User reviews

Here's to You Mr. Robinson. Even when Slightly Miscast and Upstaged by the Villain Edward G. managed to put Verve and Gusto in any Role. Here he goes from Family Man to a Rage Filled, Revenge Seeking Psycho Hell Bent on Saving His Family and Fortune from a Slimy and Totally Repugnant former "Friend".

There are some Minor Cringe-Inducements mostly at the Beginning with some Comedy Relief and Smarmy Family Stuff, but Once the Blackmailer Shows Up Things Kick into Overdrive and there are some Very Effective Chain Gang Scenes and a Suspenseful Escape.

The Oil Fires are Realistic and this is one of the Few Times that MGM tried to be Gritty and Deliver a Message. They were Aping Warner Brothers and did a Pretty Good Imitation.

All chain gang movies take us on a journey. We start with a nice guy, usually innocent, being brutalized on a chain gang until he becomes a seething mass of controlled rage out for vengeance. This movie is no exception.

Edward G Robinson has been victimized before so his situation here is no real surprise. The surprise is the object of his rage. A total psychopath named Ramey, played by non other than Gene Lockhart of all people. The casting director in this movie was a genius. Who would have ever thought of this perennial nice guy as a villain. Crybaby Bobs Watson does his bit as EGR's kid Hank. Big Boy Williams is his loyal affable self. It is no wonder he stayed busy for decades. Only Ruth Hussy drops the ball in this one. She just doesn't seem gritty enough for this kind of melodrama.

It may sound crazy, but there is something comforting about the savage routine of a chain gang when compared to the terror of escaping and becoming a fugitive. You would think that every police force in the country has nothing to do but search for this guy.

I won't get into the ending - it's a little hard to swallow, but I think it's worth waiting for. Just remember, this takes place long before the Miranda decision. This is a little programmer that gets lost between "I Was a Fugitive From a Chaingang" and "Cool Hand Luke", but as chain gang movies go, this is a winner.

Tough guy Edward G. Robinson, who normally dominates every movie he's in, is upstaged in this one, a good, unambitious actioner, first by raging oil well fires, then by the sly performance of Gene Lockhart, as a particularly loathsome, scheming villain, complete with a baby talking Down East accent. The movie is otherwise unexceptional though very skillfully made at MGM, and features an innocent Robinson on the run from the law for a crime he did not commit. As his sidekick, Guinn Williams is presented as so moronic one wonders how he can hold down any job, much less function as E.G.'s second in command in such a dangerous profession as putting out oil well fires, but the ways of Hollywood are sometimes mysterious. The capable Ruth Hussey is wasted in the boring and irritating role of the wife, from whom we want the movie to get away as quickly as possible. Robinson at first seems out of place in the Oklahoma oil fields but is so robust as the hard-driving entrepeneur hero that this is easily forgiven, and besides, he always excelled at playing fearless men.

Almost 30 years before John Wayne did his tribute film to Earl 'Red' Adair the famous fighter of oil fires, Edward G. Robinson starred as a man with an oil fighting company, married to Ruth Hussey and with a son in little Bobs Watson. But in Black mail he's a fugitive from a chain gang being convicted of a robbery he didn't commit and escaping. Robinson keeps a low profile, as low as he can, but it isn't the law that spots him.

No it's Gene Lockhart and he knows him from when the robbery was committed. It was when both were in the navy and Lockhart was the real thief, but got scared and the money from the ship's purser which he stole in Robinson's bunk.

Now the scurvy little sneak develops a new scheme after first ingratiating himself with Robinson asking for a job and then rats him out with an exchange for a confession. You have to see how this works and I can't believe Robinson fell for it, but Lockhart gets control of an oil well that Robinson has a lease on and Robinson goes back to the chain gang.

Gene Lockhart made a career of playing all kinds of rat roles, but he really tops himself in Blackmail. You will love seeing how he gets his in the end.

The chain gang scenes are copied well from the classic film from Robinson's home studio of Warner Brothers. Chain gangs are as bad as they were when Paul Muni was serving on them and he too was framed for the crime he was sentenced for by circumstance. There's also a nice supporting part for Guinn Williams as Robinson's lunkhead assistant who has a good heart and actually proves valuable to him.

Fans of Robinson will like Blackmail it holds up well after almost 75 years.

