
Here the roles are essayed by SPENCER TRACY and BETTE DAVIS, both of them effective although not as well cast as Bogart and Sheridan would have been.Tracy is the swaggering bully who thinks life owes him something, even in prison, and only after some hardships behind prison walls does he begin to respond to the humanity of a good warden.
LYLE TALBOT has a good supporting role as a rebellious prisoner bent on making a break and LOUIS CALHERN is fine as Joe Finn, a con man who gets his comeuppance from Tracy and Davis in a well staged fight scene.Good, grim social drama has all the usual melodramatic overtones of the '30s dramas but still packs a punch even though it's a time capsule of prison life then.
The film opens proper with a train containing cocky new inmate Tom Connors (Spencer Tracy) hurtling towards Sing Sing, the central conflict between penitentiary depersonalization and a larger-than-life personality set into motion in just two scenes.
A few select scenes seemed to be filmed on location along the Hudson River.I always saw Spencer Tracy's breakout film as being "Fury", made 4 years later, but after seeing this again, I would have to say this was a dramatic breakthrough for him.
Two other performances worth mentioning here are that of Bette Davis as Tracy's love interest...really quite beautiful here; and that of the warden, played superbly by Arthur Byron.A fine movie.
The warden, trusting Tracy, gives him a temporary leave when he learns that Davis has been in a car accident and will probably not survive.
Tracy intends to return (even if facing execution), but is involved in a murder, and the warden faces the wrath of the press and considers resigning his job.This prison drama doesn't totally sugarcoat conditions in the penal system, but something tells me that even in Pre-Code Hollywood, there was more going on at Sing Sing than what is presented here.
Still, when you've got an actor like Tracy, a rising star like Davis, some sizzling dialog, and tight direction by Michael Curtiz, the result is a cracking crime drama that made Warner Brothers movies the most realistic and gritty before that nasty production code come along and took the sass out of their sails..
20,000 Years in Sing Sing" is set in the notorious jail in New York State; the title refers to the combined length of the sentences being served by all the inmates of the prison.
Lawes, the warden of Sing Sing at the time the movie was made.
Some prison dramas from this era, notably "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang", highlighted harsh prison conditions and called for reform, but this one is generally supportive of the system.The film opens with a gangster named Tommy Connors arriving in Sing Sing after being convicted of robbery and assault with a lethal weapon.
Its main weakness is that the plot is not always easy to follow, but Tracy's performance and the way in which director Michael Curtiz handles Tommy's central dilemma- whether to stay true to his word at the possible cost of his life- means that it retains enough dramatic intensity to keep it watchable even today, more than seventy years after it was made.
Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis give some energized performances in this rather lean story line about a hot tempered con who who attains rehabilitation through execution.
There's a decent botched prison break but as films about the joint go 20,0000 Years in Sing Sing is short but hard time.
Swaggering Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) has been given a stretch in Sing Sing but he doesn't plan on staying there long or playing by their rules.
Another great gangster / prison drama from early 30s Hollywood.
Tracy is great in a part which almost out - Cagneys Cagney, one moment chewing out the prison guards in defiance, the next playing a tender love with his girl, a ridiculously young and surprisingly alluring Bette Davis.
The other main character, the honourable warden, winningly played by Arthur Byron, forms the other side of the triangle with Tracy and Davis, his faith in Tracy keeping his word to turn himself in vindicated against even his own expectations.
Obvious doubles are used in the Tracy-Calhern fight scene, but otherwise Curtiz's direction ensures the action spots, especially those in the prison, are powerfully staged.