Men Without Souls
Directed byNick Grinde
Written byHarvey Gates
Robert Hardy Andrews
StarringBarton MacLane
John Litel
Glenn Ford
Rochelle Hudson
CinematographyBenjamin Kline
Edited byJames Sweeney
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • May 20, 1940 (1940-05-20)
Running time
62 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Men Without Souls is a 1940 black and white crime movie, starring Barton MacLane and Glenn Ford and directed by Nick Grinde.

Plot

Johnny Adams goes to prison, under a false name, with the intention of killing the sadistic Captain White, a bastard guard, who had beaten Johnny's father to death just before the end of his sentence. Not knowing Johnny's true identity, White asks him to spy on his cellmate "Blackie" Drew, but Johnny and Blackie develop a mutual respect for one another.

Rev. Thomas Storm, the prison's idealistic new chaplain, well-meaning but seen by the prisoners as a fink, learns of Johnny's plan and persuades him to give it up and do his time peacefully, but when "Blackie" quietly kills White, he frames Johnny out of misguided spite. The honesty of Rev. Storm ensures that Johnny gets convicted, and sentenced to the chair, but Storm has a feeling that Blackie is holding out some angle on the truth.

Only Blackie can save Johnny, but will the truth set Johnny free, or an explosion in the prison boiler room?

Cast

ActorRole
Barton MacLaneBlackie Drew
John LitelReverend Thomas Storm
Rochelle HudsonSuzan Leonard
Glenn FordJohnny Adams
Don BeddoeWarden Schafer
Cy KendallCapt. White
Eddie LaughtonLefty
Dick CurtisDuke
Richard FiskeCrowley
Walter SoderlingOld Muck
Walter SandeFirst Reporter (unconfirmed)

References

  • Gunmen and gangsters: profiles of nine actors who portrayed memorable screen, by Michael Schlossheimer
  • The American movies reference book: the sound era, by Paul Michael, James Robert Parish, Prentice-Hall, inc


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