Poor title for what is a movie patterned on "I Was A Fugitive From A Chain Gang." It would appear that some of the shots were either taken from that masterpiece or re-done virtually identically with new cast. Edward G. Robinson is presented in the Paul Muni role but this time the hero has been willfully framed -- not wrongfully convicted. This framing is necessary for the rest of the story line and the plot unfolds as believable. Gene Lockhart steals the show in his portrayal of the villain. Robinson never looks as gaunt as Muni and is less convincing as someone who has suffered on the chain gang. Watching Robinson's rotund body run through the swamps just doesn't hack it. If given a choice, see the Muni movie but this one will serve for those who prefer a different ending. A better title might have been "Vengeance."

This film starts with a bang - literally. It also ends with a bang. You see Edward G is an oil-fire fighter in Oklahoma - and he's doing really well. Great job (if a little dangerous), great house, great wife, great kid. Trouble is he is actually a fugitive from a chain gang - and his past is about to catch up with him. A shame it does really because the scenes of Eddy walking fearlessly into fire-balls are unforgettable. A story about the lives of oil-fire-fighters would have been a lot more interesting than the rather dull blackmail leading to a return to chain gang stuff. The chain gang scenes never live up to those of the masterpiece "I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang" - but I wouldn't be surprised if Hitler got a few ideas on his slave labor camps from this film. Were the chain gangs of the thirties really this brutal? If so there were a few "war criminals" in the Southern USA.

Anyway the film drifts back to oil fires at the end - and the climax is really spectacular. It is enhanced by Ed's magnificent performance, and an unforgettable snivelling evil performance from Gene Lockhart. Both rise above the ordinary material. Also impressive is Guinn Williams, but the very talented Ruth Hussey is given little to do but look worried, and Bobs Watson is VILE as the cry-baby son. All in all good MGM entertainment, with some great sequences.

Edward G. Robinson here is a victim of "Blackmail," a 1939 film starring Robinson, Ruth Hussey, and Gene Lockhart.

Ingram (Robinson, his wife (Hussey) and his son (Bobs Watson, known as the "Crybaby of Hollywood") live in Oklahoma, where Ingram fights oil fires He's considered one of the best. But he has a secret - nine years earlier, under another name, he was on a chain gang for something he didn't do, and he escaped.

All is well until William Ramey (Lockhart), someone from his past, shows up and blackmails him, using the promise of getting Ingram cleared, since it was he who committed the crime. However, he double crosses Ingram, who ends up back on a chain gang.

Ingram decides that this time, he will do his full sentence. Things happen to change his mind.

Gritty drama with Robinson suffering as only he can. Like Bogart, he could be mean as dirt or a sympathetic character. Here he's tough, caring, and sympathetic. Ruth Hussey gives a lovely performance as his wife, and I admit that Bobs Watson was so pathetic when he cried that I cried. He became a Methodist minister but kept acting as well.

Though the acting is effective, this is a routine drama. The actors keep you involved.

**SPOILERS** Having made a success of himself in the fire-fighting business in Oklahoma putting out oil well fires John Ingram,Edward G. Robinson,had it all. A booming business at the hight of the great depression a beautiful wife and darling nine-year-old son Helen & Hank, Ruth Hussey & Bobs Watson,who thought the world of him and the respect and admiration of the entire community. John he also had something that could destroy everything he achieved and worked for the last nine years, a dark and mysterious past.

Being convicted of breaking into the safe of his employer and having the stolen money found under his mattress John Ingram, who's real name is John Harrington,was sent to work on a prison chain-gang for five years. Escaping from prison John made his way to Oklahoma and started a new life and now with his old friend Bill Ramey, Gene Lochart, showing up on the scene that new life,as well as his freedom,is about to end. John giving Bill a job on his oil well to keep him quite about his past doesn't at all seem to work when Bill starts to put the squeeze on him for money and demands $25,000.00 to keep his mouth shut. John not having that much cash agrees to give Bill $5,000.00, his entire life savings, when Bill reveals the truth about the robbery that put John away and caused him to become a fugitive from the law. He was the man who broke into the safe and hid the stolen cash under John's mattress.

Having the $5,000.00 bank check sent to Bill's hotel and Bill having his confession sent by mail to the local police department would free John from being hunted by the police. It will also give Bill, a homeless vagabond, the security of living out his last years after he serves out the five year sentence that John was straddled with. As you would expect Bill doubled-crossed his friend and had him put back behind bars and his oil well taken over by Bill who used the blackmail money, that John gave him, to buy him out while he was doing his time with the chain-gang.

