We Who Are About to Die

Every now and then you come across a really great film and wonder why you never heard of it. Probably because it is highly unlikely that we'll ever see a Preston Foster retrospective. And it's because it's from a second level A studio RKO. But We Who Are About To Die is a real undiscovered gem of a film that's extremely relevant today if you are anti-capital punishment.

John Beal is a young ambitious engineer at an aircraft company who feels locked in by the hidebound management of the place and quits and is going to move to California with his girlfriend Ann Dvorak. But some stickup men make him the patsy for a payroll robbery where the paymaster is killed and a little boy rundown in the getaway which was in Beal's car. Sentiment runs high against Beal and the real culprits put him into a very tight frame.

But Dvorak convinces the lead cop Foster that maybe things got rushed in Beal's case. He starts backtracking and comes up with more and more evidence. Of course he's helped by the fact that the head of the gang Russell Hopton doesn't want to split and he starts getting rid of the other gang members.

The prison scenes are truly impressive here. Some of the other cons on death row are Paul Hurst, Gordon Jones, and John Wray. They become convinced of Beal's innocence and in their own way try to help. One at the cost of his life. A real camaraderie develops with these guys facing a common fate.

The legal system riddled with politics isn't treated kindly. We see a District Attorney who's hoping to become governor on the strength of Beal's conviction and a governor who won't grant a stay of execution lest he be thought soft on crime. That certainly should sound familiar in today's world.

We Who Are About To Die is a film waiting to be discovered. Maybe this might lead to Preston Foster revival.