Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

alexanderdavies-99382 "20,000 Years in Sing Sing" was the only film Spencer Tracy made at "Warner Bros." He was a last minute replacement for James Cagney who had been suspended by the studio at the time. I thought Tracy did a fine job as the arrogant and pompous hoodlum who thinks he will be treated like royalty whilst serving a prison sentence. He applies a similar acting method in that he is naturalistic. In spite of his average height, Spencer Tracy is quite imposing by his sturdy build. After being given a bit of a rude awakening by the prison governor, Tracy comes to realise that he will need to tow the line like every other convict. Bette Davis doesn't have much screen time but when she is in the film, she has good scenes with Spencer Tracy. The direction is solid and the dialogue is pretty good. There is some effective action and a good supporting cast. This and "Each Dawn I Die," are the best prison films "Warner Bros." made.

mark.waltz The very same year that Barbara Stanwyck went up the river in "Ladies They Talk About", Spencer Tracy took the Metro North up to Sing Sing. He's guilty of many heinous crimes, and has a 5-30 year stretch for a robbery charge with assault and battery. But if Tracy has his way, his "visit" to Sing Sing will have him whistling a happy tune. He doesn't count on warden Arthur Byron stepping on his toes, turning down his crooked attorney's (Louis Calhern) request for special treatment. After months of confinement in his cell (having been told he'd be longing for the rock pile), Tracy gets out, grabs his sledge hammer, and is happy to finally see the light of day. Eventually, his better behavior lands him a job working in the shoe department.When Calhern begins to put the moves in on Tracy's gal (a young Bette Davis), Tracy plots his breakout, but of course, it happens on Saturday, which he considers his "unlucky" day. The warden, trusting Tracy, gives him a temporary leave when he learns that Davis has been in a car accident and will probably not survive. Tracy intends to return (even if facing execution), but is involved in a murder, and the warden faces the wrath of the press and considers resigning his job.This prison drama doesn't totally sugarcoat conditions in the penal system, but something tells me that even in Pre-Code Hollywood, there was more going on at Sing Sing than what is presented here. An honest warden, strict but essentially kindly guards, and the privilege of temporary leaves made me a bit cynical. Still, when you've got an actor like Tracy, a rising star like Davis, some sizzling dialog, and tight direction by Michael Curtiz, the result is a cracking crime drama that made Warner Brothers movies the most realistic and gritty before that nasty production code come along and took the sass out of their sails.

st-shot Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis give some energized performances in this rather lean story line about a hot tempered con who who attains rehabilitation through execution. There's a decent botched prison break but as films about the joint go 20,0000 Years in Sing Sing is short but hard time. Swaggering Tommy Connors (Spencer Tracy) has been given a stretch in Sing Sing but he doesn't plan on staying there long or playing by their rules. His recalcitrance is rewarded by a stay in solitary which eventually change his tune and gains the trust of the warden, too much perhaps.Director Michael Curtiz gets Sing Sing started at a pretty rapid pace developing Connors and his situation and transition rapidly but with no where to go the film bogs down in a tepid battle of wills between Connors and the warden.Tracy's Connors has a volatile combustibility while squeeze Davis suffers and defers in loyal compliment. They both pair up nicely in pre-star roles together but Sing Sing's song is hard to swallow.

jc-osms Another great gangster / prison drama from early 30s Hollywood. Tracy is great in a part which almost out - Cagneys Cagney, one moment chewing out the prison guards in defiance, the next playing a tender love with his girl, a ridiculously young and surprisingly alluring Bette Davis. Get a load of her outfits too, one a monochrome two piece suit and another with her wearing a tie of all things. There's a genuine electricity in their clinches, necessary to justify the sacrifices each is willing to make for the other. The other main character, the honourable warden, winningly played by Arthur Byron, forms the other side of the triangle with Tracy and Davis, his faith in Tracy keeping his word to turn himself in vindicated against even his own expectations. The dialogue rings true, only occasionally lapsing into front-on speechifying, the settings, while obviously toned down in terms of prison squalor and unruliness, also convince plus there's a great no-holds - barred fight scene between Tracy and Louis Calhern, which gives the lie to Tracy's later "statesman" - like static acting method - he really throws himself into his scenes and electrifies the screen throughout. A rollicking cinematic experience - contrast and compare with the equally superb "I was a Fugitive from a Chain Gang", its near contemporary.