Determined at first to do his five years and then get back to his wife and child, as well as his fire-fighting business, John realizes that he has nothing to come back to with Bill buying him out and throwing his wife and son out of their home and on the street. Getting letters from Helen about how fine everything is John knows that things are a lot worse then the news he's been getting from her when he has a talk with his lawyer and co-owner of his business Moose McCarthy,Guinn "Big Bill" Williams. "Big Bill" broke the bad news about the raw deal John got both here in the chain-gang and at home due to the sleazy actions of his "friend" Bill Ramey.

Breaking out of jail with fellow prisoner Diggs(John Wray), who ends up getting shot and killed, John makes his way back home to Oklahoma. John's determined to settle the score with that lowlife Bill Ramey and get him to confess his sins, or better yet, and crimes that sent him away not once but twice to serve hard time in a southern chain-gang for crimes that he didn't commit.

Edward G. Robinson, in a good-guy role for once, is very good as the maligned and wrongly convicted John Ingram. The ending of the movie, even though very contrived and predictable, is very effective and rewarding to both John and his family, as well as the movie audience. John beats a confession out of Bill Ramey by forcing him to face the hell that he faces and faced every time he went to work putting out dangerous oil well fires.

Back in the mid-1930s, Warner Brothers came out with a shockingly brutal and absorbing drama about the evils of chain gangs. Paul Muni's performance and the script for "I Was a Fugitive From a Chain Gang" were superb and the film has held up great over the years. Because of this, films like "Blackmail" seem incredibly bland and pale in comparison.

When this MGM film begins, John Ingram (Edward G. Robinson) is a successful and well respected man whose job it is to put out oil fires. Unfortunately, he's also a fugitive from some Southern chain gang-- an innocent man who couldn't prove this but managed to escape. Since then, assuming a new identity, he's gone on to make a productive life and a nice family. However, when a scumbag (Gene Lockhart) comes to town, Ingram is in trouble. While he's just asking for a job, this guy is a crook and is the guy who is actually responsible for the crime Ingram was arrested for years ago.

So far, while the plot is hard to believe, it is worth seeing. What happens next, however, sure strains credibility way past the breaking point. The scum-bag EASILY convinces Ingram that he is willing to own up to his crime but only if he gets a huge payoff. In other words, he'll admit to the crime but escape--leaving evidence that will clear Ingram's name. Not at all surprisingly (since he IS a crook), he tricks Ingram and it's Ingram who is sent to prison. Duh.

For the rest of the film, Robinson spends his time in prison. However, the chain gang is run by a bunch of brutes (though they are FAR less brutal than the guys in the earlier film) and eventually he realizes he must escape in order to ever see his family again.

So why does this film earn a 5? Well, it is entertaining but it breaks absolutely no new ground and pretty much neuters the old plot. The chain gang, while unpleasant, doesn't seem all that bad and instead of this form of imprisonment being indicted, the film actually is all about capturing the real baddie and sending him to prison where he rightfully belongs. Amazingly poor considering the material.

Edward G. Robinson is rather implausibly cast as an oil-field firefighter named John Ingram who is even more implausibly married to beautiful Ruth Hussey. Turns out Eddie G. has a big secret in his past: he's a fugitive from a chain gang. Slimy Gene Lockhart shows up and tries to blackmail him. When that doesn't work, Lockhart cooks up a plan to steal Eddie's business and send him back to the chain gang.

Excellent work by Gene Lockhart. I've seen him in lots of movies, usually playing very similar roles in a very similar manner. But here he's playing a hobo shakedown artist -- with an accent, no less! He gives the best performance in the film, though Eddie Robinson is solid, as usual. Ruth Hussey is lovely and plays the courageous wife well. Guinn Williams plays Robinson's annoying friend. Some nice footage of the oil firefighters. The chain gang parts are a little reminiscent of a certain classic Paul Muni film. Diminutive Robinson's escape scene is lots of fun to watch, though. Look at him go! An enjoyable movie that fans of Robinson will enjoy. It's not one of his best but it's good entertainment.

Imagine if Hollywood said to itself, "Let's make another version of I Am a Fugitive of a Chain Gang, but let's make it corny." You wouldn't want to see it unless the star was someone you really loved, would you? Well, Hollywood cast Edward G. Robinson, one of the most likable actors ever, to ensure you would go see it!

