Details

Release year: 1936

Storyline

When a wrongly-accused prisoner barely survives a lynch-mob attack and is presumed dead, he vindictively decides to fake his death and frame the mob for his supposed murder.

Top credits

Directors

Fritz Lang

Writers

Cast

Sylvia Sidney — Katherine Grant
Spencer Tracy — Joe Wilson
Walter Abel — District Attorney
Bruce Cabot — Kirby Dawson

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Awards

0 wins & 1 nomination

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Did you know

• According to modern sources, Fritz Lang was the first filmmaker to use newsreel footage as courtroom evidence in a motion picture, and may have done so before it was used in an actual court case.

• Terry, better known as Toto from The Wizard of Oz (1939), appears in this film as Rainbow, the dog that Joe Wilson takes in from the rain.

• This was Fritz Lang's first film in Hollywood, and he wasn't accustomed to labor laws that require meal breaks. Shortly after filming began, Lang ate a quick lunch between set-ups and resumed filming. Some of the crew members wondering about their lunch break asked Spencer Tracy, who in turn pointed out to Lang that it was "1:30 pm and the crew had yet to take their break". Lang replied that it was his set and that "I will call lunch when I think it should be called." Tracy then smeared his make-up with his hand, knowing that it would take at least 90 minutes to fix it, yelled "Lunch!" and promptly walked off the set with the crew.