Mutiny in the Big House
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
William Nigh
Charles Bickford
Barton Maclane
Pat Moriarity
Dennis Moore
William Royle
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Father Joe Collins, a crusading prison chaplain who is fighting to save the souls of his inmate flock, meets his nemesis in hardened convict Red Manson. The battle between the priest and the convict is fought over the soul of Johnny Gates, a young man who has been sentenced to a long stretch in prison for forging a check in order to pay his dying mother's medical bills. Father Joe, trying to rehabilitate the embittered boy, finds him work in the prison library. The padre's plan backfires, however, when Red uses a book from the library to formulate a coded message of instructions regarding a planned prison break. When Del, a stool pigeon, shows a guard a page from the book, prison officials believe that Johnny is involved in the plot. In the prison workshop, Red and the others take some guards hostage and demand their freedom in exchange for the guards' lives. When the warden refuses their ultimatum, Red shoots two guards and Father Joe enters the workshop to plead with the prisoners. Red and the father argue, and as Red is about to shoot the padre, Johnny jumps in front of the rifle, shielding the holy man from the bullets. Johnny's act of courage brings an end to the riot, while also proving that he has been rehabilitated.
Director
William Nigh
Cast
Charles Bickford
Barton Maclane
Pat Moriarity
Dennis Moore
William Royle
Charley Foy
George Cleveland
Nigel De Brulier
Eddie Foster
Richard Austin
Russell Hopton
Jeffrey Sayre
Jack Daley
Dave O'brien
Wheeler Oakman
Charles King
Merrill Mccormick
Crew
Robert D. Andrews
Robert D. Andrews
C. J. Bigelow
Louis Brown
Scott R. Dunlap
W. B. Eason
E. R. Hickson
Edward Kay
Martin Mooney
Harry Neumann
R. F. Schoengarth
Grant Withers
Karl Zint
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this picture was Murder in the Big House. According to the Variety review, it was inspired by the Canon City, Colorado prison riot of 1929 in which seven guards and five convicts were killed. Prison chaplian Father Patrick O'Neill was awarded the Carnegie Medal of honor for risking his own life to save an innocent man from death. A news item in Hollywood Reporter notes that the cast consisted of 304 men and no women. Another news item in Hollywood Reporter adds that the film was previewed for 600 prisoners and officers of Berks County Prison in New York.
