Unchained

If you were playing trivia with your friends and asked which movie first introduced the famous song "Unchained Melody," their response - if you got any, other than blank stares - would likely be "Ghost" and it would be wrong. The correct answer which should be obvious, but isn't because it is largely forgotten today, is 1955's "Unchained."

"Unchained" is a movie I have searched for, for more than fifty years, my curiosity piqued by its underlying theme song. "Unchained Melody," with its haunting refrain, a lyric that at once echoes despair and loneliness, wedged by a sliver of hope, deeply impacted me as a ten-year-old and remains my all-time favorite. Numerous cover versions, performed by the likes of Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, Roy Hamilton, and Sam Cooke propelled it to No. 2 on the year's pop charts in 1955, ten years before it was attempted by the Righteous Brothers in their wildly melismatic rendition which offered too much soul and not enough heart for my liking but was a huge enough hit to thankfully ensure the song's ongoing popularity and enhance its well-deserved reputation. Sadly, Fate has been less kind to the film and it has fallen into the dustbin of obscurity.

A pity, because "Unchained" is a far better movie than it has a right to be. It is one about prison life but, unlike the common prison fare, there are no riots, inhumane guards, or convicts being slugged in their cells by other convicts. The prison here is the California Institute of Men (CIM), founded in 1940 and often inaccurately referred to as Chino, which is, in reality, the name of the nearest town. CIM or Chino was the brainchild of one Kenyon J. Scudder, whose book, "Prisoners are People," became the source for the movie. Scudder, the Institution's first superintendent, believed certain incarcerated men deserved a second chance and did away with bars, armed guards, selected personnel with care and handpicked his prisoners from San Quentin who were then given freedom - including visits by family members and friends on weekends - within the grounds based on trust and responsibility. In fact, on Day One, he would demonstrate to newcomers how easy escape would be.

The storyline is slim as its primary focus is on the day-to-day lives and interactions of the correctional facility's inmates, giving particular attention to four: Steve Davitt, the angry young man, easily prone to violence who grapples with the choice of making an escape or serving out his sentence honorably; Bill Howard who supports Scudder's efforts and quietly accepts his incarceration (he killed a man), believing he can be a better citizen when his time is up; Eddie Garrity, a former big band pianist who has a broken right hand and mistrusts those who try to help him; and Joe Ravens who can't wait to get out because he has deluded himself into thinking that the money he has stashed away will set him and his girlfriend on Easy Street for life.

Filmed entirely at Chimo, "Unchained" has a low budget look which actually works in its favor, emphasizing its gritty, dispassionate and objective perspective. It was a first-time effort for Director Hall Bartlett (best known for "Johnathan Livingston Seagull") whose offbeat films generally dealt with social issues such as racial tension, teenage angst or - as here - life in prison and he employs the then popular docudrama technique to make his point, sprinkling his cast with actual inmate guards and staff who play themselves in key roles for added authenticity.

The cast is virtually no name unless you count Barbara Hale, a sometime lead in B-pictures ("Lorna Doone") and secondary lead in A-pictures ("The Far Horizons") who later gained some notoriety playing Della Street in the popular Perry Mason TV series. Here she plays the protagonist's wife but her role is merely one of spousal support. And Chester Morris, a three-time Academy Award nominee in the early days of Talkies, appears as Scudder here and there throughout the proceedings. Still, the lesser known players are up to the task. Los Angeles Rams all-star running back Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch whose virility and Kirk Douglas type good looks give credence to the role of Davitt, the unsympathetic outsider you want to like but have trouble doing so. Todd Duncan is cast as Bill Howard whose quiet dignity represents the conscience of Chino's inmates and lends his fine operatic voice to the film's theme song. Likewise, John Johnson is sympathetic as Garrity, the wary loner who fears ridicule from his fellow prisoners.

"Unchained" is a hard movie to find but, at the time of this writing, a grainy, scratched copy with no credits other than the title, had been uploaded on the Internet at Vimeo. It is well worth seeing at least once, especially for fans of the theme song. And while it may not have hit the mark Bartlett was hoping for, it is a worthwhile effort and compelling enough to leave an impression.

Additionally, it makes a great trivia question.

No real stars and no budget makes a B movie. In this case an excellent B movie. The script is solid and confronts a real issue (though I don't believe the "over the fence" element). Maybe not stars but good actors like John Quaylen, Barbara Hale, Chester Morris, Jerry Paris, Johnny Johnston and the lead, Elroy Hirsh. Most people are interested in the movie because of the famous song. It is performed by Todd Duncan who also gives the movie's strongest performance. But I am certain most people except for true opera and theatre lovers know that Todd Duncan was the 1935 original lead in the stage production of "Porgy and Bess."

Unchained Melody was not written by William Stirrat who was an impostor of and NOT Hy Zaret and had nothing to do with writing Unchained Melody. This is apparently a blatant hoax and has been discredited. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stirrat

Hy Zaret was/is Hy Zaret. Stirrat was an electrical engineer who became an impostor of HY Zaret. Stirrat filed a lot of copyright claims but didn't get around to filing one for "Unchained Melody" until 1982--27 years after the 1955 film "Unchained" and "Unchained Melody" hit the Billboard and Cashbox Charts and 26 years after "Unchained" had been nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song for "Unchained Melody"!

Stirrat talked to a reporter of a local newspaper who wrote a maudlin story about him and how he had written the lyrics to "Unchained Melody" back in 1936 when he was sixteen and smitten with a girl. (The absurdity that co-writer Alex North who would have been 26 then would have collaborated with a 16 year old high school student did not seem to occur to the reporter.) Apparently the reporter and newspaper did no checking of the claim but in 2003 just printed it as fact. "News Transcript" December 3, 2003. It was repeated again in Stirrat's obituary the following year and since then has been republished all over the internet (including IMDb's mini biography of Hy Zaret!) and is one of the most prevalent internet hoaxes.

This author attempted to submit a corrected biography to IMDb but it has gotten nowhere.

If anyone other than the real Zaret/North arguably deserve credit for contributing to this song it might be Phil Spector and Bobby Hatfield, producer and lead singer respectively of the 1965 Philles Righteous Brothers release.

It's been a very long time since I've seen this film and I would love to revisit it. My uncle played "Garrity" and since he is now deceased, it would mean a lot to me to experience it again as well as possibly own a copy of it. Each time I hear "Unchained Melody" I think of uncle Johhny and his beautiful voice. For some reason I have been drawn to prison films ever since this one, and I consider this one of the best!

This film is far more famous for its musical entry "Unchained Melody" than for anything else about the film. Crazylegs Hirsch does not drop the ball as the lead and the rest of the cast is interesting when they are not sprouting hackneyed jailhouse phrases. I was impressed with the Chino prison system. The film is watchable, but not riviting.