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Touches You

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

To me this film shown on TCM @ 2 wks ago early am! (end of NOV. 03) left such an impact. on me Never Heard or seen before!! . wow..better than I AM A Fugitive From A Chain Gang!! before the code was in progress.. A prison drama depicting the harsh realities & also the racial & sexual innuendoes which awhile later would have been censored: WATCH!!! Observe the cook in the Prison..obviously gay or "Pansy" being slapped on the behind by one of the male wardens.. & later talking about a funeral which he'll never forget, where the Pansies were sooo large"!! & the immortal Louise Beavers visiting her boyfriend in same prison"rolling her eyes" & making it clear that she wishes her "Handy Man" was free.. so she could feel so much better!!!& he sees her & states he"aint well since he ain't had no 'sugar"...wow could not believe my eyes & ears !!& the relationship between the imprisoned brothers..THIS FILM SHOULD BE ON DVD/and or VHS has a lot to say about prisons of the South at that time (early 1930s) & sexual mores & racial attitudes way back then.. should not be missed !an Historic Document!!! How did we let this one pass?? & Rochelle Hudson? gorgeous & beautiful Want to see again..Thanks TCM once more

It's like a touring production of the Warner's classic, stripped down to 62 minutes and missing both the star power and the production values. And despite all the entertaining muckraking, it indulges in Hollywoodisms -- this chain gang can sing like the Hall Johnson Choir while swinging pickaxes, and Dix wakes under filthy conditions with smooth shaven cheeks and lit like a big movie star. But most of the details are right, and the unrelenting pessimism and brooding -- Dix doesn't even play a framed innocent a la Paul Muni, so he's less sympathetic -- is refreshingly against the grain. The director and cinematographer do a lot with deep focus and expressionistic angles, and the pre-Code grittiness -- lots of unblinking violence and death -- feel almost modern.

This is an entertaining film despite containing all the cliches one could expect to fine in a chaingang movie. Well worth seeing for any movie buff. Richard Dix gives a great performance as Duke Ellis,the leader of the chain gang. His brother Johnny,who idolizes him ,is the newest prisoner on the chain gang for trying to kill the man who ratted on his brother. Duke does all he can to help his younger misguided brother. Despite all the cliches it is entertaining just the same.

It's hard to tell whether this was an "A" or a "B" flick, since it's got a post-Cimarron Richard Dix (presumably a big star), but dives directly into the sensationalism of its topic (chain gangs). Most of the characterizations are sharp and the Walker-Evans style photography is often brilliant. Charles Middleton (Ming the Merciless) is great as a cagey wacko/spiritualist. Unusually enlightened treatment, for the time, of racial interaction and muted homosexuality (the sissy cook is not unsympathetic). Not a great film, but quite entertaining for its 62 minutes. Makes you curious about director Roland Brown, who only made a handful of films and wrote a few more.