''Seven Miles from Alcatraz'' is a 1942 American

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Edward Dmytryk Edward Dmytryk (September 4, 1908 – July 1, 1999) was a Canadian-born American film director and editor. He was known for his 1940s films noir, noir films and received an Academy Award for Best Director, Oscar nomination for Best Director for ...

. The screenplay concerns two prisoners who break out of

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz (, ''"the gannet"'') or the Rock, was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles (2.01 km) off the coast of San Francisco, California, United S ...

Plot

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, two prisoners break out of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, only to encounter German spies.

Cast

* James Craig as Champ Larkin *

Bonita Granville Bonita Gloria Granville Wrather (February 2, 1923 – October 11, 1988) was an American actress and producer. The daughter of vaudevillians, Granville began her career on the stage at age three. She initially began as a child actress, making ...

as Anne Porter *

Frank Jenks Frank Jenks (November 4, 1902 – May 13, 1962) was an American actor and vaudevillian. Biography Early years Jenks was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and his mother gave him a trombone when he was 9 years old. By his late teens he was playing ...

as Jimbo *

Cliff Edwards Clifton Avon "Cliff" Edwards (June 14, 1895 – July 17, 1971), nicknamed "Ukulele Ike", was an American pop singer, musician and actor. He enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop sta ...

as Stormy *

George Cleveland Grover "George" Alan Cleveland (September 17, 1885 – July 15, 1957) was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1930 and 1954. Career Cleveland was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. His first appearance on ...

as Captain Porter *

Erford Gage Erford Holmes Gage (April 5, 1912 – March 17, 1945) was an American actor. After several years as a stage actor, he was active in RKO Pictures films between 1942 and 1944. In his movies, he often played shady characters or outright villains, m ...

as Paul Brenner *

Tala Birell Tala Birell (born Natalie Bierle; 10 September 1907 – 17 February 1958) was a Romanian-bornThe reference book ''Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins'' identifies Birell as a Polish-Austrian actress.A feature about Bi ...

as Baroness *

John Banner John Banner (born Johann Banner, January 28, 1910 – January 28, 1973) was an Austrian-born American actor, best known for his role as Sergeant Schultz in the situation comedy ''Hogan's Heroes'' (1965–1971). Schultz, constantly encou ...

as Fritz Weinermann * Otto Reichow as Max

Production

It was Dmytryk's first film for RKO. The movie was originally meant to be directed by Al Rogell. Filming took place between 4–21 August 1942. Dmytryk called it " Nazi shenanigans in a lighthouse. Good for experimenting with techniques, and I was getting damned sick of it. But at least I was in new territory."

Reception

''Variety'' called it "a tightly-knit smooth-flowing spy meller of moderate budget, that will supply adequate entertainment of its type as secondary feature in the dual houses."

References

External links

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Seven Miles from Alcatraz
at Letterbox DVD 1942 films 1940s action films American action films American spy films American black-and-white films Films directed by Edward Dmytryk World War II spy films Alcatraz Island in fiction RKO Pictures films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films English-language action films {{action-film-stub