The Last Mile
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Sam Bischoff
Howard Phillips
Preston S. Foster
George E. Stone
Noel Madison
Alan Roscoe
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Found guilty of murder, Richard Walters is placed on death row, where he witnesses the preparations for an execution shortly after his arrival. Walters had accidentally shot his business partner while struggling with robbers during a gas station hold up, but circumstantial evidence made the killing appear to be the result of a quarrel between the partners. On the day that Walters is going to be executed, death row convict "Killer" Mears seizes a guard's gun and taking over the cell block, frees the prisoners and takes hostages. After a bloody struggle in which nearly all the prisoners and hostages are killed, Mears, learning that evidence has been discovered to exonerate the badly wounded Walters, walks into the guards' fire. Walters recovers and is pardoned.
Director
Sam Bischoff
Cast
Howard Phillips
Preston S. Foster
George E. Stone
Noel Madison
Alan Roscoe
Paul Fix
Al Hill
Daniel L. Haynes
Frank Sheridan
Alec B. Francis
Edward Van Sloan
Louise Carter
Ralph Theodore
Jack Kennedy
Albert J. Smith
William Scott
Kenneth Macdonald
Walter Walker
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A written onscreen preface was authored by Lewis E. Lawes, warden of Sing Sing. A news item in Film Daily noted that a August 26, 1932 preview of the film was scheduled for the inmates of Los Angeles County Jail. The 1930 production of the play featured Spencer Tracy in the East coast production, and Clark Gable in the West coast production. The Variety review commented that this picture "compromises with the stage original in many ways, toning down its grim realism." Variety also noted that the character "Mears" was the main focus of the play, while the character "Richard Walters," who early in the play is executed for murdering his lover, is the main focus in the film. Also based on John Wexley's play was United Artist's 1959 The Last Mile, directed by Howard W. Koch and starring Mickey Rooney.
