Terror in Block 11 (1954)

Terror in Block 11: Directed by Don Siegel. With Neville Brand, Emile Meyer, Frank Faylen, Leo Gordon. Fed up with the inhumane prison living conditions, a general prison riot breaks out, leading to hostage-taking, a stand-off with the guards and eventual negotiations with the prison administration officials.

“u0026quot;Riot in Cell Block 11u0026quot; is a very good, very tough prison movie. However, I should also warn you that itu0026#39;s also got a very strong and not especially subtle message…and could have been handled a bit less obviously. The producer had an axe to grind…and itu0026#39;s too obvious. On the other hand, it is a nice contrast to the usual evil jerks in prison film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen the film begins, there is a preachy prologue about prison riots and how they are the fault of the politicians and the people for allowing prisons to become that rotten. While to some extent this is true, the message come on about as subtly at a baseball bat against your skull. Then the film begins, a fictionalized account of prisoners rioting at a prison and the ineffectiveness and duplicitous nature of public officials in dealing with it. Again and again, the Warden advises for restraint and seems very much in agreement with most of the prisonersu0026#39; demands…and time and again, the powers that be think the best way to handle the prisoners is to bluster and lie. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo if the film comes off as a bit preachy, why do I still give it a 7 (and I was tempted to give it an 8)? Well, the acting is really terrific. Neville Brand is great as the prisoner in charge of the rioters and the rest of the actors did a really nice job. Had the message been toned down a tad, the film might have earned a 9.”