Cell R 17
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Cell R 17 |
| Original title | Brute force |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1947 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jules Dassin |
| script | Richard Brooks |
| production | Mark Hellinger |
| music | Miklós Rózsa |
| camera | William H. Daniels |
| cut | Edward Curtiss |
| occupation | |
| |
Cell R 17 (original title: Brute Force ) is an American drama directed by Jules Dassin from 1947. The film, shot in black and white , was based on a story by Robert Patterson and combines elements of film noir and prison films .
In Westmore Detention Center, inmates suffer from attacks by the sadistic superintendent Munsey. The prisoners, in turn, proceed with the same brutality against informers in their own ranks. When the situation becomes unbearable, a handful of men plan the outbreak.
action
On a rainy morning, four inmates look out a window in Westmore Prison and see their cellmate Joe Collins emerge from solitary confinement. Joe is angry and speaks of a breakout. While the guards, under the sadistic superintendent Munsey, try to maintain discipline, the prison doctor warns that the detention center is a powder keg that will explode if not careful.
Joe's attorney tells him during a visit that Joe's wife, Ruth, will not have necessary surgery until Joe is there, even though her life is in danger. In the prison workshop, the inmates kill their fellow inmate Wilson, who collaborated with Munsey and caused Joe's solitary confinement, by purging him into a press. Joe has an alibi from a visit to the prison doctor.
Joe asks fellow inmate Gallagher for help with an outbreak, but he has the prospect of an early release that he doesn't want to risk. Only when an inmate is driven to suicide by Munsey and the prison authorities revoke all privileges, Gallagher is ready to come up with a plan with Joe. By storming a watchtower, they want to seize control of the drawbridge, the only access to the prison. But the plan is betrayed, the inmates begin a revolt that is brutally and bloodily suppressed. Joe and Munsey are killed fighting over the watchtower.
background
The only female characters in the film can be seen in brief flashbacks. These were not originally intended, but were enforced by producer Mark Hellinger against the will of director Jules Dassin.
Because of the explicit representation of violence at the time, there were bitter arguments between producer Hellinger and Joseph Breen , the then chairman of the American censorship agency . Ultimately, only a few scenes had to be toned down, but the feud led to an irrevocable break between the men who were previously friends.
Shortly afterwards, three actors in the film fell victim to the committee for un-American activities and were banned from working: director Dassin, actor Art Smith (prison doctor) and Roman Bohnen, who plays one of the guards.
The film opened in the USA in the summer of 1947 and on October 27, 1950 in Germany .
Reviews
The lexicon of international films described cell R 17 as "[h] fine melodrama, not only a film of big names from the old Hollywood storytelling cinema in terms of the actors". Cinema called Jules Dassin's prison drama "a classic of the genre". The television magazine Prisma spoke of a "dark prison film classic", in which director Dassin managed to "impressively depict the arbitrariness in prisons with drastic images".
Christoph Huber stated on filmzentrale.com: “Dassin's clear, sobering, gripping view of the balance of power - 'Kindness is weakness and weakness makes followers, not leaders' - is just an inadequate warning for the showdown, despite all the harshness. [...] There is no more merciless, more brutal, more desperate ending in the history of the whole of Hollywood cinema. "
synchronization
The German dubbed version was created in 1950 by Ultra Film Synchron GmbH, Munich.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Joe Collins | Burt Lancaster | Curt Ackermann |
| Capt. Munsey | Hume Cronyn | Wolfgang Preiss |
| Gallagher | Charles Bickford | Walter Holten |
| Gina Ferrara | Yvonne De Carlo | Eva Vaitl |
| Cora Lister | Ella Raines | Eleanor Noelle |
| Louie Miller | Sam Levene | Werner Lieven |
| "Freshman" stack | Jeff Corey | Ernst Fritz Fürbringer |
| Spencer | John Hoyt | Peter Pasetti |
| Muggsy | Vince Barnett | Heinz Leo Fischer |
| Robert Becker | Howard Duff | Peter Pasetti |
| Dr. Walters | Art Smith | Hans Hinrich |
| Tom Lister | Whit Bissell | Richard Münch |
Web links
- Cell R 17 in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Cell R 17 at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Brute Force at Turner Classic Movies (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Mark Frankel: Brute Force (1947) - Articles. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved December 27, 2019 .
- ↑ See booklet of the Criterion Collection DVD
- ^ Cell R 17 in the Internet Movie Database .
- ↑ June 30, 1947 according to the Internet Movie Database; July 16, 1947 according to Turner Classic Movies.
- ↑ a b cell R 17. In: Lexicon of international films . Film service , accessed June 30, 2017 .
- ↑ See cinema.de
- ↑ See prisma.de
- ↑ See filmzentrale.com
- ^ Cell R 17. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing index , accessed on June 30, 2017 .