BRUTE FORCE (1947)

Hollywood did very well by prison movies from the Thirties through the Fifties, and this is one of the best--tough, forceful and focused. Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster) is single-minded in breaking out, and leads his cellmates in a brave (but as you no doubt correctly surmise) futile attempt. Director Jules Dassin turns this into a borderline film noir, and he gets excellent performances from the supporting cast that includes Charles Bickford, Whit Bissel, Jeff Corey, Sam Levine, Howard Duff and Yvonne DeCarlo. But the movie belongs to Hume Cronyn, who plays the sadistic chief guard Capt. Munsey. Despite his small size and gentle voice, Cronyn turns Munsey into one of the scariest, most loathsome characters you'll ever see. Like most prison movies, "Brute Force" can't escape cliches (including a singing West Indian prisoner), but overall, it's really good.