This must have seemed savagely brutal when it was first made. Even watching it now, I kept gasping. Whether it showed typical prison brutality of the day or the occasional deranged officer is beside the point. That kind of brutality should never happen. Great movie.

One of the toughest and nastiest of the prison genre. This had to push the Production Code as far as it could go.

Brilliant movie and one of my favourite film noirs. The witty script acts as a great counterpoint to the relentless darkness of the story, and the film makes a strong commentary on the use of futility of brute force whether used as a means of imprisonment or escape.