Seven Miles from Alcatraz (1942)

Boring

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Relaxing with the newspaper in his cell at the maximum security prison Alcatraz, handsome James Craig (as Champ Larkin) reads about Japan bombing the US territory of Hawaii. This means WAR for most US men, but not convicts like Mr. Craig and cell-mate Frank Jenks (as Jimbo). They have no interest in the war effort. They do, however, have an interest in escaping. Taking advantage of a blackout and fog, the two men seem to easily escape from Alcatraz. They arrive at a lighthouse to hideout, keeping the residents at gunpoint. When "Lighthouse 14" is also occupied by Nazi spies, Craig's nationalism is tested...Helping Craig straighten out and fly right is cute blonde Bonita Granville (as Anne Porter). Because she is the first woman he has seen in five years, Craig is aggressive with Ms. Granville. She returns Craig's forced kisses with a slap, but you know she really wants him. Cozier with escaped convicts is wide-eyed comic Cliff Edwards (as Stormy). Edward Dmytryk does well directing this quick, unassuming little film; with tasteful panning away, he suggests rather than shows Craig's beating and Granville being bound and whipped. Watch for "Hogan's Heroes" (Sgt. Schultz) rotund regular John Banner to appear thin and serious.****** Seven Miles from Alcatraz (11/18/42) Edward Dmytryk ~ James Craig, Frank Jenks, Bonita Granville, Cliff Edwards

Liked the title to this film because of the fact I like stories that have something to do with Alcatraz the "Rock" and this was a great film from 1942 concerning some convicts who manage to escape from the prison. These convicts escape to a light house island with several civilians, a few men and one woman named Ann Porter, (Bonita Granville) and Champ Larkin, (James Craig). These convicts do not realize that they have found themselves in a very difficult situation at this lighthouse and are not fully aware that World War II is going on and that Nazi forces are trying to invade San Francisco by submarine. There is secret messages being transmitted by Morse Code back and forth to the enemy sub and these convicts begin to find out just what is happening to them and the other civilians. This is a good Classic 1942 film with great direction and a very excellent story. Enjoy.

This is a neat little RKO programmer from 1942. We were in full patriotic fervor and it shows. All the ingredients are present. A couple of scoundrels escape from Alcatraz and end up at a remote lighthouse somewhere in San Francisco Bay. Although we know that only the worst of the worst were ever sent there, somehow this movie would like us to think they were arrested for selling ties on the street corner without a permit. There is an appealing cast of characters at the lighthouse, including Bonita Granville, and a weasel played by Erford Gage who is an undercover Nazi spy. The cons inadvertently kill the spy just before he is to pass on some valuable information from a Nazi sub to a cosmopolitan spy ring in SF. There is the inevitable confrontation between the Nazi spies and the cons - and guess who wins. According to the protocol of the times, even vicious gangsters were preferable to these Nazi vermin.A note about the cast. James Craig must be the worst actor ever to work in Hollywood. He looks good, but he telegraphs every move he makes and acts like a Ray Harryhausen mockup. Frank Jenks made a great living playing wisecracking sidekicks - and for good reason. Bonita Granville looks as good as ever, but she underplays her role for a change to good advantage. John Banner (from Hogan's Heros) plays the Nazi big cheese. If it weren't for his voice, I would never have recognized him. Slender, sophisticated, and rather handsome. Nobody else is really notable except, perhaps, Erford Gage who plays the undercover Nazi spy. What an odd looking guy. At 65 minutes this won't take up much of your time, but I think it's worth it. But then I was a fan of Brass Bancroft and Dick Tracy. Besides, I like lighthouses.

Two convicts manage to escape from Alcatraz (they won't tell us how: "trade secrets") and make it to a lighthouse island just off the coast, where they hold 3 men and a woman (Granville) hostage. Luckily for them, the soldier they kill turns out to be a Nazi spy, as they discover when his compatriots arrive in a boat -- just what the 2 convicts need to escape, if they're willing to deal with the Nazis and let them escape with maps of the San Francisco municipal/military works.Exciting action, some moments of genuine humor, and likeable, human characters make this propaganda pill an easy one to swallow.