Eddie G always gives a good performance, so believe me, the script is at fault for the movie not being as great as its predecessor. Eddie G starts the movie as a wealthy, respected pillar of the community who owns a business that puts out oil-related fires. He has a wife, Ruth Hussey, and an adorable little boy, Bobs Watson. When a drifter comes to the house asking for a sandwich, everything changes.

The drifter is Gene Lockhart, in a very sleezy, slimy, villainous role. It's a lot of fun to see him in the part, especially since I'm used to seeing him as Bob Cratchit and Judge Harper at Christmastime. He's just as slimy as Eddie G is likable. It turns out Gene knows something about Eddie G's past, and he has the power to send him to prison. To find out any more, you'll have to rent the movie. Parts of it are good, like the prison scenes, which are ridiculously similar to Paul Muni's version, and the family scenes. Little Bobs Watson can cry at the drop of a hat, and he's never in a movie where he's not forced to do it at least once. If he were my little boy, I'd spoil him rotten!

Oil well firefighter John R. Ingram (Edward G. Robinson) is actually a escaped convict from a chain gang who was falsely accused. Soon, William Ramey (Gene Lockhart), the real perpetrator of the crime, turns up and blackmails Ingram into giving up his oil well.

Blackmail is MGM doing a Warner Brothers film, looking rather cheap in places. Honestly, a film like this wouldn't have been produced when Irving Thalberg was alive. It starts out interestingly - movies about oil well firefighters is an unusual topic - but gets rather silly when Robinson is sent back to the chain gang. It's all rather like I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. There were some impressive special effects in the opening sequence.

Robinson gives a sturdy performance, while Ruth Hussey and Guinn Williams are good in support. The best performance goes to Gene Lockhart in an offbeat role as the blackmailer. Overall, it's an entertaining film, but nothing special.

This was a great film in 1939 because the audiences loved Edward G. Robinson who was a great actor and will be admired for many many generations to come. In this picture, Robinson plays John R. Ingram, who has a past that he is trying to hide from along with his wife, Ruth Hussey. John Ingram is a very successful troubleshooter for fires at Oil Rigs and has become very famous, wealthy and happy with his wife and young son. Everything seems to fall apart when Gene Lockhart, (Bill Ramey) knocks on the kitchen door and asks for a sandwich and starts a real storm in the Ingram household. Ingram decides to drill for his own oil and at the same time gets deeply involved with Bill Ramey. If you never knew what a chain gang is, this picture will show you what happened years ago on a chain gang. Enjoy a great classic film starring Edward G. Robinson, who was accepted into the hearts and homes of America and even put on a United States Postage Stamp.

John R. Ingram (Edward G. Robinson) is a family man and a fireman specializing in dangerous oil field fires. He starts to gain some success until Bill Ramey (Gene Lockhart) from his past returns into his life. John escaped from prison chain gang with a new name and a new life. His wife Helen (Ruth Hussey) does know the truth. John gives Bill a job and Bill reveals that he did the robbery which sent John to prison. He wants $25k to confess to the crime but he pulls a trick on John.

The problem is that it doesn't make sense for John to trust Bill. The confession isn't worth that much anyways if he's paying for that land. The whole deal is rushed. The blackmail needs more time to develop. The chain gang is pretty good. I like the details of declaring every movement that the prisoners make. The escape is a little easy. It may be better if the guards aren't as close and he needs to take the guard's gun. If he had the gun, he would hunt down Ramey right there and then. That's the best ending for this movie. Going home is a weak detour. On the positive side, I love the fires. They look powerful. Quite frankly, going into the fire would be a great ending also. That would be a terrific turn. None of the confessions are worth the paper they're written on. On the other hand, I like the general plot. It's a good movie if one ignores some of the details.

Edward G. Robinson stars in this 1939 film about a man being haunted by a past sin. An oil fire is raging & the nearest outfit to handle it is called in which is run by Robinson & company. A success in his trade & a consummate family man, his life is turned upside down when a figure from his past shows up at his door looking for a handout. It turns out Robinson was involved in a crime years before & instead of facing the consequences, he changed his name & started a new life for himself but when the beggar offers to accept the blame for the committed misdeed, Robinson is put into a tough position to clear his name (the man says he'll give Robinson a written confession of the crime in exchange for some money & a stake in Robinson's oil well). When the man reneges on his confession, Robinson is thrown in jail to stew. Running a brief running time, this typical Warner Bros. crime flick is slightly undone by its busy plotting but the crisp direction (the montages are killer) & pros in front of the camera makes the flaws imminently forgivable.