Despite its improbable Wrong Man plot--innocent man unknowingly falls in love with sister of the big shot who sent him to prison--this poverty row programmer has its moments, particularly as it portrays the rigours of being a parolee in the American prison system in the late 1930s. Directed at a brisk, no-nonsense pace by W. S. Hart's favourite director, Lambert Hillyer, it has a convincing cast. Robert Kent looks and acts exactly like a not-too-smart criminal of that era doing his best with present circumstances; and Anne Nagel with her low voice and patrician accent is believable as the good girl who falls in love with the innocent man. Character actors Sidney Blackmer as the smarmy baddie and Victor Kilian as the parole officer perfectly cast, as is little Maude Eburne who steals the show as the Wrong Man's landlady. The low-cost production with its minimal sets somehow captures the seediness of such a small-town world in a way few big-budget films other than I Ama Fugitive ever did. Well-worth a watch despite the implausible ending.
Review of Convict's Code
