A quickie rehash of 'I Want to Live!', which had recently won Susan Hayward an Oscar, it bears the credit "A Viscount Films-Terry Moore Production"; and the once illustrious names of former Warner Bros. collaborators reunited in much reduced circumstances, director Roy Del Ruth and Oscar-winning cameraman Ernest Haller.
Despite its obvious poverty row origins (not to mention the AIP logo at the start; never an auspicious sign) this film contrives to be more glamorous than Hayward's film by making the heroine a successful nightclub singer rather than the sad loser that Barbara Graham was. And it also seriously hedges its bets by making her innocent.
In emulation of 'I Wanna Live!' it's long on sanctimonious anti-capital punishment outpourings. But since Dottie (surname Manson!), the beat chick who really dunnit, is presumably executed herself after the end credits (which are accompanied by a song sung by Duane Eddy!), her fate would have been a film in itself; and a much more interesting one; since she is incredibly guilty. Although Dottie's confession has to be beaten out of her by the other prisoners she promptly undergoes an extremely disappointing change of heart after Debra Paget as Dottie had so far shown so much promise as a wonderfully ruthless, resourceful and wholly amoral villainess while at large cracking safes and gratuitously shooting a blind man in the back during a hold up. Seeing her strapped to the electric chair would probably have proved quite satisfying. (Dottie's conversion doesn't even result in Moore being saved, so it was presumably dictated by the censor, since had Paget kept shtum she might conceivably have got away with murder.)
A few bars from Bernard Hermann's theme from 'Vertigo' occasionally pop up on the sound track by the way...
Despite its obvious poverty row origins (not to mention the AIP logo at the start; never an auspicious sign) this film contrives to be more glamorous than Hayward's film by making the heroine a successful nightclub singer rather than the sad loser that Barbara Graham was. And it also seriously hedges its bets by making her innocent.
In emulation of 'I Wanna Live!' it's long on sanctimonious anti-capital punishment outpourings. But since Dottie (surname Manson!), the beat chick who really dunnit, is presumably executed herself after the end credits (which are accompanied by a song sung by Duane Eddy!), her fate would have been a film in itself; and a much more interesting one; since she is incredibly guilty. Although Dottie's confession has to be beaten out of her by the other prisoners she promptly undergoes an extremely disappointing change of heart after Debra Paget as Dottie had so far shown so much promise as a wonderfully ruthless, resourceful and wholly amoral villainess while at large cracking safes and gratuitously shooting a blind man in the back during a hold up. Seeing her strapped to the electric chair would probably have proved quite satisfying. (Dottie's conversion doesn't even result in Moore being saved, so it was presumably dictated by the censor, since had Paget kept shtum she might conceivably have got away with murder.)
A few bars from Bernard Hermann's theme from 'Vertigo' occasionally pop up on the sound track by the way...