The Last Mile (1932)

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• published: 19 Aug 2016
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The Last Mile is an American film directed by Samuel Bischoff and starring Howard Phillips and Preston Foster. The picture is based on John Wexley's 1930 Broadway play, The Last Mile. In 1959 the play was adapted a second time into a film of the same name starring Mickey Rooney. Plot: The movie presents the life in a prison where men are on death row. Some of them are wrongfully accused and convicted, there is nothing else in their future but the electric chair. Richard Walters is condemned to death for crime he claims he never committed. While the drama inside the prison unfolds, his friends on the outside are trying to find evidence that he is innocent. Cast: • Howard Phillips as Richard "Dick" Walters, Cell 5 • Preston Foster as John "Killer" Mears, Cell 4 • George E. Stone as Joe Berg, Cell 1 • Noel Madison as D'Amoro, Cell 6 • Alan Roscoe as Kirby, Cell 7 • Paul Fix as Eddie Werner, Cell 8 • Al Hill as Fred Mayer, Cell 3 • Daniel L. Haynes as Sonny Jackson, Cell 2 • Frank Sheridan as Warden Frank Lewis • Alec B. Francis as Father O'Connor • Edward Van Sloan as Rabbi • Louise Carter as Mrs. Walters • Ralph Theodore as Pat Callahan, Principal Keeper • Jack Kennedy as Mike O'Flaherty, Guard • Albert J. Smith as Drake, Guard • William Scott as Peddie, Guard • Kenneth MacDonald as Harris, Guard • Walter Walker as Governor Blaine Notes: A clip from this film was used by progressive rock band Rush as their intro to the song "Lock and Key" during its performance on the "Hold Your Fire" tour, later released on the "Show of Hands" laserdisc. (VHS version excluded the "Lock and Key" performance, as did the DVD years later.) Both Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable played Killer Mears onstage in 1930, Tracy on Broadway and Gable later in Los Angeles, which benefited the careers of both men.