The Last Mile

11/28/2018

We are all just numbers here. The Last Mile is directed by Samuel Bischoff and adapted to screenplay by Seton Miller from the John Wexley play of the same name. It stars Preston Foster, Howard Phillips, George Stone, Noel Madison and Adam Roscoe. Music is by Val Burton and cinematography by Arthur Edeson. Interesting watching this pic these days to note just how much set in stone the formula is even today. All of the staples of the prison based dramas are right here in 1932, and of course the thematic beats of anti capital punishment still bang loud as much today as they did back then. Reprieve! Reprieve! The Last Mile in production is very much of its time, the stage origins not really leaving us as this is essentially a one set production. The acting ranges from excitable ove

10/12/2025

Reduced to the status of being a number not a name, “Walters” (Howard Phillips) has been sentenced to death for a murder he protests that he did not commit. Into prison he goes, to share a cell with “Mears” (Preston Foster) who makes no such claims to innocence. Therefore he reckons he has little to lose when he organises a prison revolt against the hitherto fairly benign rule of it’s governor (Walter Walker). Whether he likes it or not, “Walters” is going to be caught up in this drama - damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. With the armed officers now lined up outside and his thuggish, hostage taking, fellow inmates desperate and ruthless inside, what chance he - or any of them - can stay alive? Also, thanks to a fainting spell from the terrified “Walters”, we get a flashback of the