San Quentin (1937 film)
Encyclopedia
San Quentin is a 1937 Warner Bros.
drama film
directed by Lloyd Bacon
and starring Pat O'Brien
, Humphrey Bogart
and Ann Sheridan
. It was shot on location at San Quentin State Prison
.
an ex-Army officer (Captain Stephen 'Steve' Jameson), who becomes chief of the guard at San Quentin State Prison
gets acquainted with May Kennedy (Ann Sheridan
) who works as a singer in a San-Francisco night-club. On that same evening Red Kennedy her brother (Humphrey Bogart
) having been on the run from the police is arrested at the night club where he came to see his sister.
Red Kennedy arrives a few days later together with another new inmate "Sailor Boy" Hansen(Joe Sawyer
) in San Quentin. After a fight the first day with Sailor in the courtyard of the prison, he meets Jameson the new "Captain of the Yard" who punishes him.
May gets engaged with Jameson, she soon finds out what he couldn't tell her before : he is the leading officer of the prison, in charge of the prisoners.
Having been selected for working outside the prison with Red in a "road gang" which constructs a new road, Sailor makes a plan to break out. At first Red refuses to join him, but later he changes his mind, when it comes out that Jameson is dating Reds sister.
Sailors girlfriend comes with a car to the site where the inmates are working and simulates a flat tyre.
Having been assigned by a guard to change the tyre, Sailor takes the instruments and 2 hidden guns from the instruments box. After menacing the guard with their guns they take him as a hostage and flee. Follows a wild car pursuit with the police. Finally Sailors car crashes and he dies, Red survives the crash and escapes.
He makes it to Mays flat. Jameson is already there. After a short argument, Red shoots at Jameson who is lightly injured. Red flees and is shot by a police patrol. But he has enough force to get back to San Quentin at which gates he dies.
Film length 68 minutes.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Lloyd Bacon
Lloyd Bacon
Lloyd Francis Bacon was a screen, stage, and vaudeville actor and film director.-Life:Bacon was born in San Jose California, the son of actor Frank Bacon, later the co-author and star of the long running Broadway show 'Lightnin' , and Jennie Bacon. He was not related to actor Irving Bacon whom he...
and starring Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (actor)
Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
and Ann Sheridan
Ann Sheridan
-Life and career:Born Clara Lou Sheridan in Denton, Texas on February 21, 1915, she was a student at the University of North Texas when her sister sent a photograph of her to Paramount Pictures. She subsequently entered and won a beauty contest, with part of her prize being a bit part in a...
. It was shot on location at San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
.
Plot summary
Pat O'BrienPat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien may refer to:*Pat O'Brien , American film actor *Pat O'Brien, New Orleans bartender credited with inventing the Hurricane cocktail; established his own bar, Pat O'Brien's Bar...
an ex-Army officer (Captain Stephen 'Steve' Jameson), who becomes chief of the guard at San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
gets acquainted with May Kennedy (Ann Sheridan
Ann Sheridan
-Life and career:Born Clara Lou Sheridan in Denton, Texas on February 21, 1915, she was a student at the University of North Texas when her sister sent a photograph of her to Paramount Pictures. She subsequently entered and won a beauty contest, with part of her prize being a bit part in a...
) who works as a singer in a San-Francisco night-club. On that same evening Red Kennedy her brother (Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
) having been on the run from the police is arrested at the night club where he came to see his sister.
Red Kennedy arrives a few days later together with another new inmate "Sailor Boy" Hansen(Joe Sawyer
Joe Sawyer
Joe Sawyer was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in over 200 films between 1930 and 1962.He was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and died in Ashland, Oregon from liver cancer....
) in San Quentin. After a fight the first day with Sailor in the courtyard of the prison, he meets Jameson the new "Captain of the Yard" who punishes him.
May gets engaged with Jameson, she soon finds out what he couldn't tell her before : he is the leading officer of the prison, in charge of the prisoners.
Having been selected for working outside the prison with Red in a "road gang" which constructs a new road, Sailor makes a plan to break out. At first Red refuses to join him, but later he changes his mind, when it comes out that Jameson is dating Reds sister.
Sailors girlfriend comes with a car to the site where the inmates are working and simulates a flat tyre.
Having been assigned by a guard to change the tyre, Sailor takes the instruments and 2 hidden guns from the instruments box. After menacing the guard with their guns they take him as a hostage and flee. Follows a wild car pursuit with the police. Finally Sailors car crashes and he dies, Red survives the crash and escapes.
He makes it to Mays flat. Jameson is already there. After a short argument, Red shoots at Jameson who is lightly injured. Red flees and is shot by a police patrol. But he has enough force to get back to San Quentin at which gates he dies.
Film length 68 minutes.